What Curt Cignetti Had To Say During His Washington Game Week Press Conference

Curt Cignetti addressed the Kurtis Rourke injury, his confidence in Tayven Jackson and other football matters.

Todd Golden | Oct 21, 2024

Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti speaks to the media during a recent press conference. / Hoosiers On SI | Todd Golden

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Indiana Hoosiers

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti had his weekly press conference in preparation for Washington's visit to Memorial Stadium at Noon ET on Saturday. Indiana is 7-0 going into the contest and 4-0 in the Big Ten.

Here's everything Cignetti had to say ...

Opening statement ...

Cignetti: Right off the bat, Kurtis Rourke will not play this week. We do expect him to return during regular season with a thumb injury. That's all I'll say about the injury.

We have 100% confidence and the team has 100% confidence, I have confidence, the staff has confidence in Tayven Jackson. I thought he played really well in the second half.

We got a tough challenge this week against a good football team, Washington. A lot of play-makers on offense, good defense. Like to pressure. Not giving up a lot of points. A lot of respect for Coach Fisch. A very well-coached team.

Really was very impressed with his team last season, Arizona, where he turned that program around, the way they finished. I think they won their last eight games, maybe nine. Playing about as well as anybody in the country last season. They're a good football team. Got to have a great week.

Questions.

On the message to Kurtis Rourke on how to handle adversity ...

Cignetti: No, he's a veteran guy, married guy. He's older, smart. Got a great attitude about it.

What's different with Tayven Jackson having an entire week to prepare to play ...

Cignetti: I thought he came in, did a nice job in the second half. Now he'll get more repetitions, which will help him prepare for the game on Saturday.

He's a guy that's extremely capable, extremely capable. I'm sure he'll rise to the occasion.

On parallels to putting Elon back on-track in 2017 ...

Cignetti: I drew parallels to that early on when I was hired, having gone through that one time before.

One of the differences is we won a lot of close games there. We had eight wins in a row. They almost all went down to the last play of the game. Whereas here, we've been pretty dominant in our performances. Haven't trailed.

But they were similar situations, yes.

On impact of FOX Big Noon Kickoff and ESPN College GameDay visits on recruiting ...

Cignetti: Well, I think it's great exposure for the football program and the university. Now we got to do our part on Saturday. You guys all know the best way to do that is to have a great day today, great meeting, great walk-through, stack good days, which is what we have to do.

On moving pieces around in the secondary and the play of defensive back Terry Jones ...

Cignetti: Yeah, he's done a nice job on special teams. Got an opportunity on Saturday. An aggressive player. Played a lot of football. Had over a hundred tackles at ODU last season.

Put Ferrell at strong safety. We like the way that played out on Saturday. I thought we played really well on defense. Created five turnovers. Had 28 points off of turnovers Saturday, which you don't see that very often.

The offense I thought did a great job, red area, seven for seven touchdowns. We out-rushed them pretty significantly.

But Terry, I thought he did a nice job.

On the importance of Tayven Jackson getting some game-time under his belt against Nebraska ...

Cignetti: Well, and played well, right? He's played this year, so...

We always talk about the next man up. Everybody's here for a reason, right? In this sport, you're going to have injuries at every single position. It's a lot different when you're the starter, right?

I'm sure he was excited about it. The team rallied around him at halftime. We outscored them 28-0 in the second half.

On how national TV visits validate progress of the program ...

Cignetti: Yeah, they're here for a reason: we're winning games, creating a lot of excitement. That adds to the excitement. Once again, we got to do our part.

On Washington's receivers, offense, and expectations for the Indiana secondary ...

Cignetti: They got a really big offensive line, big tight ends, big running back, experienced quarterback. Another quarterback that's got really good athleticism, can throw the ball also. I like their wideouts a lot.

They're going to be a big challenge. They got a really good scheme. We're going to have to fly around, swarm the ball, win up front, put pressure on the quarterback, stop the run, cover, create some turnovers, offensively win the line of scrimmage, be balanced. Lot of man-to-man coverage from Washington. Handle the blitzes, be good in critical situations.

The keys of the game really never change.

On the other Indiana quarterbacks having Kurtis Rourke's experience to lean on ...

Cignetti: Yeah, I think it's good. I saw them supporting one another during the game. The way Kurtis prepares and practices, he's a good role model for the younger quarterbacks.

Everybody needs a role model, right? So he'll be on the sideline Saturday. He'll be a plus.

On Tayven Jackson's improvement ...

Cignetti: Well, I think you see it during the games when he gets his opportunity, how he's responded, how he responded on Saturday. He's a year older. It's a different offense. It's a different system. Tino does a great job of developing the quarterbacks.

He's got excellent potential. He's gotten better. Now he's got an opportunity. He's got to take it and run with it.

On Tino Sunseri ...

Cignetti: He's a really good quarterback coach. Has great relationships with those guys. Student of the game. Communicates really well.

I think offensively we do a nice job in terms of our system, giving the quarterback answers. Every play's got an answer. We build the offense around the quarterback.

I mean, the last four have been Player of the Year in the league, the previous two were one-year transfers that only had moderate success at the places they'd been in the past. One was a dual, one was a pocket guy, two were in between.

I just think we do a nice job developing quarterbacks. It's a group effort, team effort. Since Tino has been here, I think he's taken those guys to another level. This will be his fourth year with me, yeah.

On why Indiana's run game was so effective against Nebraska ...

Cignetti: One, you're balanced. We throw RPOs, too. We're not running in stacked boxes. We throw the ball efficiently, too, so you can't load up against us. But we blocked them up front really well. Our backs made people miss. Downfield blocking was good.

It was an explosive day, no doubt about it. We capitalized on our opportunities, many of which were created by our defense.

On pass protection and how the offensive line has come together ...

Cignetti: I really haven't measured it against another performance. Those five guys have been in there almost every single play all season long. They're tough, hard-nosed, blue-collar type guys. Coach Bostad has done a great job of developing them. They're on the same page. They function really well together. They're a tough, physical group.

I'm not surprised by what they did on Saturday. Not at all.

On interaction with Lee Corso ...

Cignetti: Well, Gameday came to JMU last season. My wife and I made sure we spent about 10 minutes with Coach Corso beforehand. I called him on his birthday a month or two ago. He called back. We had a nice conversation.

Been aware of him obviously for a long time. I can think all the way back to when we were at West Virginia. There were only nine bowls back then, right? Final bowl spot, the Peach Bowl, I think it was '72, came down to West Virginia and a 9-1 Louisville team coached by Lee Corso. West Virginia waxed Syracuse pretty good and got the bid. That was probably the first time I was aware of who he was, yeah.

Thank you.

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