'Trying to Win the Natty': Indiana is College Football’s Most Relentless Buzzsaw

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — By this point, everybody knows the drill.

After two kneel downs brought an end to No. 2 Indiana football’s 55–10 victory over Maryland on Saturday afternoon, waves of Hoosiers filed toward the northwest corner of SECU Stadium.

There, they joined the stadium’s biggest party, celebrating with the fans clad in cream and crimson who’d once again taken over a road stadium and let chants of “Hoo-Hoo-Hoo, Hoosiers,” fill the air on a brisk evening in College Park.

Eventually, their savior arrived to chants of “Cig, Cig, Cig.” Indiana coach Curt Cignetti lifted his left arm in acknowledgement before shouting a brief, yet spirited, “Go IU.”

The same scene occurred time and again last season, be it in road wins over UCLA, Northwestern or Michigan State, and it carried into road victories this season in Week 5 at Iowa and Week 7 at Oregon.

Similar iterations take place each home game at Memorial Stadium — dependent only on whether players deem the game big enough to sprint toward the student section or hurry back to the locker room and celebrate with each other.

By now, it’s not déjà vu. It’s just another week — and another dominant win — for Indiana.

The Hoosiers (9-0, 6-0 Big Ten) are college football’s biggest buzzsaw. They come, they see, they conquer. Then, they celebrate with fans — Cignetti allows a 24-hour window to savor the victory — and do it all again the next week.

And they never let up.

"That’s the key to the drill to me,” Cignetti said, “is that you're playing from the first play to the last play the same. We're getting close to getting that, and we're real close. And that's why you see some of the results you see.

“There's not the ups and downs relative to good plays, bad plays, circumstances of the game. You see guys laying it on the line every play. And I give them and the assistants a lot of credit for that."

Indiana is your favorite boxer's favorite boxer. The Hoosiers swing just as hard on their first punch as their last. There are no wasted motions, nothing done without a purpose. And not an ounce of sympathy or a semblance of complacency seeps into their membrane until the clock hits zero.

These ingredients formed in January, Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza said, be it in the weight room or during spring practices.

Mendoza didn’t see complacency then. He certainly doesn’t see it now.

“Defensively, offensively and special teams, it's the mentality and culture that has been instilled,” Mendoza said. “It was always taking big swings, taking that knockout punch. And I think we've seen in the games we've had significant leads and significant wins on.

“I just think it's such a great culture we have here. Players, support staff and coaches alike, no matter if we're up 10 at halftime or we're up 30 in the fourth quarter, we're going to keep on swinging and keep on giving our best shot because that's what the present moment deserves, and that's what we deserve as a football team.”

Indiana has a 95-point margin of victory over the past two weeks. Both wins were against Big Ten teams. Maryland entered Saturday with three losses by a combined 10 points. UCLA, which the Hoosiers defeated 56-6 on Oct. 25, had won three straight games, all in conference play.

Five of the Hoosiers’ six Big Ten wins — all but a 20-15 win over Iowa on Sept. 27 — are by double figures. Four are by 25-plus points. Three are by 45 points or more.

This is no longer a fairytale, no longer a one-hit wonder, no longer a suspected flash in the plan with a buried-deep question of whether such dominance was legitimate.

This is merely the status quo of Indiana football under Cignetti.

And it’s hard, redshirt senior edge rusher Mikail Kamara acknowledged postgame, to not become numb to such dominating efforts.

But the Hoosiers have different goals this year. Kamara spoke of national championships last season, though he admitted Saturday he let individual-game dominance get to his head. Now, Indiana is unafraid — and certainly justified — to dream, and speak, big.

“I feel like last year, we were new to the Big Ten, and we didn't really know what to expect. And we started winning some games, and we started to understand that we're good,” Kamara said. “But now, it's about winning the championship, it’s about winning the Big Ten Championship and then trying to win the Natty.

“So, I think we just understand that every single week, we have to attack it like it's any other game. So, I think that's just the mindset every single time.”

