Indiana is the real deal — it’s time for the college football world to take notice

Indiana used one of college football’s biggest stages — “Big Noon Kickoff” — and the opportunity to play one of the sport’s biggest brand-named teams, Nebraska, to announce itself. Not as a Cinderella story. Leave the glass slippers in the closet. Not as a feel-good tonic in a sport where change is constant. Cook your “Chicken Soup for the Soul” for someone who needs it — like Nebraska.

Indiana wants its name known nationwide as one of the 12 best teams in the country. And after the 56-7 hurting Curt Cignetti’s Hoosiers put on Nebraska Saturday afternoon in Bloomington, Indiana, it’s time for the country to start taking this Indiana team seriously. The excuses we would use to keep a team like Indiana out of the playoff conversation are being sliced away like a field full of Nebraska-grown corn.

Indiana hadn’t beaten a team with a winning record? Toast.

Nebraska hadn’t allowed a single rushing touchdown through the first half of the season? Gone. The Hoosiers scored two touchdowns on the ground in the first half alone.

Nebraska walked into Memorial Stadium in Bloomington ranking among the top 10 teams in the nation in scoring defense (11 points per game). And then, just like that, Indiana put up 28 points in the first half, 21 of which came in the second quarter alone, and 56 total points (yes, 56!) in one of the more dominant offensive performances we’ve seen in Big Ten play this season.

And now that we’ve established the Hoosiers as a legitimate contender for both the College Football Playoff and the Big Ten title, we must acknowledge the individual brilliance of Kurtis Rourke and Elijah Sarratt.