Carter Smith and CJ West aren’t interested in any history lessons about Indiana football.
Sure, they understand why everyone around Bloomington is so excited as the Hoosiers take the field — even with basketball ramping up.
They’re 9-0 for the first time in school history and one win from producing the program’s first 10-win season. At 6-0 in conference play, they share the Big Ten lead with No. 1 Oregon.
They’re even in position to make the expanded 12-team playoff, a position that seemed unthinkable even as first-year coach Curt Cignetti touted his past successes as an indication of what was possible in 2024.
And now they’re preparing to host Michigan, a team that has made life miserable for Indiana for more than a century. Yet Smith and West are unfazed by what’s happening around them.
“There’s nothing (different). We prepare the same we do every single week,” West, a fifth-year senior defensive lineman from Nazareth, said after the first College Football Playoff rankings had Indiana at No. 8. “This is the biggest game because it’s the next game, and that’s how it is every week.”
That hasn’t always been the case at Indiana, especially when Michigan (5-4, 3-3) is in town.
The Wolverines have won 27 of the last 28 games in this series, with their only stumble coming in a 17-point loss in front of a tiny crowd during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
Since then, the series has reverted to its customary fashion, with the Wolverines winning the last three by a combined 112-24. That includes a 52-7 romp last season as the Wolverines were rolling toward the national championship.
Now, though, the tables may be turned.
While the Hoosiers are ranked, Michigan is not. Indiana also has the nation’s No. 2 scoring offense (46.6 points per game) and third-stingiest defense (261 yards per game), while the Wolverines have relied heavily on a strong defense to carry a team that ranks 116th in scoring (21 ppg).
Plus the Hoosiers will be playing in front of their third straight sellout crowd at home and again will have a major network, CBS, in town to document college football’s most surprising team.
“Keep the standard. It never changes,” said Smith, an offensive lineman. “Every single week, we have to get better with each and every practice. Stack those days and little by little, it gets a bit easier.”
The question now: Will that philosophy work against the Wolverines?
Cignetti, who never has had a losing season in 14 years as a head coach and spent four years as Nick Saban’s recruiting coordinator at Alabama, has no doubt. He believes his track record — and that of his late father, Hall of Fame coach Frank Cignetti Sr. — proves it.
“The only thing that really matters is you get the result when you play, and to do that you’ve got to keep the main thing the main thing and eliminate the noise and the clutter,” Cignetti said. “Every week presents its own new set of circumstances and so there’s a lot of that going on this week. I’m aware of it. But to get caught up on that and lose your focus would be the kiss of death.”
Tip of the cap
Indiana’s turnaround certainly has impressed Michigan coach Sherrone Moore.
Cignetti already has six more wins than Indiana had last season — with three regular-season games to play. He also has matched Indiana’s victory total from the previous three seasons combined. In fact, the Hoosiers are just three wins from tying their victory total since last beating the Wolverines.
“He’s done an unbelievable job,” Moore said. “They did a really good job of bringing in the right guy.”
Low stakes
Last year the Wolverines completed a perfect season. Now they’re just trying to become bowl-eligible after losing three of four. College football’s winningest program already has lost more games this season than it did in the last three seasons combined.
Moore has made it clear Michigan wants that sixth win.
“We’ve got to get it,” the first-year head coach said. “The record is not where we want to be, but I love watching the fight. In the second half of that (Oregon) game, a lot of teams would’ve laid down.”
High road
Moore defended offensive coordinator Kirk Campbell, who called a trick play on fourth-and-5 from the Oregon 10 with Michigan in position to pull within a touchdown midway through the fourth quarter.
Wide receiver Semaj Morgan didn’t come close to completing the pass to backup quarterback Alex Orji, and the Wolverines went on to lose 38-17.
“We’ve got to be better as a whole group,” Moore said. “It’s not just him.”
Michigan (5-4, 3-3 Big Ten) at No. 8 Indiana (9-0, 6-0)
- Time/TV: 2:30 p.m. Saturday, CBS-2.
- Line: Indiana by 14½.
- Series: Michigan leads 62-10.
Facts & figures
Michigan RB Donovan Edwards needs 32 receiving yards to break Anthony Thomas’ school career record for running backs (810). … Indiana QB Kurtis Rourke returned last week from a one-game absence due to right thumb surgery and went 19 of 29 with four TDs in a 47-10 rout at Michigan State. … Indiana DE Mikail Kamara has at least one sack in five straight games and leads all Power Four players with 9½.
