Oregon safety Dillon Thieneman has extra motivation for Friday’s national semifinal game against IU.
Thieneman is from Westfield, Indiana. He transferred to Oregon after two seasons at Purdue.
This time when he faces the Hoosiers, there will be more than the Old Oaken Bucket at stake.
“Yeah, I definitely know a few guys on that team," Thieneman said. "Just coming from Purdue, I think you know how I feel about them. Don't need to say it.”
At Purdue last season, Thieneman led all Big Ten defensive backs in tackles. As a freshman, he was named defensive freshman of the year by the Football Writers Association of America.
The Boilermakers had a 5-19 record in Thieneman's two seasons in West Lafayette. Purdue was 1-1 against IU in those seasons.
This year, he's in the national semifinals.
"It is a moment I hoped for when I first came here," Thieneman said. "Just to see it come true, it's very special. I'm just extremely grateful to be in this position."
Other Oregon players take motivation from having lost at home to IU in October. It was the Ducks’ only defeat of the season.
In their previous game, they won at Penn State in overtime.
Linebacker Bryce Boettcher said the team didn’t react well to that success.
"We came out of a big Penn State win, kind of thought we were pretty cool going into that week, pretty confident," Boettcher said. "Got a little lackadaisical with our prep, I think. It was a good wake-up call. The rest of the season leading up to this point is a pretty good testament to the way we responded to that loss."