Curt Cignetti Era Begins With Comfortable Win Over FIU

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Written by: TJ Inman

A long offseason, one filled with anticipation and excitement, ended and a new era of Indiana University football kicked off in Bloomington. Curt Cignetti coached his first game as the head coach of the Indiana Hoosiers and his rebuilt squad roared out to a 21-0 lead before cruising to a 31-7 victory over the Florida International Golden Panthers in Memorial Stadium.

IU began with the ball and the first offensive play of the season was a short Kurtis Rourke completion to Elijah Sarratt but IU failed to get a first down and punted to the Florida International Golden Panthers. Linebacker Aiden Fisher quickly ended the FIU drive with back-to-back tackles for loss and the ensuing punt gave IU the ball at the 42-yard line. The Indiana offense found its footing as TySon Lawton ran for a pair of first downs and then Justice Ellison moved the ball inside the ten-yard line. IU’s first touchdown of the Curt Cignetti era was a nine-yard pass from Kurtis Rourke to tight end Zach Horton. Nico Radicic added the extra point to make it 7-0. Florida International picked up one first down but had to punt back to the Hoosiers and Indiana quickly moved down the field with a mix of the run and pass. TySon Lawton broke free of a tackle and reached the end zone to put IU ahead 14-0. After one quarter, the Hoosiers had 144 yards of offense and were firmly in control. A personal foul penalty on a converted fourth down forced FIU to punt back to Indiana and Kurtis Rourke showed off his improvisation skills as he avoided a sack and tossed it to Miles Cross. The transfer from Ohio made a circus catch to get a first down and TySon Lawton capped off the 93-yard drive with his second touchdown of the game to put Indiana ahead 21-0. Florida International got into an offensive rhythm on their final drive of the first half and Keyone Jenkins connected with Rocky Beers with 48 seconds left to make it 21-7 at the half. The Hoosiers had 243 yards to 102 yards for Florida International after 30 minutes of action.

Florida International began the second half with the ball and a chance to cut the lead to seven points but IU’s defense was locked in all afternoon and forced a three and out. The Hoosiers moved into scoring position with a fourth down conversion on a very well-designed pass to Justice Ellison but TySon Lawton threw a poor pass on a halfback toss that would have been an easy touchdown and the Hoosiers had to settle for a Nicolas Radicic field goal to make it 24-7. IU’s offense was rather conservative in the second half and focused mostly on running the ball and chewing clock and the defense mostly suffocated FIU’s offense and prevented any comeback bid. The final nail in the coffin came on fourth and 13 as Keyone Jenkins was forced to throw into coverage and it was intercepted by Amare Ferrell. The Hoosiers forced another pair of turnovers on downs as the impressive defensive display continued and the offense was setup with great field position as the clock wound down. Tayven Jackson entered at quarterback and handed off to Elijah Green and the North Carolina transfer exploded through the hole for a long touchdown run that showcased his impressive speed.

Kurtis Rourke was solid and efficient but definitely missed a couple of chances to hit big plays as the few deep shots offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan dialed up did not quite connect. Rourke was 15 for 24 for 180 yards with one touchdown. The receptions were balanced but it was Omar Cooper that led with 45 yards. The Hoosiers definitely leaned on an impressive running game with the trio of TySon Lawton, Justice Ellison and Elijah Green plus a bit of Kurtis Rourke combined for 247 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns. Florida International was limited to 175 total yards as IU’s defense was rarely out of place and tackled extremely well. The Hoosiers had four sacks and were consistently disruptive on defense as Aiden Fisher led the team with 11 tackles.

The Hoosiers move to 1-0 and take on Western Illinois next Friday.

Key Takeaways

  • The play-calling on both sides of the ball was fun to watch. Indiana’s offense has a lot to clean up but there were a lot of opportunities created by Mike Shanahan. That offers promise for the remainder of this season if that execution can get cleaned up.

  • The running backs (Green, Ellison and Lawton) all looked really good and the run blocking was impressive. Florida International did not have an answer.

  • The defense created a lot of pressure and rotated a lot of bodies in the second half. There was one extended drive allowed but this was a very strong outing by IU’s defense and the front seven overwhelmed FIU’s offensive line.

  • The negative of the afternoon would undoubtedly be the missed opportunities on offense. The Hoosiers had multiple chances to create big passing plays and were just a bit off on the execution.

  • Overall, this was a very competent performance from the Hoosiers and a very satisfying way to begin the campaign.