regular-season\u00a0meeting 30-20 on Oct. 11<\/a>\u00a0inside Autzen Stadium in Eugene,\u00a0Oregon.\u00a0Not only did\u00a0the\u00a0win mark\u00a0a\u00a0high point\u00a0for Indiana\u2019s historically dreadful\u00a0program, but\u00a0it also showed the Cream and Crimson were ready to compete \u2014 and beat \u2014 college football\u2019s best.\u00a0<\/p>\nAfter that, Indiana defeated\u00a0then-No. 1\u00a0Ohio State to win the Big Ten title and went on to annihilate the University of Alabama in the Rose Bowl.\u00a0But\u00a0despite\u00a0each historic, program-defining win the Hoosiers have notched this season,\u00a0a win in\u00a0Friday\u2019s\u00a0Peach Bowl\u00a0would propel them a step closer to the\u00a0ultimate goal: a national championship.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hard to beat a good team twice?\u00a0<\/p>\n
In\u00a030\u00a0previous\u00a0postseason rematches in college football history, just nine teams have won both\u00a0meetings.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were fortunate to win the game out in Eugene,\u201d Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti said in a\u00a0Zoom\u00a0press conference Jan. 3. \u201cIt’s\u00a0hard to beat\u00a0a great team\u00a0twice.\u00a0Very difficult. So, edged Oregon there (at Autzen Stadium),\u00a0but\u00a0ought to\u00a0be a great game. Looking forward to the challenge.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Playing a team twice\u00a0lets\u00a0each squad\u00a0know who\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0lining up against.\u00a0Both the Hoosiers and the Ducks gained such familiarity\u00a0in\u00a0Week\u00a07. The loss marked\u00a0Oregon\u2019s first at Autzen Stadium since\u00a02022. It was\u00a0Ducks redshirt sophomore quarterback Dante\u00a0Moore\u2019s\u00a0maiden\u00a0defeat\u00a0as the starting signal caller.\u00a0He went\u00a021\u00a0for\u00a034\u00a0for\u00a0186\u00a0yards\u00a0passing\u00a0with\u00a0one touchdown and two interceptions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Moore said during a press conference Tuesday that he was \u201ckind of seeing ghosts\u201d when he went through his progressions\u00a0too quickly and\u00a0failed to\u00a0process a receiver was open\u00a0during the regular season meeting.\u00a0He also\u00a0attempted\u00a0to rush and escape whenever he\u00a0stepped up in the pocket\u00a0instead of climbing up,\u00a0settling\u00a0and firing a pass toward a receiver, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, those are probably the two biggest things, just got to learn from there,\u201d Moore said. \u201cBut,\u00a0yeah,\u00a0I’m\u00a0feeling\u00a0real\u00a0confident and excited.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The\u00a0loss provided\u00a0the\u00a0Ducks\u00a0the\u00a0opportunity to learn from their\u00a0shortcomings. It was a critical point in their season that\u00a0allowed for\u00a0reflection.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now, Cignetti said that because Oregon previously fell to Indiana, the Ducks have \u201ca little added edge\u201d psychologically.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Oregon junior outside linebacker\u00a0Matayo Uiagalelei is a prime example of Cignetti\u2019s point. When he spoke\u00a0during a press conference Monday, Uiagalelei explained\u00a0he and his teammates\u00a0are\u00a0eager for Friday. They have an opportunity to avenge their loss\u00a0and to \u201cget a get-back.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
However,\u00a0a team\u2019s\u00a0way of thinking\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0score points or make defensive stops.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBut at the end of the day, it’s\u00a0determined by what goes on between the white lines,\u201d Cignetti said. \u201cIt will be a tremendous challenge because Oregon,\u00a0they’re\u00a0very well coached, and they got\u00a0good players.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
How Indiana has same motivation as Oregon\u00a0<\/p>\n
Although the Hoosiers defeated the Ducks by 10 points in the regular season, they still felt they\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0play a \u201cclean\u201d game, senior linebacker Aiden Fisher said during a Zoom press conference Tuesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A busted\u00a0coverage in Indiana\u2019s secondary allowed Oregon to score a 44-yard touchdown in the first quarter. Then, redshirt junior quarterback Fernando Mendoza threw a pick-6 early in the fourth quarter.\u00a0It was far from the Hoosiers\u2019 best game in Fisher\u2019s eyes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSo,\u00a0as much as the mental games that it can play on either team, we have just as much motivation, if not more, to really prove ourselves again,\u201d Fisher said.\u00a0\u201cLike, we have so much more to prove to play a cleaner football game and to really prove ourselves.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Indiana has spent much of the last two seasons under\u00a0Cignetti\u00a0proving\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0not the program of old. Instead,\u00a0it’s\u00a0one\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0risen\u00a0to join the premier powers of the sport.\u00a0A national championship would solidify\u00a0perhaps the\u00a0greatest turnaround in\u00a0college football\u00a0history.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But the\u00a0Peach Bowl\u00a0comes\u00a0next.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI don’t really want to pay any mind to that game\u00a0(Oct. 11),\u201d Fisher said.\u00a0\u201cIt’s\u00a0all focused on this one, and we\u00a0have to\u00a0go out there and prove it again.\u00a0…\u00a0This is way more important, and a game we\u00a0have to\u00a0be focused on 100%.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATLANTA \u2014 Since the College Football Playoff\u2019s\u00a0inception\u00a0ahead of the 2014 season, there have been just five regular-season rematches…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":399892,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-399891","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=399891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399891\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}