Indiana continues undefeated season with first 9-0 start in program history

Indiana football is 9-0 for the first time in program history, emphatically, a 47-10 win at Michigan State welcoming the return of starting quarterback Kurtis Rourke and pushing the Hoosiers closer to College Football Playoff lock status.

Rourke missed last week’s win over Washington with a right (throwing) thumb injury that he suffered a week earlier in a rout of Nebraska. He started slow against the Spartans but didn’t take long to carve them up with the poise and accuracy that should have him in the Heisman Trophy race — and certainly has first-year coach Curt Cignetti in national coach of the year conversations. Rourke finished 19 of 29 for 263 yards and four touchdowns.

The Hoosiers (9-0, 6-0) actually trailed for the first time all season, spotting Jonathan Smith’s Spartans (4-5, 2-4) the game’s first 10 points. It was pure dominance from there, including seven Indiana sacks, 2 ½ from another awards candidate, Mikail Kamara. MSU had 205 yards of total offense and 3.2 yards per play.

This season has been chasing the greatest Indiana season on record, authored by coach John Pont’s 1967 team, which won the Big Ten, got to the program’s lone Rose Bowl and finished 9-2. The 1945 Hoosiers coached by Bo McMillin also won nine games, tying their second game and finishing 9-0-1, 5-0-1 in the Western Conference (the Big Ten’s previous name).

The 2024 Hoosiers now own the best start ever. If they can take care of downtrodden defending national champion Michigan next week at home, they’ll be the first Indiana team with double figures in victories.

And if Michigan’s attempt to upset Indiana is denied, all that’s left for Indiana is a trip to Ohio State and a home game against the worst team in the Big Ten, rival Purdue.

The Hoosiers could be playing the Buckeyes for a spot in the Big Ten Championship Game opposite No. 1 Oregon, and a loss in Columbus is unlikely to keep them from a spot in the first 12-team College Football Playoff. As long as they handle the business they should handle. According to The Athletic’s projections, the Hoosiers now have an 87 percent chance to make the field.

And that’s as much as commentary on the wackiness of this season — a season that has seen Vanderbilt beat Alabama and get bowl eligible in nine games, Army and Navy both get into the top 25 and Pittsburgh start 7-0 for the first time since 1982 —  as anything.

Required reading

(Photo: Justin Casterline / Getty Images)