BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – After an emphatic win at Oregon last week, Indiana (6-0, 3-0 Big Ten) must put that game in the past. The Hoosiers host Michigan State (3-3, 0-3 Big Ten) this week, and they must refocus after the biggest win in program history.

Letdown games have haunted college football’s elite teams for years. Teams don’t easily recover from the high of beating a highly ranked opponent and can end up losing or barely defeating an inferior team. The Hoosiers are on a quest to ensure that doesn’t happen to them against the Spartans this week.

“I think the key now is our response coming off of this game,” Indiana coach Curt Cignetti said Monday. “But that's always the key, right? And this team has met every challenge up to this point, because they've been hungry and humble, prepared properly and put it on the field, which requires commitment, discipline, sacrifice, eliminating the noise and clutter, controlling the controllables, and putting themselves in the best position for success, because when you prepare properly, it breeds confidence and brings out your best.”

Indiana has been this great because of exceptional preparation. Cignetti and his staff make sure their players are ready for what’s in front of them, which leads to a lot of blowout wins. Only two of Indiana’s 17 wins under Cignetti have come by less than 10 points.

This team is getting more hype than ever. Even when the Hoosiers began last season 10-0, they weren’t as respected because of their favorable Big Ten schedule. Now this team is ranked higher than any Indiana team ever, and the pressure to perform is on weekly.

With this newfound attention, Indiana is working to stay grounded. Indiana is 12-0 at home under Cignetti, and it’s looking to keep that unbeaten streak going.

“We would be doing a disservice to ourselves if we kind of got up for certain opponents and treated certain opponents lightly,” Indiana running back Roman Hemby said Tuesday. “We’re attacking this game as if it’s our Super Bowl because it’s our next game and it’s the next opportunity to showcase our talents.” 

The Hoosiers are looking to put the Oregon game behind them. Doing so has been a clear point of emphasis throughout the week as they host a Michigan State team that has lost three straight games.

“We don’t really dwell on the past — good, bad or indifferent,” Indiana cornerback D’Angelo Ponds said. “We’re on to the next. So it was a big win, we enjoyed it for that week, but we’re on to the next.”

Indiana will be favored in every regular season it plays for the rest of the year, as there’s not a ranked team left on its schedule. In less than two seasons, Cignetti has flipped Indiana from the hunters to the hunted, and this team will get opponents’ best shot from this point forward.

Indiana entered the season with lofty goals that seem very realistic now. The Hoosiers are looking to enter uncharted territory for this program, but they must concentrate on what’s directly in front of them to reach those ultimate goals.

“We want to win the Big Ten championship, we want to win the national championship, and it’s just (about) going to work every day and trying to make it happen,” Hemby said. “So, we’re not going to look ahead. We’re going to play one game at a time, one player at a time, and we’ll look up at the end and see where we are.” 

The Hoosiers haven’t won a Big Ten championship since 1967, but Indiana and No. 1 Ohio State are the only undefeated teams left in the conference. If the Hoosiers perform how they should in their final six games, they’ll make the Big Ten championship game for the first time since it was introduced in 2011.

Indiana needs to stay focused and level-headed as the spotlight on it gets brighter, and that starts this week against a spiraling Michigan State team.