There are very few rarities in sports these days, and it’s a treat when you see something that’s not that common or not at all common in the world of college football. This happens to every team in the NFL, and it’s the same in baseball and basketball.
However, in college football, it’s not common to play the same team twice in a season. But we’re all watching it happen as the Oregon Ducks take on the Indiana Hoosiers in the College Football Playoff semifinals at the Peach Bowl in Atlanta. The winner will go on to compete for the national championship.
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Indiana’s challenge will be to beat a top-five team twice in the same season, a feat no one knows will be more difficult to achieve than Hoosiers coach Kurt Cignetti.
“It’s hard to beat a really good football team twice, and Oregon State is a really good football team,” he told Big Ten Network staff after his team beat Alabama 38-3 in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day.
If Indiana beats the Ducks for a second time, it could be one of the best feats in college football history. They’ll beat Oregon State at Otterson Stadium in Eugene and then at neutral-site Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
In the first meeting, Indiana’s defense put enough pressure on Dante Moore to hold the Ducks’ offense to just one touchdown, and the Hoosiers won 30-20. Texas Tech definitely used the same game plan because they did the same thing, but the Red Raiders’ offense wasn’t nearly as good as Indiana’s. Texas Tech held the 23-0 Ducks scoreless, and the team from Lubbock, Texas, did not have the Heisman Trophy winner at quarterback. Oregon State will once again have a game plan for Fernando Mendoza, who went 20-for-31 for 215 yards, a touchdown and an interception, which was returned for a touchdown.
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If the Ducks are going to make sure that beating them twice is going to be really hard, Oregon will need to play well on both ends of the floor.
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This article originally appeared on Ducks Wire: Indiana’s Curt Cignetti knows beating Oregon State twice will be tough