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Hoosiers play with their food

Posted on by Vanessa
Hoosiers play with their food

EAST LANSING, Mich. – IU football racked up records and points with a stunningly dominant 47-10 win over Michigan State on Saturday afternoon.

IU returned to Bloomington with the Old Brass spittoon and went 9-0, the best start in program history. The Hoosiers' final point total was their best performance ever in a series that dates back nearly 100 years, and this was the Hoosiers' toughest win ever against the Spartans.

As you can imagine, her testimony makes for good reading.

Takeaways: IU dominates Michigan State, setting record for best start in program history

INJURY: A

It started slowly, but once Kurtis Rourke found his rhythm, the game only went one way. Seeing Michigan State (4-5, 2-4) with a 10-point lead ultimately felt like Indiana was playing with its food. Rourke passed for four touchdowns, his ability to distribute the ball to seven receivers replacing a running game that was quiet for most of the afternoon. Curt Cignetti may want to eliminate a few false start penalties, but there are only so many holes you can poke into a performance like this on the road in a conference rivalry game.

DEFENSE: A+

Michigan State has quarterback problems, injury problems and turnover problems, and none of that really explains how completely dominated the Spartans were at the end of the game. Mikail Kamara led one of the most dominant single-game performances from the IU front (9-0, 6-0) in recent memory. The Hoosiers picked off Aidan Chiles twice in the first half. Once Michigan State found backup Tommy Shuster, the Hoosiers played with their food. Seven sacks and 15 tackles for loss on the road in Big Ten play speak for themselves.

SPECIAL TEAMS: A

Clean performances are now the norm in this phase. The kicks are clean, the markings are organized, the tackles are solid. On Saturday, the Hoosiers added a nice punt return, two blocks and a safety for good measure, with their special teams unit growing into the season as an impact unit just as Indiana reached the business end of the calendar.

COACHING: A

Once again, it's hard to poke holes. Curt Cignetti will likely harp on the slow start in the postgame, but it's hard to find fault with virtually anything else. Rourke was once again excellent. IU dominated Michigan State defensively. By the end of the game, the Hoosiers had more than doubled the number of average yards per play over their hosts. At this point, Cignetti's greatest accomplishment may truly be his ability to keep his team focused on the task at hand. No part of this group seems intimidated or distracted by the remarkable path they are currently walking.

PLAYER OF THE MATCH: Mikail Kamara, Defensive End

On a day marked by a highly disruptive defense, no one embodied that performance quite like Kamara, who is beginning to earn a reputation as Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year. He began the day leading the Big Ten in sacks and then added another 2.5 to his tally. He also probably leads the league in tackles for loss with 4.5 of those. Transfer James Madison has been the tip of an increasingly dangerous spear for Indiana's defense all fall, and he should reap the rewards of his accomplishments.

Listen to Mind Your Banners, our IU athletics podcast, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

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