Washington still winless away from home after 31-17 defeat at Indiana

The road has not been kind to the Huskies. The Hoosiers are also just a better team.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — The basketball school filled its football stadium again on Saturday afternoon, 53,082 squeezed into Memorial Stadium’s metal bleachers for the Hoosiers’ biggest home game in years. Or maybe it’s just their biggest since last week? When you’re undefeated in late October — especially when you’re Indiana and you’re undefeated in late October — the potential to extend the streak is enough to categorize each successive challenge as an all-timer.

On a scenic fall Saturday in this college town, with ESPN’s College GameDay broadcasting on campus, the Washington Huskies laid claim to their place in Hoosiers football history. Their 31-17 defeat granted Indiana an 8-0 record, matching the best start in program history, achieved in 1967, the same year as its most recent conference championship.

Indiana finished 3-9 last year and fired its coach. It won three Big Ten games in three seasons, and has finished ranked in the AP top-25 once since 1988. But the 2024 Hoosiers are no underdogs, and with star quarterback Kurtis Rourke sidelined by injury, they ground the Huskies down at the line of scrimmage in a manner befitting the more vaunted Big Ten programs.

So Washington is 4-4, and 0-4 away from Husky Stadium, but hey, the Huskies would be 8-0 if victories were granted to the team which gains more yards from scrimmage.