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QuickTake:
Visiting Indiana outplayed Oregon in every way. Quarterback Dante Moore, thought to be a Heisman frontrunner, was sacked a season-high six times and picked off twice.
The Indiana fans started to feel it after the third quarter.
Yes, No. 3 Oregon had the ball. And yes, for much of Saturday, the Hoosiers — whose fans made up a postage stamp of red in the southwest corner of Autzen Stadium — had to watch a running display of Oregon’s coolness.
There was Dan Lanning shirtless on GameDay before sunrise on ESPN. Then the Duck’s dramatic pregame entrance — beginning on top of the jumbotron before reappearing at midfield like Michael Jackson at the 1993 Super Bowl. There was a parade of Oregon’s Big Ten Championship-winning teams during commercial breaks, highlight reels of Oregon’s football conference title win over Penn State, and a handful of plays that, against most opponents, would’ve been enough to finish the job.
But with No. 7 Indiana leading 20-13 heading into the fourth quarter with Oregon holding the ball and “Shout” blaring from the speakers, the fans in red leaned into it. They sang. They danced. They got a little bit quieter. Then, as the game headed for its final act, they got a whole lot louder.
On the first play of the fourth quarter, Dante Moore was sacked. Oregon punted.
Louder.
On the next possession, Oregon’s Brandon Finney Jr. picked off Fernando Mendoza and returned it for a touchdown — a pick-six that tied the game at 20-20.
Quieter.
Then Indiana responded with a 12-play, 75-yard touchdown drive — a march that sent that section of red into delirium, only amplified when Oregon’s final two drives ended in interceptions.
The final score was 30-20 as chants of “I-U! I-U! I-U!” gave way to “Hoosier Daddy!” and then “Curt Cignetti! (clap, clap, clap-clap-clap)” as the Hoosiers’ head coach joined the CBS desk just outside Oregon’s tunnel.
This was Indiana slaying the dragon — an excellent football team on the rise, from a basketball school, planting its flag in the front yard of college football’s elite.
Indiana is for real. The nation knows that now — the same way the once-plucky Ducks announced themselves to the world two decades ago with quick plays and an unheralded coach from New Hampshire.
The Ducks aren’t that anymore. They’re one of the big dogs — a team that came into Saturday perfect, with the nation’s longest regular-season (23) and home (18) winning streaks, with bigger, faster, higher-touted players and a head coach who’d spent his bye week on the national media circuit after Oregon’s win over Penn State.
But this wasn’t September anymore — just ask the Nittany Lions, who followed their loss to Oregon with defeats against UCLA and Northwestern.
And Indiana? Indiana is no UCLA or Northwestern. The Hoosiers entered Autzen undefeated, with one of the nation’s most explosive offenses, a top-10 passing defense and the only quarterback with a stronger midseason Heisman case than Moore.
This was the test.
The results?
- Indiana outgained Oregon 326-267.
- The Hoosiers had three touchdown drives of 75 yards.
- Oregon had just two drives longer than 50 yards — none after the first quarter.
- Moore was sacked a season-high six times and picked off twice.
- The Ducks committed a season-high seven penalties and went 3-of-14 on third down.
Indiana showed it was in it from the opening drive, stuffing the Ducks on fourth-and-short near midfield. Lanning may have had the Oregon fanbase ready to run through a wall after his antics with Pat McAfee that morning, but on the field, the Ducks were repeatedly turned away by the brick wall of Indiana’s front seven.
“It’s hard to go unscathed in college football against a good team,” Lanning said afterward. “They played a better game than us. They were better coached than us today, and our guys recognize that there’s still every one of our goals in front of us.”
By the time Lanning finished his nine-minute presser, security was already trying to erase the evidence.
During Oregon’s postgame interviews, Indiana fans made their way down to the field. A year ago, this turf was bedlam with Oregon fans after upsetting No. 2 Ohio State. Now, it was a sea of red.
No opposing team had done this at Autzen since Washington in 2022. And even as security formed a shoulder-to-shoulder line to guide the IU fans out of the east exit like toothpaste from a tube, chants of “Who Who Hoosiers!” echoed through the tunnel and around the now-empty stadium.
So… who are the Hoosiers?
Unlike the Ducks, they still have a case as the best team in the Big Ten.
