Head Coach Curt Cignetti sat down with “Voice of the Hoosiers” Don Fischer 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 matchup against a red-hot UCLA team on Saturday.
Cignetti opened by giving his thoughts on Indiana earning a program-best ranking of #2 in the country this week. “Do I feel good about it? No, in my position I’m not allowed to feel good about it.”
Coach Cignetti then gave his thoughts about the Hoosiers’ dominating 38-13 win over Michigan State. “That’s a good win. The offense— first five possessions scored touchdowns: that was great. Michigan State got off to a hot start offensively themselves; some of it they were executing really well, but some of it were things we could have done a little better too…but we really tightened up on defense and made it happen…and kind of dominated the fourth quarter but didn’t score like we should have. So good win, and then we quickly switch gears to UCLA.”
When asked about the offense’s performance against MSU, Cignetti said, “It was a strong performance in the pass game; it started with protection. You know the protection was great. And then the wide receivers were separating, and [Fernando] was really accurate and throwing the ball on rhythm and extending plays when he needed to. It’s the sharpest [he’s looked], and he’s built on every game.
Following the win on Saturday, Cignetti is making sure that his team is not resting on their laurels. “[We’re] coming off of a Thursday practice, which I thought was fairly clean; we need to have a great day tomorrow. It’s really important when you feel like you played well on Saturday that you still are hungry and humble in your preparation. I felt good about today’s practice. So it’s gonna take a great team effort this week.” He said.
Coach Cignetti then turned his attention to the Hoosiers’ upcoming matchup against the UCLA Bruins. When asked about his comment that UCLA should be viewed as a ‘3-0’ team, Cignetti said, “I don’t know how you can’t look at it [any other way]. They made a change at head coach…and they’re a completely different team. They’re averaging 33 points a game, and they’re holding the ball 36.5 minutes; they’re rushing for 233 yards a game. Part of the reason they’ve got all this time is because they’ve faked two punts successfully, they’ve done a surprise onside kick that was successful…and the quarterback is really talented. He’s [got a] quick body, quick arm, and he can run. And the defense [I’m] really impressed with the scheme and what they do to try and keep you off-balance. So they’re a rejuvenated football team; I mean, they’ve got completely new leadership…and they’re 3-0.”
The Hoosiers will be without one of their defensive leaders, Kellan Wyatt, on Saturday and likely for the rest of the season. When asked about Wyatt, Cignetti said, “I feel bad for us, but I feel terrible for him. He’s a senior; this is his last year…high-effort guy does everything really hard. Trains in the winter in the weight room. Really a smart, instinctive football player that you can do a lot of things with. And he was making a lot of big plays for us…The knee went, and he walked off the field, so I was very hopeful that maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, but I’d say it’s highly doubtful that we’ll see him the rest of the year.”
Without Wyatt, the Hoosiers will turn to Kent State transfer Stephen Daley to fill the edge rusher position. When asked about Daley, Cignetti said, “Freak athlete. Let me tell you, Stephen Daley, he’s the kind of guy you really wish you had for two or three more years. We were aware of him at JMU cause he’s from Virginia, he came to our camp. He ran a 4.42 [40-yard dash] maybe in our camp, but the thing that was impressive about it was that his last ten yards were his fastest ten yards…but he’s really started to play well for us. He’s got a lot of ability.”
Coach Cignetti was then asked about how this year’s team relates to last year’s team. “Let’s face it, it’s all about the quarterback. What Mendoza gives you at quarterback with his arm strength and ability to extend plays, Kurtis Rourke had a great year—he led the country in QBR— [but] Fernando adds another different dimension. And that’s all I’m going to do with the comparing thing, cause last year’s team did great things.” Cignetti said.
With that, Cignetti left the show, and QB coach Chandler Whitmer took his place for the final segment.
When asked about having two brothers in the same QB room, Coach Whitmer said,“It’s definitely unique. There’s times where I have to tell those two to be quiet, there’s some back-and-forth, there’s obviously the competitive nature, which you can expect, which has been fantastic. It’s been a true blessing Don. Those guys work their tails off; they’re fantastic young men, and what they’re doing on the field has been awesome. They continue to push themselves; nobody works harder than Fernando, and he loves football. If you were to ask me about what he does off the field, I couldn’t really tell you because he’s always doing football.”
Coach Whitmer then turned his attention to IU’s matchup with UCLA on Saturday: “They’re fantastic; they’re well-coached. Obviously since the change we’re looking at those guys like an undefeated team. They play hard, they’re talented, and they present a lot of problems with their recognition and what we need to take a look at pre-snap…so we’ll have to be prepared for pretty much everything, but we’re excited about the challenge.”
With that, the show came to an end as the coaches continue to get this team ready for Saturday’s matchup against the UCLA Bruins.