BLOOMINGTON — Indiana football’s locker room faced an unfamiliar feeling on Saturday afternoon.
After suffering a setback with a 19-15 loss to Ohio State, the No. 4 Hoosiers (6-1, 3-1) felt the sting of defeat.
In the final minute, Indiana faced the added heartbreak of Nick Marsh snagging the potential go-ahead score against the No. 5 Buckeyes (6-1, 4-0) with his foot out of bounds.
“I told the kids it was a tough one,” IU coach Curt Cignetti said. “Really proud of the effort. We gave ourselves a chance to win and certainly had the opportunity to.”
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Ohio State ended IU’s 22-game win streak and handed the program its first home loss of Cignetti’s tenure — they were also undefeated (7-0) in one-possession games during that stretch — but the Hoosiers who spoke to reporters after the game had no interest in eulogizing those accomplishments.
“That doesn't really feel like a real thing right now,” Indiana receiver Charlie Becker said. “And we're all just kind of really upset.”
They are also determined.
Having shed the label of being college football’s losingest program early in Cignetti’s tenure, Indiana has no interest in going back to the days where silence and disappointment permeated throughout the locker room.
“We all hate to lose,” Indiana safety Amare Ferrell said. “We haven't lost in a while, but I mean, we still have to just let this loss teach us and move on forward.”
Cignetti built his post game message to his players around a similar sentiment. He kept it simple by telling them the “sun comes up tomorrow.” His point being, all Indiana’s goals — except a perfect season — are still on the table.
“It's still all ahead of us,” Cignetti said. “We can accomplish anything we want.”
More: Indiana football’s Curt Cignetti identifies turning point in Ohio State loss
That’s especially true for a team that’s faced down adversity like Indiana has over the last two weeks. The Hoosiers were a foot, literally, away from pulling out a double-digit comeback in the fourth quarter for a second straight week.
This one against a Buckeyes team that has one of the most talented rosters in the country.
“We made some plays in crunch time to even give ourselves a chance, right? That's just who we are as a team,” Hoover said. “We're fighters, and we've got a lot of guys in that locker room who don't quit. And so I think when you have a locker room full of guys who don't quit, and they believe in each other, and they're tough, and they're gonna play for one another, anything is possible.”
Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Indiana football won't let end of record win streak derail championship aspirations