What Curt Cignetti Said As Indiana Football Prepares For Its Big Ten Opener At UCLA

Curt Cignetti broke down the Bruins and seemed relatively pleased with the state of the Hoosiers at present.

Todd Golden | Sep 9, 2024

Indiana Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti talks with Indiana Hoosiers wide receiver Andison Coby (0) in the first quarter against the Western Illinois Leathernecks at Memorial Stadium. / Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images

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Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti had his weekly press conference with the media on Monday afternoon in the wake of Indiana's 77-3 triumph over Western Illinois and as the Hoosiers prepare for their Big Ten opener at UCLA on Saturday.

Cignetti gave the Hoosiers the longer weekend off, but preparation for the Bruins begins in earnest on Monday.

Here's everything Cignetti said to the assembled media.

Opening statement ...

Cignetti: Haven't seen the guys in a few days playing on Friday night. They've had a couple days off. Back at it for our prep for UCLA, first conference game.

Last week felt good about the way we played, from the first play to the last with intensity. Got a lot of guys involved, which was a positive. Cut down the penalties overall and won on offense and protected the quarterback better.

Defense, result was good but not totally clean. We had some things on the back end that against a good team get exposed. So got to clean that up. Ready for a tough contest Saturday.

On game-planning for UCLA defensive coordinator Ikaika Malloe and offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy?

Cignetti: UCLA, a lot of tradition there. Three straight years of bowl games, 25 wins the last three years. You look at us, nine wins the last three years going on the road. Somehow we're favored, which doesn't mean anything.

I'm sure that coming off their opener they were happy they won but probably not pleased with the way they played overall. They did go in shorthanded, minus two offensive tackles. But good program like that, I'm sure they have something to prove.

In terms of your question more specifically, the new defensive coordinator was on staff last year. The package is the same with some tweaks. Little more pressure perhaps.

It's really hard to gauge because Hawaii did not use a tight end in the game. It was all spread out, four wide receiver sets. So we don't have a lot to go on there.

Obviously an opponent like this, you have all their games from last year, which we've watched during the cut-ups. So the faces have changed. Schematically expect it to be more similar than different.

Offensively, new offensive coordinator, came from the NFL obviously. So you've got one game to go on there.

But what I would say about them overall is a lot of really good athletes, a lot of pretty guys, really good team speed. They've got a couple guys up front on the D-line, 93 in particular. He's a big guy with explosion and backers are very athletic. Offensively the receiving group is highly skilled. The Notre Dame kid had ten catches.

Of course it all starts with the quarterback. He can really wing it, and he's mobile, and he's a very talented guy. So this is a talented football team.

On the advantage of having played two games to UCLA's one and the film discrepancy that occurs?

Cignetti: I think you hit it on the head. Having two games under your belt is beneficial in terms of your team development. In terms of the tape, maybe they've got some more relevant stuff to look at from us than we have of them.

On the quarterbacks who played against Western Illinois ...

Cignetti: I think Kurtis had the opportunity to make his drops, make his reads, and deliver the ball, which he didn't always have that opportunity in the first game. I thought our protection, we cleaned that up significantly. If you want a good quarterback, you've got to have protection. We separated on the outside, and he delivered the ball, and he played well. Wasn't perfect, but he played well.

What I really liked was you could see kind of the cohesiveness of the team on both sides, guys cheering each other on, congratulating each other, him taking charge. It was great to get a lot of guys involved.

Tayven came in, I thought he played nicely, delivered the ball, ran it too. So he should feel good about his outing coming out of that game.

On playing at a venue that's hallowed ground to fans of traditional Big Ten schools ...

Cignetti: Rose Bowl has a lot of tradition for people that follow football. For me and the team, it's more of a business trip, whether we're playing in the Rose Bowl or in a parking lot. It's all the same.

Our preparation has to be excellent starting today, string together a good sequence of nows and prepare to the best of our ability to give ourselves the best chance.

It's going to be a little longer trip out there, bus to Indianapolis, fly out of there into L.A., about an hour to the hotel, little bit of a time change, but it's no big deal.

The venue, it's never really played a big part in it from a coaching standpoint, and we're looking forward to playing.

On the performance of the offensive line ...

Cignetti: I think those guys are working hard, and they're developing. I don't know that we were really tested last week, and against Florida International, we ran the ball well. Wasn't real pleased with some of the protection issues we had. We'll be tested this week like we have not been tested.

On translating the James Madison defensive identity to Indiana ....

Cignetti: I think it's a culture, a mindset, an identity, and a philosophy. The program culture and mindset that we're an attacking type of team, relentless competitor, playing fast and physical, one play at a time.

Then his style, our style of defense is we want to turn those guys loose up front and wreak havoc and disruption. We've got pretty good speed at linebacker, where guys can fit the gaps and cover.

His defense keeps you off balance. He's going to find ways to create TFLs and sacks and free guys up or get them good matchups. We've got some good players over there.

On wide receiver Andison Coby?

Cignetti: He's a speed guy. Had a couple of opportunities in the opener. One time we didn't throw it to him. One time the ball was just slightly underthrown. Had our first touchdown. He definitely has a role, improving every day. It's a deep receiving corps, and we try to use those guys in a way that helps us reach optimum success.

What has Cignetti learned about his team from an "ethos" standpoint?

Cignetti: I think we've come a long way. I felt that way before the opener, but we had to put it on tape. And I've said that numerous times in these conferences.

So I like the way we started in the opener. I didn't like the way we finished offensively. I thought defense we were pretty solid other than the last drive of the first half.

Last week I like the fact that we played a team that we were obviously better than, a team that was struggling, but we took it to them from the get go and kept the pedal to the metal to the end. When I say pedal to the metal, we weren't laying it on. We weren't throwing the ball all over the place. We ran it over 70 percent of the time. But we played with intensity throughout the game and energy.

On keeping players focused on the task at-hand ...

Cignetti: That's a big part of my job to make sure we eliminate the noise and the clutter and everybody understand why we're there. The guys that make that trip will understand that.

On the importance of the first conference game and playing in an iconic venue ...

Cignetti: Yeah, because it's next game up. Every game is the most important game. You guys can write your stories and your angles on how important X game is relative to Y game, but they all count as one game.

It's the first conference game, so we're excited about that, and we want to get off to a good start.

An update on injuries ...

Cignetti: Yeah, every game you get guys nicked up a little bit. Right now it's too early to say where we're at. I don't make a habit talking about injuries. We do have to turn in an injury report to the Big Ten office before the game, which we will. So we'll see who's out there today and how we look.

On the defense containing UCLA quarterback Ethan Garbers ...

Cignetti: The defense, because Aiden is just one of 11 guys on the defense. Number one, you've always got to stop the run and you've got to pressure the quarterback. With this guy, we've got to keep in the pocket, can't let him get out of the pocket and extend plays because he's extremely capable with his arm and his legs, and he's got weapons on the outside. So we've got to do a good job of coverage.

So it all starts up front with the run game and then putting the pressure on the quarterback in the pass game and disrupting his rhythm.

On Indiana's secondary and avoiding breakdowns...

Cignetti: Again, we got away with most of the things except one time or twice in this past game, but there were four or five other things that could potentially have been a real problem.

It starts with recognition, communication, and then assignment. Playing your assignment and doing your job. The situations that I mentioned were sort of a combination of all those.

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