Defending champion Indiana survived a scare Friday night against Northwestern, eking out a 29-23 win in the 2026 Big Ten opener.
The Hoosiers were nearly three touchdown favorites most of the week, but that never came close to hitting. In fact, for most of the first quarter, Indiana led Northwestern by a robust score of …
2-0.
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That’s right. 2-0! Nothing like a little Friday night pitcher’s duel in Bloomington. It’s rare to see a 2-0 score in a football game, by the way. Duh.
So when it happens, you have to soak it in.
Amazing. I could watch it all day. Again, you just don’t see it. Old school football, baby!
Anyway, it was a struggle for Indiana most of the night. The Hoosiers had leads of 2-0, 5-0, 12-0, and 12-7 before Northwestern closed the gap to 22-20 midway through the fourth quarter.
Indiana Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti after defeating the Miami Hurricanes in the College Football Playoff National Championship game at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida on Jan. 19, 2026. (Mark J. Rebilas/Imagn Images)
The defending champs prevailed, but it wasn’t pretty. Perhaps opening the game with back-to-back false starts — followed by a turnover on downs at the goal line — was a harbinger of things to come.
At least that’s what head coach Curt Cignetti took away …
Sort of:
Curt Cignetti is a college football content machine
“We got Pearl Harbored the first two offensive plays.”
Well, that’s certainly one way to put it. I’ll be honest, I’ve never heard that one. Good stuff here from Cignetti. Nobody does it quite like him.
The guy is just a content machine. It’s Cignetti, Lane Kiffin, and then everyone else.
Indiana Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti is seen following a college football game between the Northwestern Wildcats and Indiana Hoosiers on Sept. 25, 2026, at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, Ind. (Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Cig has owned college football for the better part of a year now. He came into Indiana, made the Hoosiers a football school, led them to a national title and he doesn’t appear to be slowing down this season.
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Magical quotes like this, of course, are a dime a dozen from Cignetti. Remember, this is the guy who started his tenure at Indiana by telling a group of reporters to “Google me.”
We mocked him them. Nobody’s laughing now.
Indiana Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti hoists the George P. Crumbley Trophy after defeating the Oregon Ducks in the 2025 College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Jan. 9, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)
The Hoosiers are sort of coasting their way through the first part of the season. Not a ton of folks talking about them.
But the schedule goes up a notch in October with Michigan and Ohio State looming.
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Cignetti said it best last night.
There’s a war brewing.