​PISCATAWAY, NEW JERSEY – OCTOBER 03: Head coach Curt Cignetti of the Indiana Hoosiers looks on during the first quarter against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at SHI Stadium on October 03, 2026 in Piscataway, New Jersey. (Photo by Caleb Bowlin/Getty Images) | Getty Images Nothing went Indiana’s way today. Not the wind. Not the officiating. Not the crowd. Today’s win was a reminder of just how hard it is to succeed in college football, something that, since Curt Cignetti took over in 2024, this program has made look easy. The Hoosiers have now won 22-straight games, giving themselves a shot to tie the Big Ten record for the College Football Playoff-era next week against Ohio State.This isn’t the first time Indiana has taken it to the brink over this win streak, but it’s definitely one of the more memorable comebacks. When Anthony Colandrea broke off a 39-yard touchdown run on 3rd and six, Indiana had yet to score a touchdown. Facing an 11-point deficit with a little over 12 minutes left, Nebraska’s lead suddenly felt insurmountable. And then Josh Hoover hit Nick Marsh for a 75-yard touchdown, the first play from scrimmage following Nebraska’s final score. The parallels to last year’s comeback win over Iowa were striking enough for the FOX broadcasting team to comment on, as Hoover and Marsh recreated the magical drives Fernando Mendoza and Elijah Sarratt orchestrated last year. The 2026 Indiana Hoosiers appear to have more flaws than the perfect 2025 team, but so far this group has similarly avoided succumbing to those flaws. If nothing else, today’s ugly performance is a good sign that Indiana hasn’t lost the fight it took to go 16-0 last year. Nebraska is arguably the Big Ten team best acquainted with just how hard it is to compete at this level in the sport. For decades, the Cornhuskers sat atop the college football world, a perennial national-title contender even in down years. Matt Rhule and Dana Holgorsen have given the Nebraska faithful something to be excited about again, but the inability to hang on for the win today served as an apt metaphor for where the program is as a whole: almost there. Indiana was in that position for a while, without the historic success to soften the blow of coming up short in a seemingly endless stream of near-upsets. Even when Indiana was the better team, as Nebraska was today, things tended to break in a way that favored the Hoosiers’ opponents. Now Indiana is the team that can turn in a B- effort against one of the hungriest teams and fanbases in the country and still escape with a win. The first half will give Indiana’s future opponents plenty of ideas as to how to end the nation’s longest win streak. Until then, though, we Hoosier fans need to savor every moment of this period in program history that becomes more unprecedented every week. Join the conversation!Sign up for a user account and get:Improved notifications system!Fewer adsCreate community postsComment on articles, community