It was a less than stellar defensive start for Indiana on Saturday afternoon in East Lansing. Michigan State’s Aidan Chiles was connecting with receivers all over the field, and the 13th-ranked Hoosiers not only trailed for the first time all season, but they were down double-digits after fifteen minutes of play on Saturday afternoon.
The Spartans, led by Chiles, racked up 128 total yards in the first quarter, keeping the Hoosiers on their toes with screen plays and short passes for big yards. Indiana desperately needed a spark before the game got out of hand.
“[Michigan State] made some great plays,” Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti said postgame. “A couple of those plays they made on their sidelines were great throws and catches.”
Following a pair of Michigan State scoring drives, the Hoosiers finally got the momentum shift they had been desperately searching for.
On Michigan State's third drive of the afternoon, the Spartans were driving en route to a potential third score in as many tries, but Amare Ferrell picked off Chiles on a pass that Aidan Fisher deflected.
“It was huge,” Indiana defensive lineman Mikail Kamara said of the interception. “They were driving down a little bit and that was a big switch… Amare balled out today.”
Even though the offense didn't score off the turnover, it was a change of momentum that the Hoosier defense clung out to the rest of the way.
From that point forward, the defensive relentlessness thrusted Indiana to new heights in its resounding 47-10 victory in East Lansing Saturday afternoon.
After the offense marched down the field to give the team the lead, Ferrell grabbed his second interception of the afternoon, opening the floodgates for the pending domination.
“We just started to make some plays,” Cignetti said. "We just started to execute, we settled down and started to execute. We took control up front on defense. We got turnovers. Started scoring points. They couldn't punch back."
Although the victory was a whole defensive effort, Kamara had a standout performance Saturday afternoon. The James Madison transfer put on an exhibition, totaling 7.0 tackles, 2.5 sacks, and 4.5 tackles for loss.
It was another in a laundry list of dominant performances for the redshirt junior from Ashburn, Virginia, earning him high praise from his head coach postgame.
“He’s got twitch and explosion,” Cignetti said of Kamara’s performance. “He’s got a lot of talent.”
Kamara, who became the first Hoosier to eclipse the 10.0 sack mark since Jammie Kirlew did it back in 2008, described himself as just one of the many “underdogs” on the defense, trying to prove something to those who still have questions about his team.
“We have a lot of underdogs on our team, whether it be G5 or FCS transfers, whatever it may be,” Kamara said postgame. “For some reason, a lot of people still don’t believe in us so we just gotta keep it going.”
After a barrage of first-quarter yards for the Spartans, Indiana’s dominance appeared on the stat sheet. The Spartans only mustered up 77 yards of offense in the final three quarters, including a net zero yards gained in the fourth quarter.
Cignetti, who has proven tough to impress, was astonished by his defense’s relentlessness on Saturday.
“That’s really impressive,” Cignetti said. “I don’t know if I have ever seen those kinds of numbers on a team I’ve coached and that’s great credit to our defensive players and staff.”
The most impressive defensive stat for Indiana was the amount of tackles for loss the defense amassed Saturday afternoon. As a team, Indiana had 15 tackles for loss in the victory.
The term relentless has been thrown around many times this season, and the Hoosier defense has been great all year, but Saturday’s display of unrelenting dominance was second to none.
“I mean, wow,” Cignetti said. “It got pretty dominant there at one point.”
In addition to putting on earmuffs and blinders to the metaphorical outside noise on social media, the Hoosier defense had to endure actual noise from an opposing student section for the first time this season.
After replay review confirmed a Michigan State touchdown, the student section in the south end zone began an “overrated” chant that reverberated throughout the stadium. For defensive players like Kamara, it reminded them that they needed to settle in and play their game.
“We could hear all of that stuff, but we just tuned it out,” Kamara said of the fans. “None of that really affects us.”
The call was heeded, making the early departure of the once vibrant Spartan crowd all the sweeter for Kamara and the rest of his team en route to a program record ninth consecutive win to start the season.
“All of a sudden, they fell silent… That’s the best feeling.”
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