Indiana's Strong Performance Shines in 47-10 Victory

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00:00Don't leave out Indiana.

00:04They deserve their flowers as they continue to spear perfection.

00:08They come out on top 47 to 10, but let's just say Michigan State made it very interesting

00:13in that first quarter.

00:14They had 10 points holding off Indiana from any success in the first quarter.

00:18Then second quarter comes through and it's all Indiana from the second through the fourth.

00:21So what did we make of the continued successful performances for Indiana?

00:28Two takeaways for me.

00:30Never easy winning road conference games, by the way.

00:33Jonathan Smith has gradually been turning around Michigan State, so this was not going

00:37to be a cakewalk.

00:39My two takeaways are this.

00:40Number one, I wanted to first see Curtis Rourke.

00:44He missed last week's game, had thumb surgery a couple of weeks ago, came back extremely

00:50quickly from a surgery on his throwing hand, wanted to see if there was any rust.

00:56There wasn't.

00:57No touchdown passes, no turnovers today.

00:59The biggest storyline for me as we move through November and possibly, probably the playoffs,

01:05which is insane to say for Indiana, their defense, despite the fact that you're not

01:10going to see any All-Americans on that side of the ball, defense keeps playing better

01:16and better and better.

01:18This is more than just an offensive team.

01:21They're averaging more than 40 points a game, but they're starting to balance it with defense.

01:26So again, shame on me.

01:27I'm part of the media that tends to just dismiss a team like Indiana, 9-0, Kurt Cignetti's

01:34doing a great job.

01:36And you've got three power players right now in the conference, Oregon on top, Ohio State

01:41number two, one point loss to Oregon, and Indiana sitting there at 9-0.

01:46I think it's Michigan this week.

01:49This team at worst should be 11-1, which will be good enough for a playoff spot.

01:55Absolutely.

01:56And I'm glad that you mentioned how the defense is just continuing to elevate, kind of match

02:00the pace that the offense is putting up there for them.

02:03Because just to illuminate it a little further, they held Michigan State to 10 points, previously

02:08Washington to seven points.

02:09We know what Washington can do and deliver offensively, so that's still pretty great.

02:13Then before that, Nebraska to just a touchdown, Northwestern 24 points, and then Maryland.

02:19So ever since Northwestern, there's just been a massive turnaround to Indiana's defensive

02:23performances, which is going to put them in a pretty brave spot.