EAST LANSING, Mich. – As I was driving part of the way back to Indiana on I-69 from Michigan State Saturday night, I was having a debate in my head.

Which is better: Indiana’s offense or Indiana’s defense?

In this debate going on in my own skull, the rule I came up with was that I had to choose one within a certain period of time on pain of death if I couldn’t decide. As I pondered this question, influenced by Indiana’s 47-10 win at Spartan Stadium that I had just witnessed, let’s just say I died a lot of imaginary deaths trying to make up my mind.

It’s been a fun exercise to chip away at the miles, but here’s the good news for Indiana’s players, coaches and, most of all, fans.

You don’t have to choose. You can have both.

After giving everyone a quarter of doubt, the Hoosiers returned to the form we had seen all season. And what shape it has.

The Indiana offense was held to – gasp! – two scoreless runs to start the game, but got his RPO mojo going and waltzed down the field against the Spartans to open the scoring in the Hoosiers’ third. The defense, thanks to a pair of Amare Ferrell interceptions, gave the ball back to the offense twice in the second quarter, with one of those drives resulting in a touchdown.

Once Indiana got going, it never stopped, rumbling like a methodical war machine over the suddenly hapless Spartans.

The 47 unanswered points speak for themselves, but the way the Hoosiers sacked and ransacked Spartan Stadium was a sight to behold. The offense did it with precision. The defense did it with bewildering force. No mercy was offered or given.

The raw stats are pretty good – Indiana outgained Michigan State 385-205, with a 20-15 advantage on first downs. Indiana averaged 6.3 yards per game to the Spartans’ 3.2 — a definite run of dominance.

When you start getting into the more detailed stats, you discover just how ruthless the Hoosiers were on Saturday.

Indiana’s defensive stats per quarter are almost unbelievable. I took a look at them midway through the fourth quarter and was blown away.

On the quarterback, Indiana’s defense gave up 128 in the first quarter, followed by 50 yards, followed by 27 yards, followed by zero yards in the final period. When I originally looked at that stat line, Michigan State was minus 23 yards. So the Spartans fought back to get to zero.

I quoted this stat line to Curt Cignetti in my press conference question. He hadn’t seen those numbers yet, and for once he seemed as surprised as I was.

“It’s really impressive. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen numbers like that on a team I’ve coached. That’s a big credit to our defensive players, the pitching staff, and they chased them up front,” Cignetti said.

“You have to win up front. That’s the first thing you have to do to win games, win on both sides of the ball. I know we took the quarterback (Aidan Chiles) out at one point. But wow, yeah, I mean he was pretty dominant. He got pretty dominant there at one point,” Cignetti added.

What I didn’t mention to Cignetti, but what’s even more impressive, were Indiana’s rushing defensive numbers.

Michigan State’s rushing stats, which I should remind everyone include sacks, per quarter were 22 yards in the first quarter, followed by minus-7, minus-19 and minus-20. Seven sacks helped that cause, but overall, Michigan State was minus-24 rushing yards on 32 attempts.

The Spartans’ rushing attack wouldn’t even make Final Jeopardy. It’s a statistic that you automatically consider a typo or a mistake at first glance. I’m still doing a quadruple take when I see this line as I write this.

To get a similar wow factor effect for the offense, you can check out the drive chart. After the first two scoreless drives, Indiana’s next nine drives were: touchdown, punt, touchdown, touchdown, punt, touchdown, field goal, touchdown, touchdown.

The speed and accuracy of those scoring drives was lethal for Michigan State. Of six touchdown drives, none lasted more than four minutes or spanned more than seven plays.

Quarterback Kurtis Rourke, playing hurt so to speak, had two stretches of three consecutive incompletions — near the beginning and end of the game. Between then, he completed 17 of 21 passes, 11 of which gained double-digit yardage.

Indiana’s special teams also came into the game with a punt blocked, another solid day from Myles Price returning punts (22 yards per return) and a 47-yard average from seldom-used but still effective punter James Evans.

Put yourself in the shoes of an opposing coordinator on each side of the ball who must try to game plan for it all. The sight of Rourke, Indiana’s tight-knit offensive line and a seemingly endless supply of game-opening receivers is the stuff of nightmares for opposing defensive coordinators.

The image with T-shirt no. Mikail Kamara’s 6 that wraps up a quarterback probably strikes fear into the minds of opposing offensive line coaches. Kamara dominated on Saturday as Indiana brilliantly switched offensive lines.

If you find a way to neutralize Kamara, linebacker Aiden Fisher has to struggle. He led the Hoosiers in tackles again Saturday with nine total. His ability to get to the ball carrier is magnetic.

It’s remarkable how quickly this all came together for the Hoosiers. Cignetti projects confidence at all times, but even he has to marvel in his private moments at the roster he’s unleashed on the Big Ten.

Offense, defense, special teams – there’s no poison to choose from, no matter which Indiana unit is on the field. The poisoned chalice that Indiana football has drunk from for most of its history has been set aside.

Use your own imagination to decide what Indiana is drinking from in 2024, but whatever you choose, that cup is leaking in a way that’s hard to imagine.

Indiana football is 9-0 and has no glaring weaknesses. The schedule gets tougher now, but after what we saw Saturday and throughout a special season, who could doubt the Hoosiers regardless of the challenge in front of them?

They really can do it all, and when all is said and done, there’s no limit to what their combination of quality and relentlessness could take them.