Such a level-headed mindset underscores the seasoning on Indiana’s roster. The Hoosiers have 28 players in their final year of eligibility, tied for the sixth most in the FBS, according to Georgia Tech communications.

With experience comes an understanding of how to respond — and perhaps more importantly, the discipline to not react — in adverse situations.

Indiana’s record is unblemished, but the Hoosiers have faced adversity this fall. They’ve just always had the answer.

Through two drives Saturday, Indiana’s offense looked out of sorts. Mendoza threw an interception, his fourth of the season, on the first series, and the Hoosiers lost 11 yards on their second drive en route to a three-and-out.

Then, Indiana scored on its next eight possessions.

To start the second half, Maryland scored its lone touchdown of the game. Indiana responded with three scores in just over two minutes of game action, aided by a defensive touchdown and quality field position set up by a fumble.

The Terrapins aren’t the first team to throw a punch at Indiana this season. Iowa led in the fourth quarter, and the Hoosiers were tied with Oregon with six-and-a-half minutes remaining in the game. Michigan State led Indiana, 10-7, in the second quarter.

Most schools can throw initial jabs. Few have proven capable of standing in the ring and throwing 60 minutes' worth of haymakers against Cignetti and the Hoosiers — a necessary box to check, because Indiana won’t stop throwing counters.

After all, the Hoosiers have been fighting themselves — their own complacency — since January.

“Nothing's ever good enough,” redshirt junior linebacker Isaiah Jones said postgame. “And I think Cig and the coaches and the strength staff, they really are good at harping on that, keeping us nose down, working hard. And so that's what we want to fight every week.”

Relentlessness is a core principle in Cignetti’s teachings. His team’s steadfast desire to listen to his message about playing one play at a time, circumstance aside, was his greatest point of pride after a 45-point win.

Cignetti said earlier this season Indiana’s goal each week is to change the way the other team thinks. He often speaks about a desire to break the opponent’s will. His team did it once more Saturday.

But Indiana isn’t just breaking the other team’s will. The Hoosiers are breaking their opponent’s identity.

Maryland entered Saturday ranked No. 1 in the FBS in turnover margin with a +1.57 differential. The Terrapins forced 16 turnovers and committed just five giveaways in the season’s first seven games.

Indiana won the turnover battle, 5-1, in College Park. After Mendoza’s first drive interception, the Hoosiers played turnover-free football. Maryland quarterback Malik Washington threw two interceptions and the Terrapins fumbled three times.

Through nine weeks, Maryland ranked No. 6 in the Big Ten and No. 18 in the FBS in scoring defense, giving up just 17.3 points per game. Indiana scored 48 points on offense Saturday.

The Terrapins’ redzone defense was third in the Big Ten, limiting opponents to a 76.2% success rate. Indiana scored touchdowns on four of its five redzone trips. Maryland allowed conversions on just 31.4% of third downs. The Hoosiers were 7 of 12, a 58.3% conversion rate.

Maryland had several strengths on paper. Indiana proved stronger.

“You got to have that experience as to how to beat a team's will,” Kamara said. “So, from the first play to the last, you got to keep the pedal to the metal and keep going nonstop, nonstop, nonstop, because at some point they're going to break, and it’s not going to be us.”

Indiana’s team buses left SECU Stadium at 8 p.m. Saturday to head toward the airport and fly back to Bloomington. The last time the Hoosiers made that trip was Sept. 30, 2023, when they lost 44-17 to Maryland and fell to 2-3 on the season.

That was far from an anomoly for college football’s losingest program.

But this — a commanding six-possession victory where lifting off the gas was an afterthought — is the new normal for the Cignetti-led Hoosiers, who push so hard in part because they’re trying to shake the shackles of their past.

“We're still Indiana at the end of the day,” Kamara said. “So now, if we go and play Maryland and only win by a touchdown, they want to doubt us again. So, every single week, we got to make sure there's no doubt left at all and make sure that we continue to prove that we're a real contender.”