Indiana Football Doesn't Just Beat Teams. IU Breaks Their Will.

ATLANTA — The two ideas have morphed into synonyms.

Almost every time Indiana football secures a blowout win — an ever-common phenomenon for the unrelenting buzzsaw Curt Cignetti has created in Bloomington — the Hoosiers’ second-year coach recites a similar line: Indiana, he says, broke its opponent’s will.

After the Hoosiers’ third 50-point win this season, a 56–6 victory over UCLA on Oct. 25, Cignetti tried to explain why.

Cignetti started with alignment between himself and his assistant coaches, many of whom have followed him from various stops and now “speak the same lingo,” he said. The Hoosiers also have good, high-character players and leaders who understand the coaching staff’s message and play each snap unbothered, unphased, by the lopsided score.

Then, Cignetti paused.

“I don't know,” Cignetti said. “That's the best answer I can give you.”

He excluded an integral piece to Indiana’s will-breaking recipe, which he picked up as an assistant coach under Nick Saban from 2007–10 at Alabama. The concession emerged after Cignetti’s Hoosiers used the ingredient to wear down the Crimson Tide in a dominant 38–3 victory Jan. 1 in the Rose Bowl.

“Things we used to preach when I was at Alabama, about changing the way they think, breaking their will — that's the best way to do it, running the football,” Cignetti said. “It takes a while. It doesn't happen in the first quarter, the second quarter, it happens in the second half at some point, hopefully, when you're able to achieve that goal.

“And I thought our line did a nice job. I thought our backs really ran hard, and I'm sure there were some nice blocks downfield too, but the backs, I was really impressed with how hard they ran.”

Indiana used to be on the receiving end of those encounters. Now, the Hoosiers are not only college football’s last unbeaten, but also its best mentality-changer.

The Big Ten has long been known for its physicality, and Indiana’s status as conference champions adequately reflects its place as the most bruising team in a league full of discoloration.

But redshirt junior left tackle Carter Smith suggests a glance beyond Indiana’s Big Ten Championship prestige and gaudy stats — the Hoosiers are No. 11 nationally in rushing, averaging 220.7 yards per game — and into the game tape.

There, Smith says, the proof is abundant.

“The biggest part of our run game is being able to break down a defense's will,” Smith said. “I think we've done that many times on film so far this year. We stick to our preparation. All the things we do in practice are going to translate out onto the game field.

“Making sure we keep that speed and physicality throughout practice is kind of our edge setter. It is definitely one of our strengths. Making sure everybody's on top of that week after week after week is definitely one of the edges we have on the offense.”

Indiana also has an edge in personnel — not necessarily talent, but mentality. Cignetti described his offensive line as blue-collar, steel-mill, lunch-pail veterans. There’s a toughness, a physicality, so abundantly apparent on the Hoosiers’ offensive line.

Big, meaningful games are won at the line of scrimmage, Indiana redshirt senior running back Roman Hemby said. The Hoosiers, behind their Big Bison Wall, are still undefeated for good reason.

“You see the guys we have up front, they work really hard,” Hemby said. “They make myself and Kaelon (Black)'s job really easy. We just try to out-physical some of our opponents. We want to make it a four-quarter fight where we impose our will.

“At some point in the game, we feel we can potentially break the defense or make that play that helps us win.”

Hemby added Indiana’s offensive line leans on opponents throughout games and ultimately wears them down. The Hoosiers haven’t broken every will this season, but they’ve thrown the knockout punch each week — and when their opposition can no longer stand in the ring, they’re potent at butting the game away.

Indiana has won games through the air behind Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza, who threw game-winning touchdown passes in the second half against Iowa, Oregon, Penn State and Ohio State.

But the Hoosiers have built their identity on being balanced. Hemby and Black don’t always steal headlines, but they’ve proven proficient at snatching souls.

“We take a lot of pride in breaking an opponent's will,” Black said. “That's something we preach in practice as running backs, get our feet planted in the ground, get vertical. We can't spend too much time dancing around, going east and west.

“The fastest point to form a straight line is going straight. We try to get in the end zone and try to score touchdowns.”

Hemby and Black are at the base of Indiana’s will-breaking foundation. Without ball-carriers willing to run hard, willing to keep their legs churning, willing to embrace contact, opponents have no fear of tackling.

Indiana redshirt junior linebacker Isaiah Jones said after the Rose Bowl he noticed Alabama’s linebackers weren’t as eager to hit in the second half. That’s a credit, of course, to the Hoosiers’ offensive line, but also Hemby, who rushed 18 times for 89 yards and a touchdown, and Black, who took 15 carries for 99 yards and one score.

The Hoosiers’ running back duo is exactly that: A two-man show, or as Hemby described it, a “brotherhood where we don’t care who has the success.” There’s no head-to-head competition, no battle for the spotlight, no ill-will toward the other. There’s merely a desire to win, to feed the hot hand — and, ultimately, to leave the opponent without its will by game’s end.

“Any time you have a good running back tandem to where both guys can stay fresh and both guys can go out there healthy and we can play for one another, that kind of gives us the ability to run hard, to not hold anything back,” Hemby said. “We're in the stretch to where we want to go win a national championship.

“We're not really leaving anything on the table. Him and myself, we go out there every day with the mindset we're going to prove ourselves right and play winning football.”

Perhaps now, Hemby said, they’ll foster a friendly wager as a means of postseason inspiration. But the Hoosiers don’t need any added motivation. Hemby acknowledged he and Black have been through adversity and emerged on the other side stronger for it.

Indiana is much the same.

The No. 1 Hoosiers have overcome hostile environments, significant injuries and improbable odds of victory to earn a spot in the College Football Playoff semifinals, where they’ll face No. 5 Oregon at 7:30 p.m. ET Friday inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

Indiana won the first meeting between the two sides, 30–20, on Oct. 11 at Autzen Stadium in Eugene. The Ducks want revenge. The Hoosiers want to play a cleaner game and prove they can beat Oregon twice.

The stage will be as big and bright as it’s been all season. But for Indiana, the goal won’t change. No matter the stakes of the game or the logo on the opposing helmet, the Hoosiers are steadfast on walking away victorious — and with the Ducks’ will in hand.

After all, those two are, in the Indiana football dictionary, synonymous to one another.