Curt Cignetti’s Hoosiers have looked impressive through three games.
Truly, there’s never a bad time to blow out a conference foe on the road in a historic and venerated stadium to continue your undefeated start to the season.
But Indiana’s 42-13 beatdown of new Big Ten rival UCLA came at an ideal time in the season and tenure of Curt Cignetti. The Hoosiers’ new head coach has been generating headlines and national discussion since he was hired an- wait what?
Indiana… football’s(?) new coach is being discussed by the national media? That Indiana? The one in Bloomington?
The program hasn’t been known as a successful one throughout its existence and the glory years are few and far between, drowning gasps for air before a cold wave of regression washes back over it. Sure it made some noise in 2020, but that’s in the rearview mirror.
But Cignetti didn’t care. He was going on Big Ten Network shows the week of the championship game and openly musing about his team being in the game next year. Again, at Indiana.
Asked about playing at the Rose Bowl months ago at Big Ten Media Days, he’d dismiss some of the pageantry and say they’d just be going to an old stadium to kick someone’s ass. These are not the things the head coach of Indiana, with decades of history staring daggers at him would be expected to say.
You could say he didn’t care about all that. Or that he was… never daunted.
(Sorry, had to get that one in)
Through three games Cignetti’s bravado has translated to his team’s play on the field and his words, for the most part, have rung true. Indiana is 3-0 and has won those three games by multiple scores.
When the offense gets into a pit like a long third down, a failed fourth down conversion or any other type of adversity… you don’t sense panic. There’s only one way to fix that kind of situation: execution of the next play. You can tell that’s the focus.
Quarterback Kurtis Rourke was asked to step up on multiple third and long situations and delivered, throwing strike after strike past the sticks to keep the offense going. His night ended with a line of 25/33 with four touchdowns and no interceptions.
When CJ West was ejected for targeting and it felt like a momentum shift was sweeping through the stadium, Bryant Haines’ defense held the line and got the ball back to Mike Shanahan’s offense, which drove right down the field and into the endzone to take back control of the game. It was a level of execution the Hoosiers haven’t had in years. Probably since 2019 or 2020.
And the nation got to see it unfold in primetime.
Cignetti was right months ago when he said his record speaks for itself. Google him if you want to know about the kind of program he runs.
Or just turn on the TV.