Curt Cignetti Notes and Quotes Week 7: Ohio State

Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti meet with the media on Monday to preview Indiana’s showdown against the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Notes

• IU WR Nick Marsh was named AP Player of the Week
• Saturday’s game ill be the first ever match up between top five teams in Memorial Stadium history.
• Indiana’s Oct. 24th game against Michigan will kickoff at Noon ET on FOX

Cignetti Quotes

CURT CIGNETTI: All right, great road win. Hung in there. Gave ourselves a chance and found a way. Tough environment. Really loud. Nebraska played really well. Good football team.

But the last 11 minutes all three phases contributed, and it was a gut check. You know, it would’ve been easy to let that game get away from you in the first half, and we hung in there, so good win.

Playing a great team this week obviously at home. Ohio State are a great football team with a lot of great players. Extremely well coached. Ryan Day does a good job. Both coordinators, all the position coaches, I mean, they’re really, really good.

And not only do they have a lot of excellent player they have a wow player. That’s the only really word to describe him that I can think of. We’re going to need our fans. Ought to be a great environment.

Questions.

Q. I think your record now in one possession games is 34-18. What have you learned about game management from a coaching perspective that’s important in those games? Was there a turning point for you? I think 2017 I think you had eight games in a row that were one-possession games and that season matched almost as many as you had at (indiscernible) in your entire time there. What have you learned?

CURT CIGNETTI: Well, you know, if I had a big secret I wouldn’t tell everyone, but at the end of the day the players make the plays and you just try it put them in position to make the plays.

Q. Wanted to ask about Adedamola. There was the conversation in the preseason about whether he’d played guard or tackle. He’s been at tackle. How have you seen him maybe develop across the course these first six games trying to make that spot his own?

CURT CIGNETTI: Yeah, I think you see improvement every game, and he’s only going to improve because he’s a young guy that’s going to get older, bigger, and stronger. Repetition is the mother of learning.

Q. They emergence of Jacob Savage, he’s really evolved in the last month or so. What did you see from him when you recruited him, and what has he shown you now?

CURT CIGNETTI: You know, really an instinctive player. Loves ball. Loves the process. He’s a football guy through and through. He had a lot of tackles in high school. I mean, it was — I can’t remember the exact number, but you knew he was going to do everything he could to be the best he could be.

Over time, he’s worked his way on to the field in a significant role.

Q. Coach, AJ Harris returned to the field. What does he bring to the defensive back room with his physicality, and how did he impact the game in the fourth quarter last week?

CURT CIGNETTI: He hadn’t practiced very much to be honest with you. He had an opportunity there in the second half, and there are some things to clean up. We had PI back there, but he’s played a lot of football. He has ability, and if we can get him screwed in assignment-wise to do the right thing play in, play out, he would be a good player.

Q. This obviously is one of the biggest home games in IU football history, at least modern IU football history. Your thoughts on what you guys have done to just elevate the program to bring a game of this magnitude to Bloomington for the fan base?

CURT CIGNETTI: Well, winning does a lot of good things, and I think that’s what happened. You got an opponent that’s coming in here that a used to winning and winning championships and is as strong a brand as there is in America, Ohio State football for years and years and years.

So we’re a team that’s developing still. I’m sure they would say the same thing about their team. You know, it ought to be a great environment.

Q. Coach, Ohio State has a first-year offensive coordinator. Curious your reaction to how they look different, if at all this year? And with Jeremiah Smith, you mentioned him, like how has he grown as a player over the last three years?

CURT CIGNETTI: Any time you have a new coordinator there will be some subtleties, but they still run the ball well really. They throw the ball really well. They are very efficient, effective. They do a lot of the really nice stuff.

They move Jeremiah around quite a bit. He’s taken it up a notch without question. I think he has nine touchdown catches in the last three, four games. You know, there is no one like him right now playing at this level.

We got two really good ones. He’s a freak. We’re going to have to do a great job on him.

Q. You guys went 1-10 on third downs against Nebraska. Are there any concerns in that regard? How important are third downs going to be against Ohio State?

CURT CIGNETTI: And 1-1 on fourth down, so we were 2-10. Yeah, you’re not going to win many games doing that. Although I will say this: One of the biggest wins I ever had in my career is when I was the head coach at Elon and we went to JMU and broke their, whatever 26- or 27-game winning streak at home.

I think we were 3-15 on third down. Bottom line is win, but if you’re good on third down it sure helps.

Q. Coach, Matt Patricia is back again as their DC at Ohio State. A lot of new faces. Anything you’re doing differently? What are you seeing from them on tape on defense?

CURT CIGNETTI: You know, some subtle, more same than different, but some stuff. But doing a great job. I mean, they’ve got a lot of new faces and some of those guys we played against at Alabama. You know, they’ve really got them coached up, I mean, and playing really well. A lot of good players flying around; keep you off balance.

Guy is a great football coach and the kids really play well.

Q. Coach, it seemed like in the first half there were quite a few uncharacteristic missed tackles from the defense. Watching the tape back, how do you address that this week?

CURT CIGNETTI: Yeah, we didn’t play well really in any of the three phases in this first half. We had critical missed assignments on offense. We ran 16 plays. We had a hard time getting Nebraska off the field. They were executing really well; we weren’t.

A lot of our issues were assignments, and they got the ball out there in space and we had a hard time getting off blocks. You know, but once we settled down we did a better job.

Q. Coach, you guys are a game shy of tying the longest winning streak in the College Football Playoff era. Ironically Ohio State holds that record and is coming in this weekend. Do you put much thought into current winning streak?

CURT CIGNETTI: No. This is all about giving our team the best chance to be successful and doing a great job as coaches. You know, both teams are going in in my mind 0-0, and I’m sure that’s how they’re approaching it, too.

All that other stuff is just noise and clutter.

Q. Coach, this is perhaps the biggest on-campus sporting event in the school’s history. How much of an impact can a home crowd make in a game like this?

CURT CIGNETTI: Oh, I’m glad we’re playing at home. We really need our crowd to be loud and very involved. We got to give them reasons to be.

So I can’t — it’s just a football game, but I’m glad it’s at home. Two really good teams. Great team we’re playing. Not sure how good we are yet.

But our crowds have been awesome. They need to be loud, real loud.

Q. Coach, obviously coming off a win in a tough atmosphere at Nebraska, what does that kind of gritty road window for you guys confidence-wise and mentally heading into this top 5 matchup?

CURT CIGNETTI: No, I think it’s important, just like the Northwestern win was important, to be in a tight game like that and win, especially on the road with all that adversity. We were down 11 points with 11 minutes to go and responded. It was extremely loud. I heard some comments from people it was the loudest it’s ever been there.

So that was a good one to find a way to win a game like that. But, you know, it’s behind us now and total focus on prep.

Q. One of the Nebraska defenders after the game said they had a good feel for your run game based on some of the tendencies. Is something that’s concerning based on what the run game did or is that overblown?

CURT CIGNETTI: Good teams have tendencies, but you to some changeup pitches, too. Run game has got to have at-bats. When you run 16 plays in the first half you’re not getting many at-bats.