BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (WDRB) -- For the first time in decades, football is the main attraction at Indiana University.
The Hoosiers reached No. 3 in the Associated Press poll, the highest an IU football team has been ranked in the program's history.
"Four touchdown favorite at home?" IU student Steven Smith said, referencing Saturday's upcoming game against Michigan State. "If you'd have told me a year ago, I wouldn't believe it. It's awesome."
Smith, IU fans across Bloomington and most who are paying attention to the program believe much of the credit belongs to head coach Curt Cignetti, who has led the Hoosiers to a perfect start.
Indiana is 17-2 with Cignetti at the helm.
"Pay him as much as he wants," Smith said. "Blank check."
The university committed to paying him quite a bit this week. Cignetti inked a contract extension worth $93 million that will keep him in Bloomington for another eight seasons.
"I plan on retiring a Hoosier," he told fans in a video posted to Indiana Football's social media accounts.
On Friday at The Upstairs Pub on Kirkwood Avenue, bartender Sam Grant said the crowd has been growing with every win.
"It'll probably just be shoulder to shoulder all day," Grant said. "It'll be a madhouse."
Grant said fans are expecting another big victory Saturday.
"A lot to a little," he said, predicting a score. "That's what it's going to be."
And that's the prediction from most fans strolling through a town that is on fire right now.
Bloomington is the type of place where you'll just happen to rub shoulders with a former player like Eric Stolberg.
"I was on the IU Rose Bowl team," he said Friday with pride.
Stolberg was a receiver on the 1968 Hoosier team that won the Rose Bowl. He knows the buzz is palpable when Indiana is winning.
"Just go to the stadium tomorrow," he said. "You'll see it. I mean, it'll be a full house. They'll have the towels going. It's energy, bro."
Fans have traveled from across the country, not just for homecoming but to see Hoosier football and believe it.
"Unbelievable. Could have never believed it," said Dusty Dunaway, a 1990 IU graduate who came from Utah with his family for the weekend. "It's awesome. We are going to win."
Amy McGuire, another IU graduate, said her family made the trip to Bloomington to celebrate together.
"There's 18 of us here to celebrate homecoming from my family," McGuire said. "We're all Hoosiers, born and raised. We're excited. This is awesome. It's just a festive atmosphere."
McGuire said this season has put Indiana on the map in a new way.
"IU has always been an amazing school, but now, everyone is going to know that — everyone in the country," she said.
The Hoosiers will host Michigan State at Memorial Stadium at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.
Indiana Football Coverage:
CRAWFORD | Google him now: Cignetti cashes in, and Indiana plants its football flag
Indiana extends Cignetti through 2033, making him one of college football's highest-paid coaches
Indiana football vaults to No. 3 in the AP Top 25, the highest ranking in its history
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