{"id":477962,"date":"2025-12-29T15:58:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-29T15:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/477962\/"},"modified":"2025-12-29T15:58:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T15:58:11","slug":"no-really-how-did-indiana-football-get-so-good-so-fast-inside-curt-cignettis-turnaround","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/477962\/","title":{"rendered":"No really, how did Indiana football get so good so fast? Inside Curt Cignetti\u2019s turnaround"},"content":{"rendered":"

INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 Indiana\u2019s recent ascension from perennial punching bag to national title contender is a college football rags-to-riches story for which there is no natural comparison.<\/p>\n

Before November, Indiana had the most losses in college football history. Across 125 seasons before Curt Cignetti was hired in December 2023, none of its 23 coaches left the program with a winning conference record. Only twice had the Hoosiers claimed at least a share of the Big Ten title, most recently a three-way tie in 1967. Generations of administrative dysfunction, low football revenue, poor recruiting and a department premium on basketball turned Indiana football into a wasteland.<\/p>\n

But that time is known as B.C. \u2014 Before Cignetti. The present bears no reminders of Indiana\u2019s ignominious past, only the hopes and aspirations of one of the sport\u2019s greatest turnarounds.<\/p>\n

This year, the Hoosiers are the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff, boasting a 13-0 record. They beat Ohio State for the Big Ten championship, and quarterback Fernando Mendoza won this year\u2019s Heisman Trophy as the nation\u2019s top player. Cignetti has picked up national coach of the year honors after both seasons and has compiled a combined 24-2 record.<\/p>\n

At Indiana, the Big Ten\u2019s favorite homecoming opponent? Really?<\/p>\n

\u201cThey could make a movie out of this,\u201d said Gerry DiNardo, who coached Indiana from 2002 to 2004. \u201cPeople would say, yeah, that doesn\u2019t happen in real life.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Hoosiers\u2019 rise was once hailed as a program-building miracle of biblical scale, but with each victory, the reality of their success sets in further. IU\u2019s championship model leans on modern talent acquisition methods and old-school coaching techniques, with a reliance on fundamentals that helps everyone on the roster improve. Just ask the quarterback who just won the first Heisman Trophy in school history:<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a player, it\u2019s two different Fernando Mendozas. You can ask any coach or player on staff. Even some of the players were like, \u2018Bro, when we saw you in spring, there\u2019s no way we ever thought this was possible.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Now the Hoosiers are favored against Alabama, college football\u2019s signature program over the last two decades, in a quarterfinal clash at the sport\u2019s most iconic venue, the Rose Bowl. Perhaps only Northwestern, which now holds a three-game \u201clead\u201d over Indiana for most losses, can claim a similar transformation three decades ago. Those Wildcats played in a Rose Bowl, but they never contended for a national title. These Hoosiers have a real path toward hoisting the crystal football next month in Miami.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n A 13-10 win over Ohio State earned the Hoosiers their first conference title since the 1967 season. (Aaron Doster \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

Cignetti\u2019s plan started with his coaching staff. He brought five assistants with him from James Madison, including defensive coordinator Bryant Haines and offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan. They maintained their system honed at James Madison and other previous stops<\/a> and landed personnel capable of running it at college football\u2019s highest level.<\/p>\n

Defensively, Indiana\u2019s four down linemen combine physicality with technique and plenty of stunts. Of their seven primary defensive linemen this year, five were Group of 5 transfers and a sixth, defensive end Kellan Wyatt, came from Maryland. Yet the Hoosiers racked up 112 tackles for loss, the second-most in the FBS.<\/p>\n

Assistants from two other Big Ten programs praised the collective play of the Hoosiers\u2019 defense rather than the scheme. One mentioned that only two of those seven defenders are taller than 6-foot-1, yet they play bigger because there\u2019s no let-up in effort.<\/p>\n

On offense, Cignetti provides Mendoza with plenty of run-pass options with play-action and quick passes but also incorporates drop-back passing and zone running plays. It\u2019s a system based on execution rather than advanced concepts.<\/p>\n

