What Curt Cignetti Said After Indiana Football Won 42-13 At UCLA

Curt Cignetti spoke to the media after Indiana's football team earned an emphatic win over UCLA at the Rose Bowl.

Todd Golden | Sep 15, 2024

Indiana Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti reacts after the game against the UCLA Bruins at Rose Bowl. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

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PASADENA, Calif. – Here are Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti’s comments after Indiana defeated UCLA 42-13 to take its record to 3-0 overall and 1-0 in the Big Ten on Saturday at the Rose Bowl.

Opening comments ...

Cignetti: OK, a good win. They're all good. First conference win, national TV, one of the new teams in the Big 10. I know it'll get a lot of people's attention. Proud of our guys. We went in there. We wanted to play physical, tough, nasty, we did.

And so good win, we get to enjoy it for 24 hours. And Monday we're humble and hungry, with our eyes on the next game. It was a lot better to have to deal with success in-season than failure. They both bring their challenges. I talked to the team about that in the locker room. They got 24 hours to enjoy it. Than we're back at the next opponent. This one's over. Great win, good experience.

On whether the Hoosiers are further along than what Cignetti thought ...

Cignetti: It's just what I've been telling ya. We've made a lot of progress. You know, when you have the right people in your organization and you put the right things in their head. They're going to respond. Now, was there an unknown going in? How do you match up against them? Yeah, there's an unknown. But we came in here and got done what we wanted to get done.

I'm not about to say we're further ahead than I thought. Because I just thought we could be competitive and win games. That we're capable of winning games. This is only one win. We're back at it next week.

On playing physical with running backs and offensive line ...

Cignetti: I liked that a lot. We kind of wore them down and broke their will. And I think we did that.

On Indiana's third down success and quarterback Kurtis Rourke's role in it ...

Cignetti: I thought in general, (Rourke) was really sharp in that first drive. I know, we converted a few (third downs), and that was important to score and get momentum.

(CIgnetti mentioned the offensive line here, but an air pressure hose went off in the tunnel outside the press room, so that part was inaudible.)

It takes all 11 guys, right? Kurtis would be the first to tell you that.

On the offensive line ...

Cignetti: I thought the protection was good. That was a concern of coming in. You know, last year (UCLA) was excellent in the pass rush. Now they had lost a lot of guys, but they put pretty good heat on Hawaii. Seemed like we did really well in that area.

On penalties being a product of playing nasty on the defensive side ...

Cignetti: I think so. I mean, like, you know, I don't want to comment too much about it all, but, you know, I watch some of those on replay. I'm like, that's targeting? I mean, you know, you want your guys to play physical. Like, how do you make a good tackle and play physical?

What the win says about the Indiana program ...

Cignetti: It will open some eyes because it was on national TV, but that's it. It's one game. We came out there, we got done what we wanted to get done. I'm not into labels. 'You're a top 15 team.' It's not. At the end of the year, we'll see what our resume looks like. No one in our locker room is surprised.

On the many Hoosiers who made plays ...

Cignetti: We have a lot of veteran receivers that have a good statistical history at other schools that have gotten it done. And I put a value on that. Guys have been starters for multiple years and been productive. It's good to get a lot of people involved. I think that's a real good thing. They made a lot of plays.

On responding with scores when UCLA scored ...

Cignetti: Yeah, I thought that was really good. I really like seeing that. You know, they came out, kicked the field goal the first drive in third quarter, and then we responded to score. I mean, that's what want to do right there. that's what I thought there were some good responses there in the second half.

On how to deal with the penalties Indiana had in the third quarter, do the coaches handle or do the players on the field ...

Cignetti: (The players) weren't rattled. I do (handle it). (Defensive coordinator Bryant Haines) does. It's over. Play the next play. Not only for guys on the field, but on the sideline. So there's no frustration on the sideline. Sometimes I have to get on the coaches. It's over. It's happened. I'm sure there's quite a few I don't agree with. But you have to get ready to play the next play so you don't let it snowball on you.

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