The message heading into Saturday’s matchup with Indiana football and UCLA was about a ‘business trip’ for the Hoosiers. All of the talk, all of the hoopla, all of the extra noise that went into the west coast trip. Once the clock struck all zero’s It was Indiana that answered the call, in a major way.
It was a 42-13 pounding for the Hoosiers. They started quick, put the clamps on early and made sure UCLA had no life throughout the entire night.
“We went in there — We wanted to play physical, tough, nasty, we did,” IU head coach Curt Cignetti said following the win. “Good win, we get to enjoy it for 24 hours. And Monday we’re humble and hungry, with our eyes on the next game.”
Indiana scored on the first possession of the game — it was a long 12-play and 75-yard drive that was detailed, attacking and precise. It was a clear tone-setting drive that showed that this Indiana football team is exactly what they’ve talked about.
All about business.
“I know it will get a lot of people’s attention,” Cignetti said. “And now we have to learn how to deal with success, which is a lot better than learning how to deal with failure.”
Indiana outgunned UCLA 430-238. It averaged 6.9 yards per play compared to 4.8 for the Bruins and 12.9 yards per completion rather than 9.5 for UCLA. The explosive offensive attack was a point of emphasis for UCLA coming into Saturday and trying to contain Kurtis Rourke was a top priority.
Rourke wasn’t fazed in any way and put together his best performance of the season based on the competition. He was 25-of-33 for 307 yards with four touchdowns and zero turnovers. He’s now up to 755 yards with seven touchdowns and no turnovers on the season. All of that while completing 74.3 percent of his passes.
His connection with the Indiana wideouts is extremely evident. Six different players had at least three receptions on Saturday.
“We’ve made a lot of progress. You know, when you have the right people in your organization and you put the right things in their head. They’re going to respond,” Cignetti said. “Now, was there an unknown going in? How do you match up against them? Yeah, there’s an unknown. But we came in here and got done what we wanted to get done.”
Through three weeks, Indiana is averaging 515 yards per game while giving up just 180.3. That’s good for 11th and third, respectively, in the nation.
Indiana is outscoring its opponents 150 to 23.
“It will open some eyes because it was on national TV, but that’s it. It’s one game,” Cignetti said. “We came out there and we got done what we wanted to get done. I’m not into labels, ‘Oh you’re a top 15 team.’ It’s not. At the end of the year, we’ll see what our resume looks like. No one in our locker room is surprised.”
Saturday may not prove all the doubters wrong.
But it did show that this Indiana football team is different. And it’s a much different vibe in and around this program than what it has been in quite a long time.
“When you’re successful on the field, then you start to change the way the public, the state, the Big Ten and the country think about Indiana football,” Cignetti said. “You start putting more people in the stands, selling out games. Then it’s hard to get tickets. That’s what we’re going to do.”
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