Cignetti\u2019s passing system uses every blade of fake grass as spacing and separation \u2014 as he said, \u201cYou got 52 yards of field, and you got to use all 52-plus of them\u201d \u2014 and Indiana\u2019s pre-snap alignments and precise route depths often put defensive backs in conflict and leave open windows in zone coverage. That has turned outside receiver Elijah Sarratt and slot receiver Omar Cooper Jr. into one of college football\u2019s best receiving tandems. Then when there\u2019s man coverage, Indiana attacks downfield.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would consider what Oregon does much more exotic and much more diverse than what Indiana is doing offensively,\u201d said a Big Ten assistant coach, given anonymity in exchange for his candor. \u201cThey\u2019re not trying to out-scheme guys. They\u2019re trying to play unbelievably, fundamentally well and harder and tougher than their opponents. And their scheme allows them to do that because it\u2019s not a bunch of Star Wars out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indiana\u2019s offense doesn\u2019t need to be flashy to find success. The running game averages a Big Ten-best 221 yards per game, thanks in part to Cignetti\u2019s decision to retain offensive line coach Bob Bostad, the only holdover from Tom Allen\u2019s 2023 staff.<\/p>\n

Bostad, who spent 12 years across two stints at Wisconsin, has built some of college football\u2019s most physical and mechanically sound units. It\u2019s a blocking system built on walling off defenders and eliminating space, which leads the runner to use his vision to generate explosive plays.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s unit, in which four of the seven primary offensive linemen are transfers, has cut down on tackles for loss and sacks allowed while increasing its yards per carry despite playing better competition. Left tackle Carter Smith, a Bostad recruit, earned Big Ten Offensive Lineman of the Year, and the Hoosiers were named a finalist for the Joe Moore Award, which goes to the nation\u2019s best offensive line.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we saw this year was a unit that played consistently and embodied the teamwork aspect of our criteria, as well as anybody in the country,\u201d said Joe Moore Award founder and College Football Hall of Fame offensive lineman Aaron Taylor. \u201cThey were so good at working together to pick up stunts, blitz and movement, both in the run and in the pass.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was magnificent how consistently they played. And when given the opportunity to be physical or to take a shot, they took it.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Mendoza, the Cal transfer who picked the Hoosiers over interest from Georgia and others last winter, is the difference between simply reaching the Playoff and potentially winning it. His numbers (2,980 passing yards, 33 passing touchdowns, six rushing scores) put him in the Heisman discussion, but his arm strength and intangibles showed up in the four key wins away from home that defined Indiana\u2019s season.<\/p>\n

He stared down an all-out blitz and threw a 49-yard touchdown pass to Sarratt with 1:28 left to beat Iowa. He shook off a fourth-quarter pick six to lead two scoring drives in a midseason statement victory at Oregon. Against Penn State, Mendoza put together an 80-yard drive inside the final two minutes that culminated in a dazzling 7-yard touchdown reception by Cooper<\/a> with 36 seconds left. And against Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship Game, Mendoza launched a 33-yard fade to Charlie Becker on third-and-6 at his own 24 just before the two-minute warning, a conversion that essentially clinched the Hoosiers\u2019 first Big Ten title since 1967.<\/p>\n

\u201cCompared to (2024 starter Kurtis Rourke), he\u2019s got a much stronger arm, and he\u2019s a lot more athletic,\u201d a second Big Ten assistant said. \u201cHe brings a little bit of the scramble ability into play, which really wasn\u2019t there last year. He can throw to all areas of the field.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Mendoza has established himself as a candidate to go No. 1 in the 2026 NFL Draft thanks to the magic he has worked at the helm of Cignetti\u2019s offense. (Rich Janzaruk \/ Herald-Times \/ USA Today Network via Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

