By Chris Schumerth | @ChrisSchumerth
Sports Capital Journalism Program
PASADENA, Calif—Whether it’s for any scientific benefit of fighting off the sun or just for the look, eye black has been used by high-level athletes at least since the 1930s and forties, and probably before that in ways that were less formalized. Traditionally, players have smeared the greasy substance or placed an adhesive version underneath each eye, though professional football players like Saquan Barkley and Jaxson Dart have popularized using just a slash on one side.
Indiana running back Roman Hemby hasn’t always gone with the one-sided look, but you can add his name to the recent trend, as he also had the word “WIN” in white letters on top of the mark under his right eye during the Rose Bowl victory over Alabama.
“My nephew really likes it,” Hemby explained in a celebratory locker room after Indiana’s 38-3 victory advanced the Hoosiers to a College Football Playoff semifinal against Oregon in the Peach Bowl on Friday night. “He’s six years old, and he puts one on in the house and stuff. I do one it for him and put ‘win’ on there because that’s one of the mantras that we have in our program.”
Alongside fellow senior Kaelon Black, who came to Indiana with coach Curt Cignetti from James Madison, Hemby, a transfer from Maryland, has been a big reason why Indiana’s running game has improved from the 63rd best in the country during the 2024-25 regular season to 11th this year with an average of 221.2. The unit has gained almost a thousand more yards than last year’s team and averages an additional yard per carry.
The effectiveness of Indiana’s run game can be expected to play an important role in the rematch against Oregon. The Hoosiers ran for 111 yards on 37 carries in the 30-20 victory at Eugene on October 11. Hemby, who gained 75 yards on nine carries, scored a 3-yard touchdown in the first quarter and added a 2-yard score in the third quarter. Each of Hemby’s scores completed a drive of nine plays and 75 yards.
Indiana controlled the time of possession in the fourth quarter by a decisive margin of 13:12 to 1:48.
Against Alabama, a team that had limited previous opponents to an average of 109.9 rushing yards, Indiana outgained the Crimson Tide on the ground, 215-23. Hemby carried the ball 18 times for 89 yards and scored the game’s final touchdown. His 18-yard run off the right side with 10:33 left in the game came just 3:48 after Black had burst through all three levels of Alabama’s defense for a 25-yard score at the start of the fourth quarter.
Hemby and Black may split the carries, but they do it as teammates with a common goal rather than as opponents for a position. “We always buddy with each other each every day at practice,” Black says about Hemby, “and it translates to the game. We always want to get better, you know?”
It would seem that sentiment is mutual. “That’s, like, my brother, right there,” Hemby said, gesturing toward Black, who sat next to him in the locker room after the Rose Bowl win. “From the day that I got here, he’s taking me under his wing, you know. Although we’ve kind of had the same experience on the field, he’s been in this scheme a little bit longer than me, and I feel like every day at practice we bounce ideas off each other…He’s like my other eyes. He has my other sense, and sometimes I can go to him for advice and, likewise, he can do that to me, but we just have that relationship to where we want to feed the hot hand. Anybody that’s going out there and making plays for us to be successful, that’s who we want on the field. He doesn’t have an ego, and I don’t have an ego. We just want to win games.”
Meanwhile, Hemby’s nephew doesn’t play football yet and wasn’t able to travel to the Rose Bowl, but Hemby described him as “a big Indiana fan” who “kind of pushes me to keep going because I know he looks up to me…I know he’s back at home watching, and he can’t wait to come to the next game down in Atlanta.”