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Give Win penalties brought back bad memories of past Indiana football losses. But the mentality coach Curt Cignetti has instilled in his team wouldn’t let that happen on Saturday against UCLA, an intriguing sign that these Hoosiers aren’t like past iterations.

Jack Ankony | Sep 15, 2024

Indiana Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti pictured against UCLA at the Rose Bowl.

Indiana Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti pictured against UCLA at the Rose Bowl. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

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Covering Indiana football for going on six seasons, I’m often reminded of the bad.

At signs of trouble, I think of Indiana letting the 2019 Gator Bowl slip away. The disastrous 2021 season. Or Tom Allen’s final two seasons, when the Hoosiers reinvented new ways to lose close games, won ugly, or got blown out.

There were plenty of great moments in 2019 and 2020, to be clear. But instead of saying to myself, “That play reminds me of Indiana’s overtime win at Purdue in 2019,” or “Didn’t that look similar to Michael Penix Jr.’s pylon dive in 2020?” more often than not, the slip-ups are more relatable than the successes.

I had one of those “here we go again” moments on Saturday during Indiana’s 42-13 dismantling of UCLA at the Rose Bowl. Maybe that’s my fault for being too pessimistic in these situations.

On UCLA’s first snap of the second half, trailing Indiana 21-7, quarterback Ethan Garbers fumbled the snap. As he reached down and stood back up, a lunging CJ West’s helmet collided with Garbers.

Targeting, the officials say, because West is somehow expected to make a split-second adjustment of his 6-foot-2, 317-pound body and avoid Garbers’ helmet. West, one of Indiana’s top defensive linemen and an All-MAC performer in 2023 at Kent State, was ejected.

On the next play, Indiana defensive tackle James Carpenter was penalized for offsides. Garbers then completed passes of 24 and 10 yards, advancing the Bruins to the Hoosiers’ 21-yard line. A touchdown would trim Indiana’s deficit to just seven points with nearly an entire half to play.

Remember the Micah McFadden targeting penalty in 2021 against Cincinnati? Here we go again, right?

Wrong. Indiana’s defense stood strong in the red zone, forcing a field goal – 21-10 Hoosiers. Avoiding the worst case scenario of allowing a touchdown after losing a key player, it fit the bend-don’t-break or moral victory clichés, but it was meaningful nonetheless.

On the following possession, Kurtis Rourke went 6 for 6, drew a pass interference penalty and led the Hoosiers on a 9-play, 87-yard drive, capped off by a Ke’Shawn Williams touchdown to give Indiana a 28-10 lead.

The ghosts of Indiana football past wouldn’t quite go away, though.

Indiana linebacker Aiden Fisher intercepted Garbers on the next drive, but it was wiped away by a pass interference penalty on D’Angelo Ponds, who had the deflection. Fisher got lit up on the return, which was reviewed for targeting but deemed OK by the officials.

The very next play, Indiana’s Lanell Carr Jr. rushed off the edge and tackled Garbers for an 8-yard loss. Then a flag came in.

“OK, roughing the passer, he doesn’t throw the football. It’s a sack,” a befuddled Todd Blackledge said on the NBC broadcast, drawing a laugh from play-by-play man Noah Eagle. “How is this roughing the passer?”

“Because he’s in a passing posture, Todd,” said NBC rules analyst Terry McAulay, a former NFL official of 20 years. “Once he goes into that passing posture, he becomes subject to roughing the passer rules. What the rule here was that he drove him into the ground and punished him by landing on top of him. Arguable of course.”

Passing posture. You learn something new every day.

A few plays later, on 3rd and 14, Ponds was ejected for targeting as his shoulder made contact with the side of J. Michael Sturdivant’s helmet during a pass breakup. McAulay explained that Sturdivant was a defenseless receiver, which protects him from forcible contact by a defender’s helmet, shoulder or forearm.

That left Indiana without arguably its top cornerback, Ponds, plus a key member of its defensive line in West. It also gave UCLA a fresh set of downs instead of 4th and 14.

“I don’t want to comment too much about it all,” Cignetti said postgame. “But, you know, I watch some of those on replay. I’m like, that’s targeting? I mean, you know, you want your guys to play physical. Like, how do you make a good tackle and play physical?”

But again, Indiana’s defense appeared unfazed and forced a field goal. Holding the Bruins to field goals instead of touchdowns in moments where everything was going against them was a strong sign of mental fortitude from the Hoosiers’ defense. Instead of 28-21, per se, Indiana’s lead was 28-13 with 13:13 to play.

“[The players] weren’t rattled,” Cignetti said. “I do [handle it]. [Defensive coordinator Bryant Haines] does. It’s over. Play the next play. Not only for guys on the field, but on the sideline. So there’s no frustration on the sideline. Sometimes I have to get on the coaches. It’s over. It’s happened. I’m sure there’s quite a few I don’t agree with. But you have to get ready to play the next play so you don’t let it snowball on you.”

Indiana’s offense delivered the knockout punch on the following possession. Rourke connected with Omar Cooper Jr. for a 23-yard touchdown, giving the Hoosiers a 35-13 lead with 7:28 to play.

Indiana defensive back Amare Ferrell intercepted Garbers on the next drive, and running back Elijah Green added a 14-yard rushing touchdown, sealing Indiana’s 42-13 win at the Rose Bowl.

After the game, Cignetti mentioned penalties – Indiana had 14 for 127 yards – and allowing a touchdown on the final possession of the first half for the third straight week as things his team must correct. But otherwise, Indiana dominated nearly every aspect of Saturday’s game.

“It will open some eyes because it was on national TV, but that’s it,” Cignetti said. “It’s one game. We came out there, we got done what we wanted to get done. I’m not into labels. ‘You’re a top 15 team.’ It’s not. At the end of the year, we’ll see what our resume looks like. No one in our locker room is surprised.”

It was fair to wait and see what this Indiana team was really made of after wins over Florida International and Western Illinois. And UCLA didn’t look great on Saturday, whether that’s a result of Indiana’s talent, itself, or a combination.

But every time Indiana has taken the field this season, it has made emphatic statements. It hasn’t played down to the level of its opponents, and it’s proven to be a well-rounded bunch, both offensively and defensively.

After the targeting and roughing the passer penalties against UCLA, things could have gone wrong. UCLA was very much still in the game during the third quarter and its first drive of the fourth. Perhaps most impressive, Indiana did not let those penalties – or the comfort of a lead – deter them from the ultimate mission.

“We’ve made a lot of progress. You know, when you have the right people in your organization and you put the right things in their head, they’re going to respond,” Cignetti said. “Now, was there an unknown going in? How do you match up against them? Yeah, there’s an unknown. But we came in here and got done what we wanted to get done.”

The Hoosiers seem to emulate Cignetti’s personality, a notable feat for a coach three games into his first season at a new program and a roster mostly unfamiliar with each other. Going into the game, Cignetti downplayed the excitement of playing at the Rose Bowl, and his players were wholly unaffected by the bright lights and historic venue.

After a 3-0 start, Indiana will begin to draw more outside praise from a national perspective. That adds another mental challenge, not getting too high after wins. Cignetti said postgame his team has 24 hours to enjoy this one, and on Monday he demands them to be humble and hungry in preparation for Charlotte coming to Bloomington on Saturday.

At this point, it would be unwise to doubt Cignetti’s ability to focus his team. The on-field product has been impressive, and in past situations where Indiana faltered, Cignetti and the 2024 Hoosiers have proven to be different.

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