No. 13 Indiana improved to 9-0, a program record for the best start to the season, with a 47-10 victory over Michigan State at Spartan Stadium on Saturday in East Lansing, Michigan.

The Hoosiers trailed 10-0 after the first quarter, then scored 47 unanswered points over the next three quarters. Quarterback Kurtis Rourke returned from a thumb injury and completed 19 of 29 passes for 263 yards, four touchdowns and no turnovers.

Here’s what Indiana coach Curt Cignetti said during his postgame press conference.

Opening statement

Cignetti: “Happy road victory. Well, you know, we can no longer say we’re a team that’s never led before because we lost 10-0. Now we all know how we are going to react when we are down. I probably won’t answer this question on Thursday evening. Michigan State came out and really made some impressive plays on offense, throwing and catching. We responded with a nice touchdown and got some turnovers on defense, which were huge. And we were making offensive plays, timely plays. And then our kicking game really started to make its contribution. In our punt return game we had a couple good returns, then we blocked a punt and put a lot of pressure on, they botched a punt, which led to points. It was definitely a pretty dominant win, 47 straight points on the road against, I think, a good football team. And we got the crowd out of the game, certainly, and you know, it’s a great win. We will enjoy it for 24 hours, the staff will enjoy it for about 12 hours and it will be a pleasant journey home.

On how the team manages to stay focused as success continues…

Cignetti: “Well, I think we’re all on the same page. I think they buy into the basics, how we approach the basics, what’s important to us and how we want to play. They are older. They have good character. There is good leadership on this team. They are hungry for success. A lot of these guys came from the G5 level, even the nose guard (CJ West) came from Kent (State). I have guys that came from P5, Wake Forest, Texas Tech, Wisconsin. We have a good leader at quarterback. We have a lot of guys who can be good leaders. We are balanced in attack. We spread the ball around, we have a lot of guys who can make plays. And defensively, we are wreaking havoc up front. We invade the ball. They have a little advantage. The whole team has a little advantage, they are relentless. So they continue to play very consistently, never perfect, and they are never satisfied, never satisfied. »

On Kurtis Rourke dealing with a thumb injury…

Cignetti: “Well, I think I knew early Monday, maybe Tuesday, that he would be able to start. Each day improved from the day before, in terms of execution, speed and accuracy. You know, was there some curiosity about the effectiveness of human nature, I think – but then I decided at some point to just believe in our team, right, it’s what you have to do as a head coach and leader, you have to believe in it. in your team, attack, attack, attack, and they will feed off it. And I thought he played very well.

On what he saw of the team responding to adversity…

Cignetti: “Well, I’m not so much talking about wanting to see him, you’re the one who did, okay. I knew at some point we’d be late. And I knew everything would be okay, everything would be fine, but now we are late and we have responded.

On how the defense embodied relentlessness…

Cignetti: “Yeah, 15 tackles for loss, seven sacks. See, I don’t have a full composite in front of me, but it’s really impressive. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen those kinds of numbers in a team I’ve coached. That’s a credit to our defensive players and staff, and they pursued it from the start. You have to win from the start. That’s the first thing you have to do to win games, win up front on both sides of the ball. I know we took out the quarterback at one point. But wow, yeah, I mean, it was pretty dominant. It became quite dominant there at one point.

On what changed after lagging in the first quarter…

Cignetti: “I think we just started making some plays. We left a few plays out there, like early in the game, we should have converted that third try on our bench at Miles Cross. He had a huge cushion and the throw was a little wrong, it’s a ball he usually catches. This is a first down conversion. We didn’t play. And then on the first play of the game we had a good gain and then we ran a play action and I thought there was a catch that maybe we could have gotten away with, maybe be, but you know. I mean, they made some great plays. A few plays they made on their sideline were great throws and catches. Then we just started executing, we settled in, started executing and we took over the defense, got the turnovers, started scoring points. They couldn’t fight back.

On D’Angelo Ponds and other successful special teams players…

Cignetti: “Yeah, it’s great. And that’s why he’s here, because we think he can do it. Because we don’t often call this block, and we thought it was a good time. They were on the second long snapper and their operation was a little slow. This is who (Ponds) is. He’s 100% all the time. »

On what the story of Indiana’s 9-0 start should be…

Cignetti: “That’s up to you to determine.” You have a job, I have a job, right. And my job is to make them the best they can be, and we’ll go home and they can enjoy it, right. And tomorrow it will be with the staff. I will arrive early in the morning and we will start the process again. When it’s all said and done, then, you know, you can put your sail on it, and I’ll have a little time to think, which I haven’t had a lot of time to do. In this business, it’s impossible, because the next challenge always comes.”

On his message during Indiana’s timeout after Michigan State’s touchdown…

Cignetti: “I had contested the exam and it was within limits. You could see it. But at that time, I didn’t see it. And someone up there said, boy, I don’t know. And I thought it would be a good time to issue a challenge.

On what Indiana’s response after a rough start says about Indiana’s coaching staff…

Cignetti: “I think it speaks more about our team than us as a staff. It all depends on the team, right. We are a team that, historically, has won close games. Now, not on this particular team, because we haven’t been on many of them, right. But the way we play the game should lead to that when we’re in it. So I think it says a lot more about the players and how we run the program and how they respond.

If he thought Mikail Kamara could be this dominant…

Cignetti: “Kamara?” Yeah, I saw him all spring and all fall camp. I mean, yes, he has twitches, explosions and he’s very talented.