How Indiana football finished Bucket win 'with an exclamation point'

WEST LAFAYETTE — Indiana football’s closer than expected wins over Penn State and Wisconsin had Curt Cignetti questioning whether his team had lost its “killer instinct” during the off week.

Cignetti doesn’t go into every game expecting a blowout win, but if an opponent is on the ropes he wants IU to slam the door shut.

As happy as Cignetti was to be heading to the Big Ten title game, he was just as pleased that the No. 2 Hoosiers (12-0, 9-0) were back to their old self on Friday night in a 56-3 win over Purdue at Ross-Ade Stadium.

"I didn't feel like we improved those two weeks, we asked our guys to do more,” Cignetti said.

It’s why Indiana looked just as motivated for the Old Oaken Bucket game as it did last season when it was looking to use the matchup as a way to show the College Football Playoff committee it belonged in the field.

Indiana didn’t need a resume boost this year, but still got one by beating the Boilermakers by more points (53) than the combined margin of victory of Notre Dame (26) and Ohio State (24), two fellow postseason contenders.

"My message today to the staff and the team was do we still have a killer instinct? Can we play for one another as a team,” Cignetti said. “We don't have a lot of selfishness on this team, but anytime you have 105 players, there's some, right? Can we leave that in the locker room so it doesn't show up on the field.”

Indiana put the game away by dominating the middle eight — the last four minutes of the first half and first four minutes of the third quarter.

Before halftime, IU running back Roman Hemby broke an 82-yard touchdown run. It was the longest run of the season for the Hoosiers and tied for the longest run for the program in the history of the bucket game.

The offense put together an 11-play, 89-yard drive coming out of halftime that lasted for nearly half of the third quarter. Hemby and Kaelon Black did a lot of the heavy lifting to set up a 17-yard touchdown from Fernando Mendoza to Elijah Sarratt to go up 35-3.

“At halftime when we were up 28-3, we challenged the team to play the best third quarter of the season and I thought they responded and tried to do that,” Cignetti said.

Indiana’s defense allowed just 45 yards and forced a fumble in the third while the offense put up 195 yards with Fernando Mendoza attempting just three passes. The offense averaged 13 yards per play in the quarter.

“I'm sure it wasn't perfect, I know it wasn't perfect, but it was a good night,” Cignetti said. “The whole thing was we wanted to walk out of this game with an exclamation point and not a question mark."

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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana football finishes Bucket game win with 'exclamation point'