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Saturday was a showcase for Indiana University and its football program, but on the field, the Hoosier defense was dominant.

While College GameDay was warming up the crowd outside the stadium, the ever-stout defense’s play lit up Memorial Stadium.

The defense that has prided itself on being the best in the country forced turnovers and stymied the Washington offense as Indiana downed the visiting Huskies 31-17 in front of another sold-out Memorial Stadium crowd.

“Defensive stops kept coming back, coming up with plays,” Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti said following the win. “We gutted it out.”

The Hoosiers got off to a fast start in the first quarter, forcing a quick three and out on the game’s opening possession. After the offense punted the ball back to Washington, the Huskies pounded the ball down to the Indiana 31, but D’Angelo Ponds sniffed out a screen play, picked off Will Rogers, and dashed 65 yards to the south endzone to give the Hoosier defense its first touchdown in Big Ten play. The pick-six was the first of Ponds’ collegiate career.

“It felt unreal,” Ponds said of the feeling of the return postgame. “I prayed for it, and it happened.”

Following a fourth-down stop in their own territory, the Indiana defense had their first blemish on their resumé; a brisk 6-play, 75-yard touchdown drive for Washington that spanned just under three minutes.

Mikail Kamara, Indiana’s leader on the defensive line, had another masterful performance with a game-high 1.5 tackles-for-loss and a sack. After the scoring drive, however, the James Madison transfer knew his team had to buckle down defensively – and it started with accountability.

“We get on each other,” Kamara said. “Its never anything personal but this is what we expect and is something we got to keep doing.”

Washington struggled to move the football on their next drive, turning the ball over on downs, but found pay-dirt on their first possession of the second half immediately after an interception on the first play of the half.

The Huskies cut the lead down to three, there was pessimism in the air in Bloomington, and there was a feeling of air rapidly escaping memorial stadium. In contrast to years past, the page was turned, and it was as if a switch had been flipped and the Indiana defense had sat up in its chair.

Ready to make their statement, the Hoosiers locked in defensively and held Rogers and the Husky offense in check until the end of the game.

“The defense really saved us,” Cignetti said of the defensive turnaround. “Saved us, and then came up with some big turnovers.”

Aidan Fisher led all Hoosiers in tackles with nine as the defense held the Washington offense to just 129 total yards in the second half of Saturday afternoon’s game.

Not only did the defense hold the Washington offense at bay for the majority of the game, they played a clean game with zero penalties charged to the defense.

“That’s the biggest thing with our defense,” Kamara said of the discipline. “This defense is supposed to be the best defense in the country, and we bring that energy and confidence every single time.”

Saturday marked the sixth time in eight games this season that the Indiana defense has allowed less than 20 points, with Washington only scoring 17 points. The defense is putting up numbers that haven’t been seen in Bloomington in quite some time.

With the victory, the thirteenth-ranked Hoosiers improved to 8-0, joining the 1967 Rose Bowl team as the only teams in program history to remain unbeaten in their first eight games of a season.

Despite yet another impressive defensive performance, Cignetti remains incredibly coy about the play of his defense but knows that his team made more than enough plays to win this week.

“There will be a lot of mistakes out there,” Really good teams, championship teams, they find ways to win games, and that's what we did today.”

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