Cignetti, Indiana turn to Michigan after Ohio State loss

Saturday was billed as the biggest game in Memorial Stadium history, and the 1st top-5 matchup the place had ever hosted. Bloomington looked like it.

There was some injury news before kickoff. Indiana's final availability report listed Khobie Martin as out. He was the only Hoosier with an injury designation, and Andrew Barker was cleared to play.

The game was a rock fight. Indiana's secondary picked off a tipped pass early in the 2nd quarter and got the ball at the Ohio State 7. Ohio State then did what it has done every week this season. It scored a touchdown in the final 30 seconds of the half, a 4th-and-goal pass to Bo Jackson with 7 seconds left, and took a 10-7 lead. Jeremiah Smith had spent 5 straight goal-line snaps on the sideline, visibly furious, before he was sent back out for 4th down. He pulled 3 defenders his way and left Jackson wide open.

The 2nd half started badly too. On the 2nd play, Jay Timmons punched the ball out of Davion Chandler's hands after a Josh Hoover completion, and Ohio State recovered. From there the game came down to a few snaps, and fourth down decided most of them.

The last of those snaps hurt the most. Nick Marsh caught what would have been the go-ahead touchdown, but his foot came down out of bounds. That ended the 22-game win streak, the longest run of winning Indiana football has ever had, and avenged Ohio State's loss in last year's Big Ten title game.

Cignetti didn't make a big speech after it. His postgame message was about as short as one gets.

Charlie Becker gave the night its best moment. He apologized to Ryan Day for his viral taunt from last year, which, depending on who you ask, was either real sportsmanship or a guy with an NFL future getting ahead of his scouting report.

By Monday, Cignetti was back at the podium, and the Marsh play was still the main topic. He didn't put it on his receiver. Hoover had already said the throw needed to be a little further inside, and Cignetti called the play a layup that Indiana failed to finish.

There's no time to sit on it. Indiana plays at Michigan at noon Saturday, and Cignetti noted that the bye week is still 2 games away for a team coming off a physical game, with plenty of guys who felt a lot better 10 days ago.

That's where things stand. One loss doesn't take Indiana out of anything in 2026, and the defense showed on Saturday that it can hang with anyone. Still, a trip to Ann Arbor with a beat-up roster is the kind of game that can turn 1 loss into 2. If the offensive line holds and Hoover hits the throws he missed, the Ohio State game is a lesson. If not, it's the start of a slide.