Indiana was the darling of college football last year, winning 11 games and making the College Football Playoff despite being the losingest program in the history of the sport. This year, though, was supposed to be different, more back to normal for the Hoosiers.
That's clearly not happening. Not on Curt Cignetti's watch.
The Hoosiers' tough stretch to open the Big Ten was supposed to show their true colors. Instead, Indiana dispatched then-No. 9 Illinois 63-10 on Sept 18, then went on the road to win at Iowa a week later. But their Saturday trip to Oregon was supposed to be too much against the No. 3 Ducks, who had won 18 straight at home, and 23 regular-season games overall.
Instead, the Hoosiers dominated in the second half and took a 30-20 victory to go to 6-0 on the season. With the win, they've jumped up four spots to No. 3 in the Week 8 Associated Press Top-25 poll.
It's the highest ranking in school history.
"We're not just a one-hit wonder," Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza said after the Hoosiers beat Oregon. "And it shows that we can go through some stuff in the game, we can handle adversity. We're a gritty team, and we really band together and we have each other's back.''
Zion Brown of Hoosiers Roundtable wrote about the history the Hoosiers are making this week. To read his complete story, CLICK HERE
Oregon dropped five spots to No. 8. Oklahoma, which lost 23-6 to Texas in the Red River Shootout, had the biggest fall, dropping eight spots to No. 14 from No. 16. Michigan took the biggest fall after losing to unranked USC, dropped out of the rankings entirely after being ranked No. 15 in Week 7.
Here are this week's rankings, released on Sunday.
1. Ohio State Buckeyes, 50 first-place votes (6-0)
2. Miami Hurricanes, 13 first-place votes (5-0)
3. Indiana Hoosiers, 3 first-place votes (6-0)
4. Texas A&M Aggies (6-0)
5. Ole Miss Rebels (6-0)
6. Alabama Crimson Tide (5-1)
7. Texas Tech Red Raiders (6-0)
8. Oregon Ducks (5-1)
9. Georgia Bulldogs (5-1)
10. LSU Tigers (5-1)
11. Tennessee Volunteers (5-1)
12. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (6-0)
13. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (4-2)
14. Oklahoma Sooners (5-1)
15. BYU Cougars (6-0)
16. Missouri Tigers (5-1)
17. Vanderbilt Commodores (5-1)
18. Virginia Cavaliers (5-1)
19. South Florida Bulls (5-1)
20. USC Trojans (5-1)
21. Texas Longhorns (4-2)
22. Memphis Tigers (6-0)
23. Utah Utes (5-1)
24. Cincinnati Bearcats (5-1)
25. Nebraska Cornhuskers (5-1)
Others receiving votes: Illinois 113, Michigan 73, Washington 36, UNLV 30, Navy 11, Mississippi State 8, Tulane 2, San Diego State 2.
Dropped from rankings: Michigan 15, Illinois 17, Arizona State 21, Iowa State 22, Florida State 25.