For Indiana football, a program that has endured decades of obscurity and futility, Saturday’s matchup against Ohio State is nothing short of historic. The stakes could not be higher as the No. 5 Hoosiers travel to Columbus to face the No. 2 Buckeyes at Ohio Stadium.
The Hoosiers have totaled just 12 wins in 97 all-time meetings with the Buckeyes, so this is uncharted territory for a program whose history reads like a grim epitaph. Everything is on the line: a trip to the Big Ten Championship Game, an all-but-clinched spot in the College Football Playoff—a likely shot at hosting a first-round game included—and a legitimate chance to snap a 29-game losing streak against Ohio State.
In his 52 seasons as the voice of Indiana football, Don Fischer has called 38 losing seasons. He’s witnessed just two Indiana wins in 47 tries against Ohio State on the football field. Last week, on his weekly radio show with head coach Curt Cignetti, Fischer called the Hoosiers’ top five clash with the Buckeyes “arguably the biggest game in IU gridiron history.”
That statement, while difficult to argue, of course incited an eye-roll from Cignetti.
“It’s a big game for us because it’s this game coming up,” Cignetti declared on Monday during his weekly press conference. “We treat them all alike.”
That approach has served the Hoosiers well during their invasion of the national spotlight. Nevertheless, while Indiana has shattered expectations this season, the task ahead is monumental.
Ohio State hasn’t lost to Indiana since 1988. Cignetti, now a 63-year-old, was 27. Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day hadn’t yet celebrated his 10th birthday, and Ronald Reagan was the president of the United States the last time the Hoosiers defeated the Buckeyes in football.
This, however, is not the same Indiana team of decades past. Cignetti has come in and transformed the football program. His impact on the city of Bloomington this season has been seismic.
“This is a team that’s capable, and the only limitations on this football team would be those we put on ourselves, between our ears,” Cignetti said. “But this is a group of guys that do not think that way. We’re going into this next game confident, believing, and we’re going to go out there and we’re going to play well.”
A year removed from leading James Madison to unprecedented success at the FBS level, Cignetti brought much of that winning nucleus with him to Bloomington. Players like linebacker Aiden Fisher, who’s in his third season playing for Cignetti, embody the belief and discipline that has driven the Hoosiers to their first-ever 10-win season.
“That whole JMU crew that came over really facilitated the culture change here,” Cignetti said. “They’re all major contributors for the most part.”
Fisher wouldn’t take all of the credit, however, citing Cignetti as the true key to Indiana’s historic season.
“Everybody’s locked in. There’s a lot of details going into this game plan—there always is, but especially this week,” Fisher said on Tuesday night. “It’s the hunger and the edge that this team has, and that starts with Coach Cignetti.”
That culture shift is not just evident on the field. Across Bloomington, the buzz surrounding the football team is palpable.
Walk into any class on any given day around Indiana’s campus and there’s bound to be at least one student sporting a shirt replacing the iconic Marlboro branding with the last name of the Hoosiers’ frontman, a nod to Cignetti’s nickname: “Coach Cig.” Students, professors and townies alike, they’ve all bought in 100% to what Cignetti has preached from the moment he stepped foot in Bloomington.
“Once we put that product on the field, you’re selling out games and you’re getting congratulated in the classroom by your peers,” Fisher said. “You see how much it means to this community and this school in general.”
On the offensive side, sixth-year senior quarterback Kurtis Rourke has been the steady hand guiding Indiana through its most successful season ever. A transfer from Ohio University, Rourke has adjusted seamlessly to the Big Ten, exuding a quiet confidence even as the stakes continue to grow.
Rourke isn’t intimidated by the prospect of playing in Ohio Stadium, having faced hostile environments before, including at Penn State’s Beaver Stadium. Indiana has been practicing with pumped-in crowd noise all season long, a routine that Rourke believes will pay dividends on Saturday.
“No matter what their logo is, we still have to go and prepare. Every single game is the same,” Rourke said. “I think a lot of us fully believe that we can play with anybody. That’s our mindset going into this week.”
Ohio State, of course, poses a significant challenge. Cignetti is no stranger to the Buckeyes, having coached against them at The Shoe in 2003 as NC State’s quarterbacks coach in a triple-overtime thriller.
Indiana enters the game at full strength, with key players returning from minor injuries sustained in a gritty 20-15 win over Michigan. For Saturday, Cignetti is relying on the preparation and mentality that has carried this team through an improbable journey this year.
“Look, we’ve got a group of guys and coaches that have won 24 out of their last 25 games. So we don’t have a confidence problem,” Cignetti said. “We have a confident team that believes and takes care of business.”
For Indiana fans, Saturday represents more than a game—it’s a chance to rewrite the narrative of a program that has become synonymous with losing. Fischer’s declaration of this game’s significance underscores just how much this contest and this moment means.
For the players, it’s hard to downplay what a win for the Hoosiers would signify. One win to try and exorcise more than 100 years worth of demons. One win to move one step closer to the College Football Playoff, representing the culmination of a journey no one thought was possible. As the Hoosiers take the field against the Buckeyes, they’ll carry the weight of history, the hopes of a city and a belief that this time, the outcome can be different.
“Everybody’s getting this feeling of winning,” Fisher said, “and we’re going to do everything we can to make sure we keep this feeling.”
About the Author
Zach Browning is a junior at Indiana University and is a senior writer for TheHoosier.com, a website powered by the Rivals Network that covers Indiana athletics. Zach also broadcasts Indiana sports for WIUX Sports, Indiana’s student-run radio station, as well as Big Ten Plus, a student-run broadcasting program powered by the Big Ten Network StudentU program.
