BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The Indiana Hoosiers are back on the gridiron this weekend, preparing to host the defending national college football champions, the Michigan Wolverines.
Saturday's matchup will be a true test for the Hoosiers, that'll make or break their perfect season, and first-year coach Curt Cignetti's impressive first year with the team.
Over 52,000 fans will be filling the stands at Memorial Stadium for the game which will hopefully make them 10- 0 for the first time ever.
Ahead of the game, students are inside getting the seats ready for what's anticipated to be a packed house.
“We did 50,000 rally towels; we had all hands on deck,” said one student, Emily Rakich.
It's a sold-out game, along with every other home game the rest of the season.
“Our season tickets are already on sale for 2025 too, so that's good to see,” said Rakich. “I hope that starts getting sold out for other games.”
Business experts at IU said that Coach Cignetti has brought unprecedented attention to the school, and with a winning team, there's more money coming in.
"This football bonanza in Bloomington is going to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the local economy, but the biggest value is the national visibility that Indiana University gets,” said Phil Powell, executive director of the Indiana Business Research Center at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business.
Since the team is also ranked 8th in the college football playoff rankings, all sports are on the up and up.
"Now, we are a football and basketball school, we could say,” said Rakich.
Everyone who's a Hoosier fan is hoping the success streak only continues.
“If we come out with a win with Michigan tomorrow, it will be a wonderful party that's just going to take us through the bowl season and hopefully to the national championship,” said Powell.
Kick-off for the game is at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.