Hoosiers Now

Todd’s Take: Is Indiana’s Offense Or Defense Better? The Good News Is You Don’t Have To Choose

Curt Cignetti has put together a roster with virtually no flaws. Indiana demonstrates excellence in all phases of the game.

Todd Golden

Indiana Hoosiers offensive lineman Bray Lynch (74) holds up The Old Brass Spittoon after beating Michigan State at Spartan Stadium.
Indiana Hoosiers offensive lineman Bray Lynch (74) holds up The Old Brass Spittoon after beating Michigan State at Spartan Stadium. / Dale Young-Imagn Images
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EAST LANSING, Mich. – As I drove part of the way back to Indiana down I-69 from Michigan State on Saturday night, I was holding a debate inside my own head.

Which is better: The Indiana offense or the Indiana defense?

In this debate going on in my own skull, the rule I made up was that I had to pick one in a certain period of time on the pain of death if I couldn’t make up my own mind. As I pondered this question, influenced by the 47-10 Indiana victory at Spartan Stadium I had just witnessed, let’s just say I died a lot of imaginary deaths trying to come to a decision.

It was a fun exercise to wile away the miles, but here’s the good news for Indiana players, coaches, and most of all, Indiana fans.

You don’t have to choose. You get to have them both.

After giving everyone a quarter’s worth of doubt, the Hoosiers reverted back to the form we’d seen all season. And what form it is.

The Indiana offense was held to – gasp! – two empty series to start the game, but it got its RPO mojo going and waltzed down the field against the Spartans to open scoring on the Hoosiers’ third series. The defense, thanks to a pair of Amare Ferrell interceptions, gave the ball back to the offense twice in the second quarter, one of those drives resulting in a touchdown.

Once Indiana got going it never stopped, rumbling like a methodical war machine over the suddenly hapless Spartans.

The 47 unanswered points speak for themselves, but the way the Hoosiers sacked and pillaged Spartan Stadium was a sight to behold. The offense did it with precision. The defense did it with withering force. No mercy was offered or given.

The raw statistics are pretty good – Indiana outgained Michigan State 385-205, with a 20-15 edge in first downs. Indiana averaged 6.3 yards per play to 3.2 for the Spartans – a definitive display of domination.

It’s when you start to get into the more detailed statistics that you discover how ruthless the Hoosiers were on Saturday.

The defensive stats Indiana compiled by quarter are well nigh unbelievable. I took a gander at them midway through the fourth quarter and was flabbergasted.

By quarter, Indiana’s defense gave up 128 in the first quarter, followed by 50 yards, followed by 27 yards, followed by zero yards in the final period. When I initially looked at that stat line, Michigan State was at minus-23 yards. So the Spartans fought back to get to zero.

I quoted this stat line to Curt Cignetti in my press conference question. He had not yet seen those numbers, and for once, he seemed to be as taken aback as I was.

“That’s really impressive. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen those kinds of numbers on a team that I’ve coached. That’s a great credit to our defensive players, staff, and they got after them up front,” Cignetti said.

“You’ve got to win up front. That’s the first thing you got to do to win games, win up front on both sides of the ball. I know we did knock the quarterback (Aidan Chiles) out at one point. But wow, yeah, I mean it was pretty dominant. It got pretty dominant there at one point,” Cignetti added.

What I didn’t quote to Cignetti, but what’s even more impressive, were Indiana’s rushing defensive numbers.

The Michigan State rushing stats, which I should remind everyone includes lost yardage on sacks, by quarter were 22 yards in the first quarter, followed by minus-7, minus-19 and minus-20. Seven sacks helped that cause, but overall, Michigan State had minus-24 rushing yards on 32 attempts. 

The Spartans’ running attack wouldn’t even make Final Jeopardy. It’s a stat you automatically think is a misprint or mistake on first glance. I’m still doing a quadruple take when I see this line as I type this.

To get a similar wow factor effect for the offense, you can consult the drive chart. After those first two empty series, Indiana’s next nine series were: touchdown, punt, touchdown, touchdown, punt, touchdown, field goal, touchdown, touchdown.

The speed and precision of those scoring drives was lethal for Michigan State. Of six touchdown drives, none took longer than four minutes or were more than seven plays long.

Quarterback Kurtis Rourke, playing hurt lest we forget, had two stretches with three incompletions in succession – near the start and the end of the game. Between then, he completed 17 of 21 passes, with 11 of them gaining double-digit yardage.

Indiana’s special teams also got into the act with a blocked punt, another solid day from Myles Price returning punts (22 yards per return) and a 47-yard average from rarely used but still effective punter James Evans.

Put yourself in the shoes of an opposing coordinator on either side of the ball who has to try to game plan for all of this. The sight of Rourke, Indiana’s cohesive offensive line and a seemingly endless supply of game-breaking receivers is the stuff of nightmares for opposing defensive coordinators.

The image of Mikail Kamara’s No. 6 jersey enveloping a quarterback likely sows dread in the minds of opposing offensive line coaches. Kamara was dominant on Saturday as Indiana changed his lines of attack brilliantly.

If you find a way to neutralize Kamara, linebacker Aiden Fisher has to be contended with. He led the Hoosiers in tackles again on Saturday with nine overall. His capability to get to the ball carrier is magnetic.

It’s remarkable how quickly this has all come together for the Hoosiers. Cignetti projects confidence at all times, but even he has to marvel in his private moments at the roster he’s unleashed on the Big Ten.

Offense, defense, special teams – there’s no poison to pick regardless of what Indiana unit is on the field. The poisoned chalice that Indiana football drank from over the majority of its history has been put away.

Use your own imagination to decide what Indiana drinks from in 2024, but whatever you choose, that cup runneth over in a way that’s scarcely imaginable.

Indiana football is 9-0 and has no discernible weaknesses. The schedule gets tougher now, but after what we saw on Saturday and throughout a special season, who could possibly doubt the Hoosiers regardless of the challenge before them?

They really can do it all, and once all is said and done, there’s no limit on where their combination of quality and relentlessness might take them.

Related stories on Indiana football

  • INDIANA'S ROURKE PLAN: Indiana's staff and Kurtis Rourke worked together to get him on the field on Saturday at Michigan State. CLICK HERE.
  • INDIANA ROARS BACK TO BEAT MICHIGAN STATE: The 13th-ranked Hoosiers trailed for the first time this season, but scored 47 unanswered points to move to a school-record 9-0 mark. CLICK HERE.
  • WHAT CIGNETTI SAID: What Indiana coach Curt Cignetti said after Indiana defeated Michigan State 47-10. CLICK HERE.
  • LIVE BLOG: Read about how the game played out in real time with the Hoosiers On SI live blog. CLICK HERE.
  • CIGNETTI'S SUCCESS AT INDIANA WAS MIRRORED AT ELON: The head coaching job Curt Cignetti has previously had the most closely approximates what he's done at Indiana was his stint at Elon. Hoosiers On SI talked to some of Cignetti's Elon colleagues to find out how he makes it all work. CLICK HERE.
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Todd Golden
TODD GOLDEN

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