Curt Cignetti recently took Matt Rhule’s mother out for a nice seafood dinner but never called her again. In my decade of covering college football, I’ve witnessed some serious beatdowns in the Big Ten, but what Cignetti’s Indiana Hoosiers did to Rhule’s Nebraska Cornhuskers was something else. After the Scott Frost era, I thought Nebraska couldn’t face anything worse than a 311 breakup.
Instead, the Huskers are 5-2 and still haven’t reached bowl eligibility with a sixth win. Meanwhile, Indiana is achieving more this season than anything we’ve seen at Assembly Hall in the last 25 years. Bob Knight is likely throwing folding chairs wherever he is because he’s missing these good times.
Indiana has officially become a football school, and it’s time to recognize that Cignetti is a top-10 coach in the sport.
Curt Cignetti is the up-and-coming coach who takes down his competition. This isn’t the same old modesty we saw from Sonny Dykes a couple of years ago, which I have no time for. There’s no need to pretend you’re inexperienced. Vanderbilt may not have seen the end zone much, but the goalposts from FirstBank Stadium are now at the bottom of the Cumberland River. Diego Pavia is the standout player, and Coach Cignetti is doing more for Marlboro than Sam Darnold’s late grandfather ever did.
Dick Hammer was the iconic Marlboro Man! He didn’t just see ghosts; he pushed products until the very end. In a similar way, Cignetti is doing the same in Bobby Knight’s territory. The only impressive aspect is Indiana’s perfect record eight weeks into the season. What if I told you there’s a chance this team could go 12-0?
If Indiana manages to pull off an upset against Ohio State this weekend, they might just make it to Indianapolis after all. With that momentum, they could confidently take on teams like Oregon or Penn State in the conference championship. Cignetti has long been overlooked, but despite a relatively easy schedule, the Hoosiers are winning decisively.
Cignetti is doing more for football in Indiana than Peyton Manning and Daniel Ruettiger combined!
