Impressive 63-10 rout over Illinois
helps Indiana climb to No. 11, but will it silence the doubters?
[September 22, 2025]
By MICHAEL MAROT
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — Indiana has spent coach Curt Cignetti's
entire two-year tenure defending its schedule strength to the
doubters who didn't believe the Hoosiers belonged in last year's
College Football Playoff because they hadn't beaten a ranked team.
The doubters were back after the Hoosiers opened this season with
wins over Old Dominion, Kennesaw State and Indiana State.
So on Saturday, when Indiana finally had a chance to prove the
critics wrong, they did so emphatically — with a 63-10 rout over
then-No. 9 Illinois.
The victory sent the Hoosiers up eight spots, to No. 11, in The
Associated Press Top 25, but players welcome the chance to keep
proving the so-called experts wrong.
“A lot of people were saying (Illinois) was a lot more physical than
us, they were going to come in and run the ball and dominate us
physically," linebacker Aiden Fisher said. “That puts an edge on a
team that already has a lot of players with an edge. When it comes
to games like this, the preparation and time we put in really shows,
especially on the scoreboard in the dominating fashion we played
with on defense.”
Fisher heard the noise even though the Hoosiers are 14-2 under
Cignetti, with their only losses coming on the road last season to
eventual national champion Ohio State and runner-up Notre Dame. He
made some of his own, too.
Otherwise, they've been perfect. So, naturally, the Hoosiers (4-0,
3-1 Big Ten) wanted to make Saturday's game, which was billed as a
key early-season measuring stick for two ascending programs, about
more than just winning. They made a statement by beating Illinois in
every conceivable fashion.
New starting quarterback Fernando Mendoza threw five TD passes for
the second straight week and completed his final 17 throws before
departing in the fourth quarter. He has been nearly perfect over the
past two weeks, going 40 of 43 with 437 yards, and he has 14 TD
passes and no interceptions this season — numbers that could put him
in the Heisman Trophy conversation.
Indiana rushed for 312 yards, led by freshman Khobie Martin's second
straight 100-yard, two-TD game.
The defense relentlessly harassed Illini quarterback Luke Altmeyer
from start to finish, sacking him seven times, and held Illinois to
2 yards rushing and 161 total yards including an early 59-yard TD
pass.
The Hoosiers also returned a blocked punt for one score and set up
another with a 27-yard punt return.
They extended their school-record home winning streak to 12,
produced the program's most lopsided victory over a top-10 opponent
and finished with the highest point total in a Big Ten game
featuring a top-10 opponent, surpassing the previous mark of 62 that
Ohio State did twice against Michigan.
[to top of second column] |
Indiana defensive lineman Stephen Daley celebrates with fans
following an NCAA college football game against Illinois, Saturday,
Sept. 20, 2025, in Bloomington, Ind. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)
And they were so dominant, Cignetti could only
muster two words for what he wanted to see from his team in the
second half: more points.
Illinois, meanwhile, suffered its worst loss since a 63-0 decision
against Iowa in 2018, and there was no way to sugarcoat this
debacle.
“It’s sickening, it really is to go in full confidence expecting to
win,” Altmeyer said after going 14 of 22 with 146 yards and one TD.
“I address the fans, the team in general: I didn’t play well at all,
I just didn’t. Overall, our whole team, it’s hard to face right now,
but the sun's going to come up tomorrow, and we better make the most
of it. But it is very sickening and very frustrating.”
Certainly, there will be better days ahead for the Fighting Illini
(3-1, 0-1) and more big tests for the Hoosiers, who visit Oregon and
Penn State later this season.
But the blunt-talking Cignetti knows the questions will keep coming
and restrained himself from explaining the message that Indiana sent
Saturday night.
“I don't control that, I only control the development of our
football team,” he said. “I felt very confident about this game
going in, based on what I saw on film and there's a lot of football
still to be played.”
The next test comes when the Hoosiers make their first road trip of
the season — to Iowa — next weekend, and Cignetti's players want
everyone to know that they still have something to prove.
"This just shows no matter who we’re playing, we’re always going to
come out hard,” receiver Omar Cooper Jr. said. “It shows we’re still
hungry from last year. We feel like we missed out on a chance, and
we’re trying to get back and do better than we did last year.”
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved
 |
