Hoosiers Cap Biggest Season Ever With 66-0 Blowout Victory Of Rival Purdue

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – For many years of Indiana football, a win over Purdue was a sweet but often irrelevant end to a mostly meaningless season. This year it was a lovely cherry on top of a most beautiful season.

The Hoosiers crushed their archrivals on a snow-dusted Saturday night, winning 66-0 under the lights at Memorial Stadium. It was their first Bucket win since 2019 and first in Bloomington since 2016.

In the greatest season in school history, the Hoosiers finished 11-1 and now await a probable invitation to the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff. It was their school-record 10th double-digit win of the season and they scored 40-plus points for the eighth time, also a school record.

It’s just as first-year coach Curt Cignetti envisioned it when he took the job. The Hoosiers wanted to make a statement Saturday against their archrivals — and they did just that.

“It’s a historic year for Indiana, and we’re not done yet,” Cignetti said. “We definitely made a statement and I can’t say enough about what this team has done between the white lines. I thought our defense was great tonight and really swarmed the ball and created turnovers. And of course we made a lot of offensive play.”

There is no doubt about that. Indiana gained 582 yards and Purdue had just 67. Purdue had just 13 yards rushing on 24 attempts and was 0-for-11 on third-down conversions.

It came as no surprise that the result was never in doubt. Indiana, a 29.5-point favorite against a Purdue team that finished 1-11 and lost all nine Big Ten games, scored touchdowns on four of its six first-half possessions to roar out to a 28-0- guidance. The Hoosiers’ defense was stifling, allowing just 54 yards in the half and holding Purdue to 0-for-6 on third-down conversions.

All four Indiana scoring drives were 70 yards or more. Running back Justice Ellison scored first on a 2-yard run with 6:21 left in the first, and Ke’Shawn Williams made it 14-0 on a 14-yard pass from Kurtis Rourke at 11:31 in the second. neighborhood.

Indiana’s third touchdown was their longest scoring play of the season. His second quarter TD pass to Elijah Sarratt went 84 yards and was the fifth-longest passing game in program history. They made it 28-0 with 2:52 left in the half on a 4-yard run by Ty Son Lawton.

About the only bad thing for Indiana in the first half was that freshman kicker Nicolas Radicic missed his first kick of the year late in the first quarter, a 46-yard attempt. He had been perfect until then. After Saturday, he is now 9-for-10 on field goals and a perfect 69-for-69 on PATs.

This was the largest margin of victory in the Old Oaken Bucket Series for Indiana since a 52-7 victory in 1988 at West Lafayette. The previous biggest win in Bloomington was 37-0 in 1917 – just 107 years ago.

The second half was all about rewriting the record books, and Kurtis Rourke had a huge hand in that. He completed 23 of 31 passes for 349 yards and caught a school-record six touchdown passes. “He was right on the button all night,” Cigetti said.

Rourke had four more TD passes in the second half, connecting with Elijah Sarratt, Zach Horton, Miles Cross and Omar Cooper. Sarratt had eight catches for 165 yards.

The win was unusually sweet for Indiana offensive lineman Mike Katic, who saw Indiana win the Bucket in 2019 but saw three years of tough times recently. He decided to return for one more year after Cignetti was hired and has really enjoyed this epic turnaround.

This whole season has been fun, but this last exclamation mark was something else. After all, it is 66-0 – and with a lot of new teammates. Beating a hated rival – and hate is not too strong a word – is extra sweet.

“It was a lot about buying into a new culture with all the new people and turning it around. It’s an incredible thing,” Katic said. “It’s crazy how much of a difference a few years can make. I’m so happy to be a part of this culture that we have now and I’m so happy for the fans and the alumni.

“We came into this week with a chip on our shoulder and we had to prove something. We don’t like them and some choice words were said to get everyone behind the rivalry. I’m just so thankful that I came back. 66-0, it’s the happiest I’ve been in a long time, I’m over the moon right now.”

Indiana finished second in the Big Ten with an 8-1 record but lost a tiebreaker to Penn State, which will play Oregon for the league championship next Saturday in Indiana.

The Hoosiers will await their postseason fate when the College Football Playoff 12-team bracket is announced next week. Cignetti is confident the Hoosiers have done enough.

“We’re not done yet,” he said.

No, they are not.