IU football changes the national narrative, earns signature win on the road

Until Saturday, the Hoosiers were 0-46 on the road against top 5 teams. Make that 1-46.

There is no argument, none: The Hoosiers Saturday pulled off the single greatest victory in the history -- the long and mostly desultory history -- of the IU program.

What compares? Nothing compares. Absolutely nothing. Shoot, nothing comes close. The ‘67 Bucket victory that sent the Hoosiers to the Rose Bowl? That was big, but not THIS big.

Understand, IU had never beaten a top 5 team on the road -- EVER -- losing 46 straight times. But IU’s sad history has been consigned to a dustbin of faded memories, the Hoosiers doing things they’ve never done before in their 138-year history.

There is no argument, none, that No. 7 IU, 30-20 winners over No. 3 Oregon at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, is a real-life national title contender. Not just a Big Ten contender, not just a CFP contender, but a national title contender.

The defense, which brought the heat on quarterback Donte Moore all afternoon, allowed just 64 yards by the explosive Ducks in the second half. Fernando Mendoza, who now has the inside track on the Heisman, recovered beautifully from a pick-6 that tied the game at 20 and led the Hoosiers back downfield for the go-ahead touchdown on a gorgeous back-shoulder throw to star receiver Elijah Sarratt.

Did I mention that Oregon had won 18 straight home games?

This was Curt Cignetti’s and his program’s signature win, and it changes the narrative completely.

Until Saturday, IU was seen as a cute, up-from-nothing outfit that got fat on cupcakes in the nonconference schedule. People, most of them from SEC country, insisted the Hoosiers didn’t belong in the College Football Playoff. And those howls got louder after Notre Dame got the best of IU up in South Bend in a game that wasn’t nearly as close as the score.

That all changed Saturday afternoon in cloudy Eugene. The Hoosiers have been legitimized. They’re the read deal, and suddenly, an undefeated regular season and a date in the Big Ten championship game seem well within reach.

Shoot, Cignetti was even smiling when he joined the CBS Sports desk for the post-game show. How often do we see that? Rarely, if ever. But could you blame him?

“We told the guys, never let doubt creep in,” Cignetti said on the broadcast. “And they took it to heart...They (Oregon) couldn’t get much going in the second half, like we had broken their will a little bit.”

I haven’t done the research -- yet -- but I can’t imagine any coach has ever forged the kind of turnaround engineered by Cignetti. I mean, it’s been immediate. Took about 10 minutes, from college football’s most proficient losers to a powerhouse, just like that.

It took some time for Bill Snyder at Kansas State. It took some time for Wisconsin’s Barry Alvarez. What’s happened at IU has happened overnight, almost literally.

All those years, we thought IU football was a lost cause, something to do before basketball season began. Well: Cignetti’s IU teams are now 17-2 and have won 12 straight home games. And they knocked off a team coached by Dan Lanning, who came into the game with a 22-1 record at home.

“I really believed it could happen,” Cignetti said, “I kind of felt this coming in.”

They believe, all of them, and now the rest of the country believes, too. When the sideline reporter asked Cignetti what he would say to the program’s critics, he said something quite weird about how “some people are going to support cookies over brownies.”

Yep, Cig is definitely different, but you needed to be different to raise this program from the dead. What he has done is thoroughly audacious and unbelievable. He has brought belief to Bloomington.

“We rose to the moment,” Sarratt said.

An understatement, to be sure.