IU football’s trip to “The Big House” in Ann Arbor on Saturday provides for some previously unseen scenarios.
The game will not only be Curt Cignetti’s first in the largest stadium in America, but also his first game as the reigning national champion after a loss.
Indiana’s 19-15 loss to Ohio State last week was a heartbreaker. Despite an amalgamation of errors and missed opportunities, the Hoosiers were four inches away from beating the Buckeyes. The loss snapped a 22-game winning streak and was the first loss in 666 days, the third loss of Cignetti’s Indiana tenure and the second loss to Ohio State in that time.
It is now over and the focus is on Michigan for the Hoosiers. In between that transition, a moment of reflection came about.
“In some ways we beat ourselves, which is uncharacteristic of this football team,” Cignetti said Monday. “But I think we certainly proved we’re capable. We just have to clean up a couple areas and use this setback to learn and grow and come back stronger and better.”
Indiana has never had to adjust like this under Cignetti because it has never suffered a loss this early in the season. The Hoosiers started 10-0 in the first year of the Cignetti era in 2024 and did not lose at all in 2025.
Cignetti’s previous two losses at Indiana came under much different circumstances than the third.
The first loss came in Game 11 of the 2024 season at Ohio State. Indiana had just one more regular-season game, a 66-0 home rout of Purdue, before playing in the College Football Playoff. The second loss came in the playoff to Notre Dame.
Indiana had built its résumé before the loss to Ohio State. It was fairly inconsequential in the grand scheme. Sure, a win would have skyrocketed Indiana to the top of the field and been the biggest win in program history. The loss was not season-altering.
The loss to Ohio State last week is different. Everything is in front of Indiana this time around. There is still a résumé to build. The battle for a playoff spot is still on. The pressure remains as the reigning national champions.
“We still have everything that we’re looking for in front of us,” Indiana defensive tackle Tyrique Tucker said. “We can’t let that define us. We have to continue to get better and use that as a learning point and a way to get better more so than a negative. Try to use it as a positive, to fix the holes and fix all the errors that we made, but also ultimately get better from that and keep growing.”
The playoff picture is wide open. All Indiana can do is look forward.
Only five teams remain unbeaten: Miami, BYU, Utah, UCLA and Texas Tech. Five Big Ten teams have one loss. Every SEC team has at least one loss. The Big 12 has three unbeaten teams. The ACC has two one-loss teams and an unbeaten team.
The difference between Indiana’s only other regular-season loss in 2024 and this one is that it has five more games to play, not one.
Indiana now knows what it can do and has time to put that recipe together.
“I think we were all feeling pretty bad after the game that night, I’m sure,” Cignetti said. “I woke up with kind of a new perspective: That we proved that we’re capable. Just got to clean up a couple things and get a little better in certain areas.”
Michigan is no easy team to bounce back against. The Wolverines have an elite defense, allowing fewer than 20 points to each opponent this season. They have new energy at quarterback with Tommy Carr, who replaced a struggling Bryce Underwood Jr. last week. They also have 107,000 people behind them.
In true Cignetti-era fashion, the Michigan game is business as usual.
“We’re really just taking this week like it’s any other week,” wideout Charlie Becker said. “Coming off of Ohio State, we’re not putting any more emphasis on certain things, we’re kind of making it like it’s any other week.”
As Cignetti leads the rebound effort after only his third loss in 36 games, he made the message clear.
“We’ve got to suck it up and go. Got no choice.”
