BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (WDRB) -- Just one year ago, Indiana University football was 2-5 through the first seven games.

But in 2024, the Hoosiers are off to a 7-0 start for the first time since 1967 behind first-year head coach Curt Cignetti.

The Hoosiers are 7-0.

Due to the recent success, ESPN's College GameDay will be in Bloomington this weekend for a Saturday game for the first time and excitement is already in the air.

The soundtrack for the game is coming from 100 students that are in Bloomington for the love of the university.

"This is my first year, it is kinda weird," IU freshman Robert Munoz, a Floyds Knobs native, said Thursday. "Because the first game, there was basically nobody. There were so many open seats, and then the last game there was barely a seat in the entire stadium."

Thursday night in Bloomington, the ESPN College GameDay stage is nearly done. 

College GameDay is hosted by Rece Davis, Desmond Howard, Pat McAfee, Nick Saban and Kirk Herbstreit.

The Hoosiers will host Washington, who lost in the National Championship game last season, in front of a sellout crowd at noon.

College GameDay will be a homecoming for former IU coach Lee Corso. He was Indiana's football coach from 1973-82. With an overall record of 41-68-2, Corso led the Hoosiers to their first bowl win. He's been an analyst for College Gameday on ESPN since 1987.

Over the last few years, IU football fans have grown accustomed to losing. But this year, they're having a "pinch me, is this real?" moment under a new coach, Cignetti. 

"He has done a great job this season. This year is a legitimate team," said William Stewart, a junior at IU who is helping ESPN with technical setup. "I think they have proven that seven games into the season."

For the past 14 years, Dr. Eric Smedley has led the Indiana Marching 100 Band. He has been to every home game during his tenure. But he was also a student, earning his undergraduate and graduate degrees. 

"This is 20 years for me at IU. Twenty years of IU football and every home football game," Smedley said. "You know football, you know we always get very excited for the season around this time of year. In the past, historically there has been some less than exciting football but this year, wow. I mean it is really amazing to see."

The Marching 100 Band was practicing near the football stadium Thursday afternoon running through their GameDay routine.

"It brings the hype and I'm glad there are more people doing that now," said Louisville native Christopher Watson, who is in his second year at IU.

On Saturday, the Hoosiers will take the field for a national audience, which comes with a new level of nerves. But those nerves are welcome, considering the past few decades of less than exciting football.

"I know for people like me that have been around a while and we get nervous, right? Like is this real? Is this gonna get taken away? At any moment I think it is," said Smedley, who will have his concentration on the music while watching the Hoosiers this weekend when, for the first time in a generation, IU has a football team where a win on Saturday will put a lot of nerves at ease.

Two-time MLB all-star and former Indiana Hoosier Kyle Schwarber will be the guest picker Saturday. Schwarber had 38 runs this season for the Philadelphia Phillies.

He was taken fourth overall in the 2014 MLB Draft after leading Indiana to the College World Series.

College GameDay will be live from the South End Plaza at Memorial Stadium with gates opening at 6:30 a.m. and the show starts at 9 a.m.

The game will be broadcasted on the Big Ten Network at noon. Indiana also announced that the game will be a Red Out for fans.

Previous Coverage: 

Copyright 2024 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.