Indiana\u2019s initial transfer portal haul flipped the program\u2019s fortunes. In 2023 Cignetti\u2019s final season at James Madison, a young and talented Dukes roster finished 11-1, and 13 of those players followed him to Indiana. They include All-Big Ten performers like Sarratt, linebacker Aiden Fisher, cornerback D\u2019Angelo Ponds and defensive linemen Tyrique Tucker and Mikail Kamara.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re rebuilding the house, so to speak, and you start with the foundation and build it up,\u201d Cignetti said. \u201cIt\u2019s more process oriented. It\u2019s standards, expectations, consistency, performance and accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRight away, your locker room is right. I mean right away,\u201d DiNardo said. \u201cThe overused word is culture. It might take two years to build a culture in the locker room. He brought it with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

The James Madison transfers immediately set the tone with player-led accountability. Their talent was well beyond what anyone expected from a Group of 5 program, in part because of how they developed at James Madison.<\/p>\n

Cignetti chose experienced, productive transfers to join his James Madison players, and many adopted Cignetti\u2019s mindset. Of the Hoosiers\u2019 34 core players on offense and defense, 23 are former transfers. The holdovers, long tired of Indiana\u2019s losing history, happily bought in.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a certain kind of guy that I just won\u2019t take,\u201d Cignetti said. \u201cA guy\u2019s gotta love ball and have some ankle, knee, hip flexibility, and a certain level of athleticism. And then habits are important. How bad does he want it? \u2026 You\u2019ve got a role in helping him develop. He\u2019s got to be coachable, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Every step along the way, criticism has fueled Indiana\u2019s ascension: of the players\u2019 underrecruited high school and G5 pedigrees, of their Year 1 success, of Indiana\u2019s hapless history. When the Hoosiers became Big Ten champions, they threw it back at their detractors.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis kind of was the final nail in the coffin for any of the Indiana doubters, Curt Cignetti doubters, the Hoosier doubters,\u201d said linebacker Isaiah Jones.<\/p>\n

This year, the Hoosiers have earned respect and made believers out of cynics, in part because of how they navigated an unforgiving Big Ten schedule.<\/p>\n

\u201cComing out of Year 1, I think there were a lot of coaches, myself included, and coaches throughout our league were a little bit skeptical,\u201d the first Big Ten assistant said. \u201cAll everybody talked about was the loss to Ohio State (in November 2024), and like, \u2018Are they really for real?\u2019 And then they turn around and they do it this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indiana’s key statistical top-10s<\/p>\nCategoryIndianaFBS rank<\/tr>\n\n\n

Points per game<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

41.9<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

4th<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

Yards per play<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

7.09<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

T-7th<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

Third-down conversion %<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

55.8<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

1st<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

Points allowed per game<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

10.8<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

2nd<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

Yards allowed per game<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

257.2<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

4th<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

Turnover margin<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

Plus-17<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

T-1st<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

Penalty yards per game<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

28.5<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

3rd<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n\n

Avg. time of possession<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

33:22<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n

6th<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Indiana\u2019s rise from the Big Ten basement to its penthouse also has made their competitors\u2019 jobs more difficult. Over the 25 years preceding Cignetti\u2019s arrival, no Big Ten school and only three power-conference schools lost more games than Indiana. Over the last two seasons, no team has fewer losses than Indiana\u2019s two. That\u2019s with 68 percent of their core performers coming from the transfer portal. With strong financial support from its fan base to recruit and retain top athletes, the once-downtrodden Hoosiers might even have staying power.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve just raised the expectations for everyone else because it\u2019s never been done before,\u201d the second Big Ten assistant coach said. \u201cYou can say, \u2018Yeah, we should do that, too.\u2019 Well, if it was that easy, it would have been done before.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 Indiana\u2019s recent ascension from perennial punching bag to national title contender is a college football rags-to-riches…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":477963,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[1428,1318,9443,1317,1315,1316,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-477962","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-college-football","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-indiana-hoosiers","11":"tag-ncaa","12":"tag-ncaa-football","13":"tag-ncaafootball","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115803685189315139","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=477962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477962\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/477963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=477962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=477962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=477962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}