Head Coach Curt Cignetti sat down with “Voice of the Hoosiers” Don Fischer on Thursday for another episode of “Inside IU Football.” Over the course of the hour-long show, Coach Cig spoke on how he feels the Hoosiers are playing and what he wants to see from the team heading into their ranked matchup against the Illinois Fighting Illini this weekend.
Coach Cignetti started the show by giving his thoughts on the Hoosiers’ 73-0 win over Indiana State last weekend, saying, “I think we went out there and did what we had to do and were supposed to do. What I liked most about it was I thought we had the mental intensity and urgency from the first play to the last play and played like every play was nothing-nothing with the game on the line.”
Cignetti then turned his attention to running back Lee Beebe Jr., who suffered a season-ending injury in the win over the Sycamores. “He was doing a nice job running; silver lining there is he’ll get an extra year of eligibility, so he’ll have two years of eligibility remaining.”
“He’ll have surgery here in a couple weeks. Non-contact knee injury, I feel bad for him, but it’s part of the game. You know, injuries happen, and you’ve got to move on.” Cignetti continued.
When asked just how IU moves on from an injury like this, Cignetti said, “We’ve got a lot of support, in a program like ours in all the different areas for our student athletes. So he’s got a lot of support whether it be mental, medical, emotional, or academic support. He’s a great kid; he’s got a great work ethic [and] has got a great attitude about it, and I’m sure he’ll come back strong.”
With Beebe out, all eyes have turned to running back Khobie Martin, who came into the game following Beebe’s injury. “Sometimes you don’t really know about a guy until he gets an opportunity… at times I’m sure guys wonder, ‘When am I ever gonna get a shot?’ And low and behold, we have a guy go down, and now Khobie Martin’s in the game as the third running back and ran well. I mean, we all saw that.” Cignetti said.
Continuing to talk about Martin, Cignetti said, “He’s 210 pounds, he’s got a good center of gravity when he runs, and he’s gonna play a more prominent role now in the offense, and I think he got off to a good start.”
Turning his attention to Indiana’s marquee matchup against Illinois on Saturday, Coach Cignetti said, “They’re a veteran team, and they had a good year last year, where they finished 10-3… They’ve got a lot of guys returning that kind of know how to win. And then they’ve added some new pieces, kind of like us.”
On the Illini offense, Cignetti said, “Their quarterback is a veteran, and he has good arm talent. The offensive line is big and has a lot of starts under their belts. Some of their receivers are new; they lost their top two receivers as well as their running back. But they’re scoring a lot of points.”
On the defensive side of the ball, Cignetti said, “[They’ve got] some new defensive linemen on the inside, and everybody else is pretty much back for the most part. They do a nice job on defense; they don’t give up many points, and their special teams are very good.”
Cignetti closed the show by saying, “[Illinois] is ranked extremely high, and I know they’ve had their eyes on us for a while, and we’ve had our eyes on them for a while too in the offseason. So it’s two good teams matching up early in the year, and I’m glad it’s at home.”