- The Hoosiers recently defeated No. 8 Illinois by 53 points in a dominant performance.
- Transfer quarterback Fernando Mendoza has been a key part of Indiana’s success this season.
- Despite their impressive win, Indiana remains ranked No. 12 in the coaches poll.
Now is not the time for Curt Cignetti to back away from Curt Cignetti. Not that he would, anyway.
If you think Indiana — and by Indiana, I mean, the straight-talking, hip-shooting Cignetti — was talented and ticked off last season, wait and see what the Hoosiers are delivering this time around with their firebrand coach.
No more having to envision what could be, just soaking in what is.
“They couldn’t stop us,” Cignetti said after Indiana’s 53-point win last weekend over No. 8 Illinois.
And just so there was nothing left to doubt for those in the back of the room still unsure about the Hoosiers and their rise last season under Cignetti, he went full-on Cignetti.
“And then we broke their will and pounded them,” he said.
Any questions now, America?
The team that was easy to overanalyze and criticize in 2024 — because of a woefully weak schedule and no signature win — is back and better than ever in 2025. And heaven help us now that an elite coach and an historically insufferable fan base (think IU basketball) have found each other.
The losingest program in the history of college football (seriously, Google it), is on its way to a second straight appearance in the College Football Playoff. Like it or not.
But instead of ramping up the rhetoric, Cignetti is beginning to dial it back. Even with the blunt assessment of Illinois attempting to keep pace.
He doesn’t want this to be about a CFP argument of worthiness, or whose schedule is tougher, or if bad wins mean more than good losses. Or any of the other useless banter that clouded the product on the field.
He wants this to be about ball.
About rushing for 312 yards, and holding Illinois to two. Yes, two — on 20 carries.
About a blocked punt, and seven sacks. About another transfer portal quarterback — and if you thought Kurtis Rourke came out of nowhere last year with a big season, get a load of Fernando Mendoza.
Mendoza played well at California in 2024, and nearly led the Bears to a huge upset of Miami. After three cupcake games to begin this season (hey, Cig, you gotta upgrade that nonconference schedule), Mendoza attacked one of the Big Ten’s best defenses by completing 91% of his passes (21-of-23) with five touchdowns and no turnovers.
“We hit the field, it’s all business,” Cignetti said. “I know I stirred things up last year media-wise because I felt I had to. This place, the fan base was dead, and needed to set some expectations.”
He’s now officially done just that. Because this Hoosiers team is more complete and dangerous than last year’s group, and it’s not sneaking up on anyone.
Two program-defining games remain, and if you don’t think the Hoosiers can win at Oregon (Oct. 11) or at Penn State (Nov. 8), take another look at the product — and stop obsessing over the name.
This is different than last season, when a joke schedule with no resistance (other than the loss to Ohio State) made it easy to second-guess Indiana’s CFP bonafides. There’s no doubt now.
The Hoosiers just manhandled the most physical team in the Big Ten this side of Michigan, and took their foot off the gas midway through the second half. It looked like one of those routs of years past in Assembly Hall, when Bobby Knight’s teams would physically impose their will on anyone who dared step on the court.
But Indiana is a football school now, everyone. A chuck it all over the park and run it down your throat football school. If this were anyone else in the Big Ten, there would be reverberations throughout the sport.
Yet there’s Indiana, after the most impressive win of the first month of the season, hovering at No.12 in the US LBM coaches poll. Hell, even Cignetti’s own colleagues don’t believe in him.
They had the Hoosiers lagging far behind Illinois last week, the same Illini that won 10 games last season and returned a loaded team. A team Cignetti watched on tape, and immediately saw the mismatch.
“I thought our defensive line could whip their offensive line, and we did,” Cignetti said.
Never change, Cig, never change.
And enjoy the ride all the way back to the CFP.
Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.