Indiana football reaches bowl eligibility by beating Northwestern

The Indiana Hoosiers football team is one of the hottest teams in the NCAA. In fact, by beating Northwestern 41-24 on Saturday afternoon, the Hoosiers moved to 6-0 and became the first FBS program in America to become bowl-eligible.

This is the first time since 2020 that the Hoosiers have qualified for the postseason. What's more, it is only the third time in the last eight seasons that Indiana will be bowling at the end of the season.

The No. 23-ranked team in the country had to work for its sixth win of the season, though. At the end of the third quarter, the Hoosiers held just a 24-17 lead on the road.

However, in the fourth quarter, IU's prolific offense came alive. Scoring 17 points in the final frame, the Hoosiers made it impossible for the Wildcats to keep pace.

What's more, the Hoosier defense also did its part. Coming up with fourth-down stops on back-to-back Northwestern possessions in the fourth quarter, Indiana slammed the door on any hopes the home team had of pulling off the upset.

"I'm not going to say we needed a game like that," Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti said, "but we were certainly tested back and forth like we had not been tested this season."

Quarterback Kurtis Rourke passed for passed for 380 yards and three TDs in the win. However, the powerful IU offense didn't get on the board until there was under a minute left in the first quarter.

The second quarter would see each team put up ten points leading to a 17-10 IU lead at the break. In the third quarter, each team scored on TD but in the end, the Hoosiers had just too much firepower for the Wildcats as Cignetti's team pulled away in the fourth.

To get to a bowl game in the first year of the Cignetti era is no small accomplishment. After all, the Hoosiers have been playing football since 1887 and have appeared in only 13 bowl games all-time.

The job Cignetti has done this year certainly puts him in the discussion for national Coach of the Year honors. In the past three seasons, Indiana had managed just nine total wins, including only three last fall.

In just one year, though, Indiana has turned its fortunes around and now, the question turns to how good of a bowl game the Hoosiers will play in. That's because there are only two ranked teams left on this year's schedule (though those teams are No. 10 Michigan and No. 3 Ohio State).

Coming into the season, many expected the Hoosiers to struggle in the first year of the new coaching staff. Thus, the belief was that if IU was able to scratch its way into a bowl game, it would be a true success.

After just six games, IU has already put the bowl game question to bed. Now, the only question that remains is how high might this Hoosier team climb in the Big Ten.