BLOOMINGTON, Ind — The Indiana Hoosiers find themselves in the top 25 of the college football rankings and off to their best start in 57 years.
IU is 5-0 after beating Maryland Saturday at Memorial Stadium.
The Hoosiers beat the Terrapins by two touchdowns, the closest game IU has played while piling up points this season. Indiana is ranked 23rd in the AP college football poll. New Coach Curt Cignetti is the first in IU football history to win his first five games.
"I'm not surprised. I pretty much told everybody when I got hired that this is what was possible, and I felt strongly about that after we brought the 22 transfers in in December and added a few more at the end of spring ball, and saw the culture come together the way it did. I knew it was possible, because I'd kind of been a part of something like this before," Cignetti said. "And I think people are getting excited, which is a natural part of that process, too, when you win, right? The stadium fills up more, gets louder. The team understands how fragile success can be and how important preparation is on a daily basis. I’m confident we’ll handle this week the way we need to.”
"He's just confident,” said IU radio play-by-play announcer Don Fischer. “He just believes in what he's doing, and he's proven it through the years, and now he's proving it at Indiana, and that's the most important thing right now."
"I'm not surprised,” said Alex Stover, an IU junior from Orlando, Florida. “I projected that we're going to go all the way this year, but everybody's starting to come around now that the results are showing for it. All the way, we're making the playoffs."
Before Saturday's game, Cignetti sent an email to IU students asking them to show up and stay until the end of the game. When they did — even through some lousy weather — he sent another email thanking them.
“The weather wasn't great. The football wasn't perfect, but you were yesterday. I asked you to come out and deal with the elements and to put your weekend events on hold and be there for all four quarters. You did it,” the email from Cignetti read, in part.
Brennan Hensler, a junior from Fort Wayne, said the direct message to students impacted her decision to stay to the end in the rain.
"I'm not a huge football fan, but that was very fun to watch, and it made me actually want to watch the game and really want to stay and just be involved in that,” said Hensler.
Kyle Hamer graduated from Indiana 30 years ago. His son, Owen, is a sophomore. The family from New Jersey has watched IU football for decades and attended the game Saturday. They believe this season is something special.
"Cignetti, man,” said Owen. “Once he came here, it's an entire culture switch. Beginning of the season, we couldn't tell if it was for real or not. But now at five games, then we just beat Maryland. We got two Big Ten wins, 2-0 in the Big Ten."
Indiana plays at Northwestern Saturday. The Hoosiers will return to Memorial Stadium for homecoming against Nebraska on Oct. 19. Tickets are still available for IU's four remaining home games.