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Adam Rittenberg, ESPN Senior Writer
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — The fireworks cracked and the towel-waving sellout crowd at Memorial Stadium roared to salute an Indiana team that won its 10th game for the first time in school history.
Curt Cignetti, the coach who orchestrated the most impressive first season in recent college football history, embraced his wife and granddaughter, and then his two daughters, as fans chanted “Cig! Cig!” Indiana, a bottom-rung program that hasn’t even shared a Big Ten title since 1967 and never made the College Football Playoff, improved to 10-0 with a 20-15 win against defending national champion Michigan, which came in as an underdog to the Hoosiers for the first time since 1968.
But there was no field storm Saturday, and Cignetti and many others came away feeling more relieved than triumphant.
An Indiana team that had won each of its first nine games by 14 or more points and entered Saturday leading the nation in scoring margin (419 to 123) received its first true scare, as its 17-3 halftime deficit dwindled to two points and then five in the closing minutes. But Indiana’s defense carried the day, preventing Michigan from gaining a single first down on the game’s decisive possession. The Hoosiers, who debuted at No. 8 in the initial College Football Playoff ranking, dragged down by a schedule that has not included a Top 25 opponent, will take a perfect record to No. 3 Ohio State on Nov. 23.
“Not many style points there, not many people banging the drum, saying Indiana ought to be rated higher … and all that good stuff, but the Indiana Hoosiers are 10-0,” Cignetti said.
He later added: “I’m glad we won. I don’t like the way we played.”
Indiana appeared headed for its standard lopsided win, outgaining Michigan 228 to 94 in the first half and getting two touchdown passes from standout quarterback Kurtis Rourke. But the Hoosiers then endured their worst offensive quarter of the season, which included a Rourke interception near the goal line that led to a Michigan field goal, and only seven net yards on seven plays.
Michigan chipped away at the lead and had a chance to tie the score with 9:35 left, before Davis Warren‘s pass on a 2-point conversion attempt went incomplete. An Indiana offense that entered Saturday ranked second nationally in scoring (46.6 points per game) continued to stall, but Ke’Shawn Williams, returning punts only because primary returner Myles Price was injured, had a 22-yard runback to set up an IU field goal.
“I wasn’t too worried or too curious,” said Williams, who led Indiana in receptions (6) and receiving yards (70). “When you perform how we’ve performed all year, there’s never any doubt. We’re never on the sideline, like, ‘Damn, this might be it.’ We know when we get out there we do our thing, you know, we’re going to make some stuff happen.”
A Hoosiers defense that has significantly improved under Cignetti rose up yet again, forcing three incomplete passes and then stopping Michigan’s Peyton O’Leary one yard shy of the marker on fourth-and-10.
Indiana held Michigan to 69 rushing yards on 34 carries and just one touchdown, which came after Michigan had a short field.
Two Indiana runs sealed the win, aided by Michigan’s inexplicable decision not to call timeout immediately after a Ty Son Lawton rush.
“A lot of people will make an argument for Indiana, ‘Where should they be in the rankings? Should they be above this team,'” linebacker Aiden Fisher said. “We’ll leave that to them. That’s not something we really care about. What we care about the end of the day is making sure we’re walking off this field with the fans happy.”
Rourke completed only 3 of 10 passes for 16 yards and the interception in the second half, well below his production. He said the surgically repaired thumb on his throwing hand did not hinder him and continued to improve, but credited Michigan’s defense, saying Indiana had to be “near perfect” to build its first-half lead.
“These are games that really test you as a team, see if you can hang on, you can win those tight games,” Rourke said. “We knew eventually that we would come to a game where it would be close. We’d have to see what we’re made of, so I’m really proud of how we handled it. Our defense stepped up in big times. It’s another big moment we’ve got for the season.”
Cignetti noted how Saturday marked the first game this season where Indiana didn’t win with style points, adding, “Our numbers are through the roof.” Even brief down periods, like a 10-0 deficit last week at Michigan State, were answered with huge surges.
The narrow win against a Michigan team that came in with four losses — three in its previous four games — could cost Indiana in the next CFP rankings. But all of Indiana’s goals, unthinkable outside the program when the season kicked off, are all still on the table.
“Championship teams find a way to win football games,” Cignetti said. “I can’t say enough about these guys. I don’t throw many bouquets out there, but these guys have accomplished quite a bit.”