Indiana football's visit to Pasadena to take on UCLA was only ever about one thing for the Hoosiers.
Throughout the week leading up to the Hoosiers' Big Ten opener, Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti and his players all relayed a similar message on the team's upcoming trip to the Rose Bowl.
Whether it was in a parking lot, or one of the most fabled venues in all of sports, Indiana was treating it's week three clash with UCLA as a business trip.
On Saturday, back at the Rose Bowl for the first time since 1968, the Hoosiers dominated the Bruins, taking care of business in front of a national audience.
"It will open some eyes," Cignetti said postgame. "We came out here and got done what we wanted to get done. No one in our locker room is surprised."
Indiana dominated UCLA in every facet of the game from start to finish on Saturday night.
The Hoosiers out-gained the Bruins by 192 yards, went 9-for-12 on third downs and were plus two on the turnover front en route to a commanding 42-13 beat down of the Bruins.
"I feel like it says a lot," defensive back Amare Ferrell said. "We came and knew what we had to do to take care of business -- this was a business trip -- and we did just that."
Indiana asserted its control over UCLA right from the opening kick off on Saturday night. After the Bruins won the coins toss and elected to defer, the Hoosiers' offense took the field looking to land the first punch.
Indiana's methodical march down the field against the UCLA defense culminated in Kurtis Rourke finding fellow Ohio transfer Miles Cross from three yards out to cap off a 12-play, 75-yard touchdown drove to open the scoring.
On the ensuing UCLA drive, the Bruins fumbled away possession, allowing the Hoosiers to swiftly double their early lead.
"Coach Cignetti just demanded that we come out and dominate and play our brand of football," Ferrell said. "I feel like we did a pretty good job of that."
Much of Indiana's offensive output against UCLA came through the air, as Rourke continuously carved up the Bruins secondary while firing from within a clean pocket the entire game.
Rourke completed 76% of his 33 pass attempts on Saturday for 307 yards and four passing touchdowns. Of those four passing touchdowns for Rourke, two of them found the awaiting arms of wideout Ke'Shawn Williams.
Indiana's successful beginning to Big Ten play didn't come as a surprise though to the Hoosiers' head coach.
"Am I surprised, no," Cignetti said. "I know [the win] will get a lot of people's attention. We went in and we wanted to play physical, tough, nasty and we did. It's a good win."
"We've made a lot of progress," Cignetti continued. "When you have the right people in your organization and you put the right things in their head, they're going to respond."
Indiana did something on Saturday night that isn't been done by the Hoosiers in some time.
The 29-point margin of victory for Indiana over UCLA was the Hoosiers' largest margin of victory in a conference road game since 2001. The Hoosiers aren't accustomed to blowing teams out on the road like they did out on the west coast.
After opening the season with Florida International and Western Illinois, Indiana's week three battle with UCLA figured to be the Hoosiers' first true test of the season.
It's safe to say the cream and crimson passed that test with flying colors.
"I thought we had a lot of really good pieces to compete this year," Rourke said. "It's great to see that play out. We let everybody know that [Indiana] is to be taken seriously."
Saturday's Big Ten opener for Indiana was yet another example of the ongoing culture shift underway in Bloomington.
Cignetti has taken over this Indiana program and instilled a confidence that has translated -- so far -- to positive results on the field, fueling Indiana football fans with hope for the first time in years.
Throughout the offseason, Cignetti talked the talk. Through the first three weeks of the season, him and his Hoosiers are now walking the walk.
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