'We Deserve to be Top 10': Indiana Football Makes Statement Vs. Illinois. Did You Listen?

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Curt Cignetti owes much of what he saw Saturday night to last season.

The seemingly endless stream of white towels waving around the bowl-shaped Memorial Stadium. The record-setting sell-out crowd better described as a sea of red. The belief — not from his ever faithful players but the 56,000 fans surrounding him — that Indiana football had the chops to beat a top-10 team.

But as Cignetti led the No. 19 Hoosiers out of Memorial Stadium’s North endzone tunnel and took his spot on the sideline near the 50-yard line a few minutes before facing No. 9 Illinois, his mind was far removed from 2024.

The moment? Indiana’s first top 20 home matchup since 1987, and only the sixth in program history.

The result? A walk in the park only marginally faster than Cignetti’s postgame stroll off the field, which featured a handshake with Indiana athletic director Scott Dolson, a hug with Indiana University President Pamela Whitten and a two-thumbs-up gesture to fans waiting in the stadium’s northwest corner.

Indiana (4-0, 1-0 Big Ten) rolled past Illinois (3-1, 0-1 Big Ten) on Saturday night, earning a 63-10 victory and setting a Big Ten record for most points scored against an Associated Press Top 10 opponent.

Better yet, the Hoosiers left 2024 in the rearview mirror. Indiana made a statement Saturday night: Appreciate the past, but don’t be afraid to dream about the future — one which All-American cornerback D’Angelo Ponds believes should include a higher ranking.

“Our first Big Ten game, I feel like we wanted to make a statement, and I feel like we did that,” cornerback D’Angelo Ponds said postgame. “Just how dominant we can be. We deserve to be in the top 10, I feel like, and we proved that today.”

Ponds doesn’t expect people to listen. He doesn’t listen to much noise himself, but he’s aware it exists. He knows there was a national narrative that Indiana didn’t belong in the College Football Playoff last year, and he’s confident that, despite the Hoosiers’ dominant win, doubts won’t diminish.

“They're probably still saying the same thing,” Ponds said. “They're probably saying we didn't play nobody still. They probably going to say (Illinois) didn't deserve to be ranked. So, that's probably what they're going to say.”

Redshirt junior receiver Omar Cooper Jr., who followed his Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week efforts vs. Indiana State with six catches for 78 yards and a touchdown against Illinois, doubled down on Ponds’ view of the Hoosiers as a top-10 team.

Now, he’s hoping more respect follows Indiana on its redemption tour after falling short in the Playoff last year.

“We feel like we missed out on a chance and we're trying to get back and get further than what we did last year,” Cooper said. “One of the biggest things (the media) would say is we haven't beaten anybody in the top 25. So, now that we were able to do that today and do that pretty dominantly, I think they'll start to respect us a little more.”

Cignetti stayed away from any narratives. The media controls that, not him or his team, he insists. His job is to get his team ready, play the games and see how it unfolds.

On Saturday, it unfolded perhaps as well as Cignetti could’ve hoped. Indiana outgained Illinois 579 to 161 in total yards, more than tripled the Fighting Illini in first downs, sacked Illinois quarterback Luke Altmyer seven times and forced seven three-and-outs.

At the end of ESPN’s College GameDay earlier Saturday afternoon, one of Cignetti’s former bosses — Hall of Fame coach Nick Saban — said he thought Illinois was more physical than Indiana. Eight hours later, the Hoosiers, by and large, dominated the line of scrimmage.

“It's a mentality,” Cignetti said. “I mean, our guys — we're tied in together. We don't talk a lot. We're pretty much — we hit the field, it's all business. I know I stirred things up last year media-wise because I felt I had to. This place, the fan base was dead and needed to set some expectations. We kind of go about our business. Kind of a blue-collar outfit.

“I think there was a point in that game where we broke their will.”

Redshirt junior defensive tackle Tyrique Tucker doesn’t know exactly when that moment happened. He knows it did, but in the moment, he was too busy bringing Cignetti’s culture to life — playing every play like the game was tied, not celebrating until the clock hit zero and never, at any point, removing his foot from the gas pedal.

Cignetti said the Hoosiers have made significant strides the past two weeks, evident in their three-phase performance from start to finish. There’s no let-up, he said. Perhaps it’s easier to keep the pedal down when there’s a message prepped and ready to send.

Senior linebacker Aiden Fisher said Indiana knew Illinois was physical, liked to play downhill and run the ball. But the Hoosiers’ defense is built on stopping the run. One had to budge. It wasn’t Indiana. The Fighting Illini averaged 0.1 yards per carry, including Altmyer’s yards lost from sacks. Even with sack adjustments, Illinois gained just 29 yards on 11 carries.

Fisher doesn’t think Illinois expected Indiana’s speed or physicality. The Fighting Illini guessed wrong. In regard to the final score, the Hoosiers didn’t.

“Nobody's shocked at that result at all,” Fisher said. “That's kind of the standard we want to bring here. A big-time matchup, we want to rise to the occasion. I think we did a great job with it. Obviously, a lot to still clean up. But I just think the resiliency from this group, we have a lot of guys that were under-recruited, got done wrong at a school or stuff like that.

“It's just everybody has an edge and a chip on their shoulder, and I think it shows every Saturday.”

The edge showed offensively each time Indiana’s running backs and pass catchers ran through, bounced off or blew past Illinois defenders.

Redshirt junior quarterback Fernando Mendoza completed 17 straight passes to end his night 21-for-23 passing for 267 yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions. The Hoosiers rushed for 312 yards and three scores on the ground, eclipsing 300 yards for the fourth time in as many games this season.

And Indiana, with a wealth of playmakers, seasoned offensive line and a quarterback self-described as a point guard, flashed an immense ceiling Saturday night.

“I thought it made a great statement,” Mendoza said postgame. “I think it showed we are a great Big Ten team and that we could run and throw the ball because we had a ton of yards rushing, and then we also had a ton of success passing the ball. And I think it's starting to click, starting to come together.”

The edge also visualized almost every defensive snap — the Fighting Illini had only three plays gain 10-plus yards, and the Hoosiers registered 10 tackles for loss and seven sacks.

Fisher said Indiana, throughout the week, heard a lot of people say Illinois was the more physical team and would dominate the Hoosiers up front.

“That puts an edge on a team that already has a lot of players with an edge on the shoulder,” Fisher said. “So when it comes to games like this, the preparation, the time that we put in, I think it really shows, especially on the scoreboard, which is the dominating fashion that we play with on defense.”

Indiana didn’t prove anything to itself Saturday night. Mendoza thinks the Hoosiers have a dominant offense. Fisher said Indiana knows it has an elite team that plays well together. When he was told about Ponds’ belief that Indiana is a top-10 team, Tucker nodded his head in agreement.

The Hoosiers are aligned and full of conviction — that they reaped what they sowed last year, that they’re better than ever this year and that no matter how big the margin of victory or who they beat, they'll always have doubters.

And they're just fine with it, so long as results like Saturday keep coming.

“Let the world do what they're going to do, and then we're going to keep doing what we do,” Tucker said. “And then they're going to have no choice but to acknowledge it.”