What Curt Cignetti Said As Indiana Football Prepares For Western Illinois

Curt Cignetti had good things to say about the Hoosiers after their 31-7 victory over Florida International last Saturday.

Todd Golden | Sep 2, 2024

Indiana Head Coach Curt Cignetti walks among the players before the start of the Indiana versus Florida International football game at Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024. / Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK

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Curt Cignetti had his weekly press conference on Monday as Indiana transitioned out of its 31-7 season-opening victory over Florida International and into a short prep week for Friday's home game against Western Illinois.

Here is everything Cignetti had to say to the media.

Opening statement ...

Cignetti: Good solid performance in the opener, did a lot of positive things. I like the way our defense swarmed to the ball, put pressure on the quarterback, TFLs.

Offensively strung together four straight drives that averaged 75 yards, 11-plus plays, three straight touchdowns, and then a field goal. We hit that halfback pass, which we normally do in practice, then we're looking at four TDs.

Had a couple of clunker drives there at the end of the third quarter, fourth quarter. Offensively, penalties obviously, too many on offense. Got to cut those out. I think we had seven second and 11 pluses and six third and 11 pluses, some were 17, 21. Things we can teach off tape obviously, all correctible.

Last drive of the second quarter, crucial missed assignment on third and five. We should have had that play nailed. Guy didn't do what he was supposed to do.

We didn't finish the second half the way we want to finish the second half. That's always a point of emphasis. We did start the third quarter by stopping them and driving down the field. We ended up kicking a field goal, should have scored a touchdown.

Special teams was solid, and I thought the effort was good. We're excited to play again Friday.

On different guys getting involved defensively ...

Cignetti: That's what I'm used to seeing. We like to pride ourselves on playing defense. We pride ourselves on being fast and physical and disruptive up front and creating a lot of different looks for the defense and being really good against the run. I think we gave up 53 yards rushing, less than 200 total yards.

And we've always been really good against the run and had TFLs and sacks. So it was nice to see that carry over with this group. We've added faces to the defense, and a lot of guys did get involved, like you said.

On Indiana's tackling ...

Cignetti: We did tackle well, we swarmed and had multiple hats. We didn't tackle in fall camp and only once in the spring. There you go. So a lot to build on.

On safety Josh Sanguinetti and linebacker Isaiah Jones ...

Cignetti: I think everybody on this team sort of starts with a clean slate and evaluated daily, in season or out of season. Once we start practice, typically fall camp, day in, day out practice and who earns the right to be on the field.

Those guys have done well and earned that right. We need them to play well throughout the whole season.

On play-calling when the game is in Indiana's hands ...

Cignetti: Yeah, we were still in attack mode. At that point we weren't really satisfied with how we had played since really our last touchdown drive. Even the one we went down and kicked the field goal, we weren't pleased we had to settle for the field goal.

There were some missed opportunities out there, and sometimes we got behind the sticks because of penalties. So we wanted to keep attacking.

On college football games on Friday nights when high schools play ...

Cignetti: I've played Thursday. I've played Friday. I've played Saturday. We just get ready to play them when we're asked to play them.

On having flexible role players ...

Cignetti: It's real important, and Bryant does a great job, along with the defensive staff, of creating different packages and week to week based on team's tendencies, what they think puts us in the best position to be successful. Those guys have to be versatile, but part of being a safety is being able to play low, run for it, play deep, and stop the pass.

That's where it helps to have intelligent guys defensively because it is a heavy plate, where they've got to learn some things and there's checks built into formations, et cetera.

On the passing game and whether it was intentionally conservative in the passes attempted ...

Cignetti: No, we should have had two post touchdowns. The one we hit Cooper on the deep cross, probably should have gone to the post. He's open. We didn't throw it. We did throw the post later in the game to Andison Coby, who's open. We got to use the field and lay it out there. That should have been a touchdown too.

We had some other down the field opportunity chunks that we just didn't convert on.

On who may have stuck to him from guys who got playing time ...

Cignetti: I thought they all played hard. Overall, Aiden Fisher, we thought really played well. A number of guys played well on defense. I like the way the running backs ran the ball on offense, and Carter Smith played well up front, Zach Horton did a good job.

I like the way we kicked off. McCormick, I thought was excellent on kickoffs.

We got some young guys in there at the end. Landino saw some action, and Hardy saw some action at linebacker. That was good to see. Continue to try to build some depth.

Thoughts on the offensive line ...

Cignetti: Did a nice job, rushed for 240 yards. I thought we ran the ball effectively, averaged about six yards a rush.

Pass pro, we had a couple issues, but nothing that's not correctible there. We're not real deep there on the offensive line. We can go probably six deep with veteran guys, seven. So got to keep progressing.

On wide receiver Donaven McCulley and his Saturday performance ...

Cignetti: Well, I don't get frustrated when a guy gets hurt because it's next man up. I don't have time to think about that.

We got him in there, and he was playing fast, doing a nice job, and took a hit and was ruled out. He'll be anxious to get back, and I'll be anxious to get him back.

On the process of evaluating Kurtis Rourke and quarterback play ...

Cignetti: I always come in early and look at ODK, and then when we come in as a staff Sunday morning, the offensive staff will watch it together, defensive staff will watch teams together. I may cut out a few plays I watch with the defense. This past week I didn't.

But in terms of the quarterback coach, and Tino will coach -- tonight Kurtis will review the tape with Tino, and that's how we did it. I thought he did a nice job. He made some plays when he was under pressure, getting out of the pocket, and made a throw or two and threw the ball fairly well.

He missed a couple reads, but I thought it was a good first time out for him.

On correcting penalties ...

Cignetti: Now you can teach it off tape and the consequence of having a holding penalty and how it puts you behind the chains. We've got to get better with our hand placement, got to get our hands inside, they can't be outside. It's always a concern going into the first game.

We don't have officials at every practice like some people do. So you harp on it during fall camp. Sometimes it takes a consequence to get the result.

On what goes into the offensive gameplan ...

Cignetti: Well, I mean, every week we're going to put our best run game plan together based on the opponent, what we're seeing schematically. Then we've always tried to play three backs, keep them fresh.

And I thought Elijah Green did a nice job because Kaelon Black, you know, ham was a little tight. So we held him precautionary after he ran down on kickoff and I think had one carry. I thought all those guys did a nice job.

More detail on Donaven McCulley injury ...

Cignetti: I think we'll have him back soon. Right now I would say it's more day to day.

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