Surprising Indiana Beats #3 Oregon in College Football

It looks like the Indiana Hoosier football team is for real.

On October 11th, seventh ranked Indiana played at #3 Oregon in a Big Ten conference matchup of undefeated teams. Indiana running back Roman Hemby rushed for two touchdowns, and QB Fernando Mendoza passed for 215 yards and a touchdown as the Hoosiers pulled away from the Ducks in the fourth quarter for a 30-20 win. Brendan Franke kicked a 58 yard field goal for the Hoosiers as time ran out in the first half. The Indiana defense intercepted Oregon QB Dante Moore twice, and sacked him six times.

Last season, Indiana ran up an 11-1 record, losing only to #2 Ohio State, and reached the College Football playoff. The Hoosiers lost to Notre Dame in the first round. Ohio State was the only ranked team the Hoosiers played in the regular season, so it was uncertain how good they were. Indiana’s non conference schedule of Old Dominion, Kennesaw State, and Indiana State this season wasn’t impressive either. But the Hoosiers opened conference play with a 63-10 clobbering of then #9 Illinois and have now taken care of then #3 Oregon, so they look pretty legit (6-0 and up to #3 in the AP Poll) at this stage of the season. The Hoosiers do not play #1 Ohio State in the regular season, and none of the opponents in their remaining six regular season games are ranked; only Maryland at 4-2 is above .500. Ohio State also has no currently ranked teams left on its schedule, so we may very well see a pair of undefeated teams up against each other in the Big Ten Championship game on December 6th.