Forde’s Indiana-Oregon Takeaways: Curt Cignetti and the Hoosiers Have Arrived

Now, how we view the Ducks also changes and a very good Indiana defense was key to victory.

Indiana and its head coach Curt Cignetti have arrived. / Troy Wayrynen-Imagn Images

EUGENE, Oregon — Three quick takeaways from Indiana’s 30–20 victory at Oregon in a battle of Top 10 teams Saturday.

1. The Curt Cignetti era has been building to this, the finest moment in Indiana football history.

His first major work was simply making the Hoosiers competitive. That was achieved immediately last year, when Indiana mowed through a series of unranked teams on its way to an 11–2 season that ended in the College Football Playoff.

The second major work was ensuring that last season was no fluke. Cig further upgraded the roster, retaining veterans and coming back with a more complete team. The payoff was a blowout of Illinois, the Hoosiers’ first victory over a ranked opponent under Cignetti, and following that up with a tough-minded road win over Iowa.

This was the third milestone. And it was huge.

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Fernando Mendoza shook off a pick-six that looked like it might turn the game around, leading three excellent touchdown drives. Indiana’s receivers, once again, caught everything within their radius. The Hoosiers’ running game was good enough. And kickoff specialist Brendan Franke gave Indiana a jolt of adrenaline by making a 58-yard field goal on the last play of the first half. It was a total team performance.

Reigning Big Ten champion Oregon hadn’t lost a regular-season game since joining the conference, and hadn’t lost in Autzen Stadium since 2022. The place was as full and raucous as usual. Winning here, as a touchdown-plus underdog, stamps Indiana’s arrival. This is a Big Ten championship contender and a national title contender. The Hoosiers should be ranked no lower than third when the new polls come out.

It also might be the greatest two-season coaching job we’ve ever seen. Seriously. Cignetti is now 17–2 at a program that was 4–15 in the last 19 games before he arrived.

2. Now what do we make of the Ducks?

Their victory over Penn State has been massively devalued by the Nittany Lions’ subsequent collapse. Their other victories are over FCS Montana State, Oklahoma State, winless Oregon State and Northwestern. Which, in fairness, perhaps now looks better after the Wildcats’ stunning win at Penn State—but it all equals out into a pretty skimpy résumé right now for Oregon.

The Ducks were uncharacteristically on their heels much of this game. Dante Moore was more tentative than we’ve seen him, and other than one deep-ball touchdown Oregon couldn’t unleash its speed and big-play capability much at all.

It got to a point where Oregon’s best play was stemming the defensive line before the snap and drawing false starts from the Hoosiers’ offense. Not much to hang your hat on there.

3. The Indiana defense was outstanding all day. 

It dominated the line of scrimmage, getting to Moore repeatedly and neutralizing the Oregon running game as well. The Hoosiers had six sacks and eight tackles for loss, winning one-on-one battles up front and timing blitzes expertly.

Both Indiana coordinators, Bryant Haines on defense and Mike Shanahan on offense, have done remarkable work since arriving in Bloomington, Ind. They should both be under consideration for head-coaching jobs going forward.

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