Curt Cignetti Preparing Indiana To Face Adversity After Dominant Start

Indiana hasn’t trailed all season during its 5-0 start, and coach Curt Cignetti feels his team hasn’t faced real adversity. Cignetti is mentally preparing the Hoosiers for greater challenges in the coming weeks.

Indiana coach Curt Cignetti talks to the defense against Maryland at Memorial Stadium. / Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Curt Cignetti called Indiana’s 42-28 win over Maryland an anomaly.

Despite losing the turnover battle 4-0, the Hoosiers never trailed. After each turnover, the defense didn’t allow Maryland to pick up a first down, and Indiana’s offense scored four touchdowns in its first six drives of the second half. 

On Thursday night’s Inside Indiana Football radio show, Indiana’s radio broadcaster Don Fischer complimented Cignetti on his team’s resilience.

“I was amazed at how your kids, on the defensive side, bounced back after those turnovers,” Fischer said. “The focus that these guys have, but the energy level that they play with when you have something negative happen.”

“You must be used to seeing the cookie crumble,” Cignetti responded.

“I am,” Fischer said with a laugh.

The Maryland game featured perhaps more adversity than the Hoosiers faced in the first four games combined, but Cignetti feels his team still hasn’t been really tested.

“We really haven’t seen any real adversity yet this season,” Cignetti said. “We really haven’t. We haven’t been behind, which is unusual, and we haven’t been down by two scores or three scores.”

Indiana Hoosiers coach Curt Cignetti after defeating Maryland at Memorial Stadium. / Robert Goddin-Imagn Images

Cignetti used an example from his time at James Madison when talking with his current team about facing adversity. James Madison moved from the FCS to the FBS in 2022, and its first Sun Belt conference game was in Week 3 against Appalachian State, which won at least a share of four straight regular season titles from 2016-19 and played in the 2021 conference championship game.

James Madison trailed Appalachian State 28-3 with 6:10 left in the second quarter, but Cignetti said they kept their poise and came back to win 32-28 on the road.

“Those are the things I talk to the team about,” Cignetti said. “How are we going to respond when we’re down? How are we going to respond when we’re down two scores? Are we a team capable of coming from down 21 in the second quarter and not showing anxiety and frustration?

“... I really don’t think we’ve seen any real adversity this year. And I hope we don’t this Saturday, but you gotta be ready for it when it shows its head.”

In addition to what it physically takes to overcome adversity on the field, Cignetti trains his players mentally. Thirteen players came with Cignetti from James Madison, and they’ve helped spread that mentality to the returning Hoosiers and transfers from other schools.

Though larger obstacles lie ahead, Cignetti feels good about his team’s psyche when that day comes.

“You gotta have an indomitable will, and that’s a will that can’t be defeated or subdued,” Cignetti said. “And you gotta be resilient, which means overcoming the unexpected because things are gonna happen this year. It’s been kind of easy up to this point. It’s not always gonna be this way.” 

“And that’s when – I think we got a lot of the right stuff. We got a lot of guys that are battle-tested in that philosophy, that have rubbed off on others positively, and I think this is a team that can respond, no question about it, to real adversity.”

Part of the challenge that comes with success is avoiding complacency and not relaxing after a big win. Defeating Maryland vaulted the Hoosiers to No. 23 in the latest AP Top 25 poll, a familiar place for Cignetti, but not Indiana, which has only been ranked in 21 of the program’s 126 seasons all-time.

James Madison was ranked for seven weeks during the 2023 season, peaking at No. 18. It was ranked 25th for one week in 2022, its first year as an FBS program. At the FCS level, James Madison was ranked between No. 1 and No. 8 in each of Cignetti’s first three seasons.

Cignetti understands fans and media are interested in rankings because it’s an entertainment business, but it’s his job to ensure that’s not a distraction to the team. 

“The only thing that counts is what your record is when it’s all said and done and what you’re ranking is. So to us, it’s noise and clutter, doesn’t affect how we’re gonna play – it better not. Yeah, you gotta focus on the things that are gonna help you play your best on Saturday, and that’s your preparation on and off the field.”

Indiana faces a 2-2 Northwestern team on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET at Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium, a temporary lakefront stadium that seats 12,023. The Wildcats are coming off a 24-5 loss at Washington in their second year under coach David Braun, who Cignetti coached against in the 2020 FCS national championship and 2021 national semifinals, when Braun was the North Dakota State defensive coordinator.

Cignetti said it would be a huge mistake to take Northwestern lightly because it has the best defense Indiana has seen yet. It’s also the Wildcats’ first Big Ten home game coming off a bye week. Following what he considered a pretty good practice on Wednesday, Cignetti continued to mentally prepare his team.

“It’s like I told the team after the practice … Let’s talk about who we are and who we’re not,” Cignetti said. “Now, you know, when we’re prepared and we got a nasty edge and we’re playing one play at a time, scratching, fighting, clawing, physical, fast, relentless, smart, disciplined, poised, we’re pretty good. But here’s what we’re not, you know. So they understood that. Now [Thursday] was just okay, so they got a different message.”

Cignetti noted that Northwestern does a good job of disguising defensive coverages, and it has a bend-don’t-break defensive approach that limits explosive plays and forces teams to build long drives.

Northwestern’s offense has struggled for most of the season, and moved on from quarterback Mike Wright, in favor of Jack Lausch during the last two games. Injuries have forced an offensive line rotation, and leading rusher Cam Porter is reportedly expected to return from injury on Saturday. Cignetti said it will be key for Indiana to stop Porter and Northwestern’s run game and affect Lausch when he’s in the pocket. 

A win would improve Indiana’s record to 6-0, making the Hoosiers bowl-eligible at the earliest possible date going into a bye week. 

“This is gonna be a tough challenge,” Cignetti said. “We gotta be on our P’s and Q’s. We gotta go up there with the right mindset and take care of business.”

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