Pinch me I’m dreaming… IU has one of the most well funded coaching staffs in the country. IfreakingU… History be damned.
Last year Cig came out of nowhere and shocked our fanbase, and then the country with a historic season winning 11 games and making the playoffs. He and the team were underdogs, a cinderella story to some, and an overrated team that hadn’t played anyone to others. The crowd that minimized our success patted themselves on the back when we lost to ND.
This year, Cig and company have nearly silenced that crowd with two top ten wins and an undefeated season so far, and favored to win all remaining games. After Oregon, even the staunchest haters (other than Finebaum) are talking about this IU team in high praise, giving them the credit they deserve. We’ve finally hit a point where we are truly getting national attention and no one is knocking the team’s sos, ranking, or accomplishments. Hell, Mendoza is almost the favorite to win the Heisman on betting sites at near even odds with Ty Simpson, and some mock drafts have him going as the first pick.
I can’t imagine the team hasn’t noticed this deserved recognition, and I’m sure coach has a way to keep them humble and focused on the task at hand. I’m curious to see how the team deals with all of this in the second half of the season. We still have difficult games ahead and could slip up any given week. UCLA is 3-1 in the BIG, beating a healthy #7 PSU team. We play a huge away game at Maryland where they have 2 weeks to prepare for us. We Play PSU, who still has top talent, and will want to ruin our season. I’m so stoked to see us continue to get better this season, culminating with a victory over Ohio State in the BIG Championship, and an epic run in the playoffs leading to a 2025 National Championship! But we have to win this Saturday first…. Go Hoosiers
All correct, expect Maryland being a huge away game. Every game is huge for IU, I just don’t see it as a huge game because it’s at Maryland. They’re on a three game slide and Cig is a far better coach.
I thought IU handled all the noise coming out of the Oregon win well. They were ready to play, they didn’t go oh well MSU stinks we can just show up and win. Now, MSU made some plays bc they have a talented QB and wide receivers.
I don’t think IU gets caught looking ahead with Cig at the helm. It has t happened in 19 games. Can they get beat? Sure, anyone in the Big Ten can beat anyone these days.
It is a fun spot to be in.
When we start pulling in top 10 recruiting classes that’s when it will truly be a pinch me moment for me because that’s when I will start feeling this success is sustainable long term. I know our current players aren’t a bunch of 4 and 5 stars, but logic tells me we aren’t always going to find a bunch of G5 all Americans who then become P4 all Americans. Hopefully we can land some big dogs soon and not have to worry that we can’t compete with OSU and Oregon due to our roster. I have complete faith in Cig to do that. I know it won’t happen overnight, but it feels like the tides could start to turn on that soon. Especially if we start getting some high end flips because of all the firings.
@olympian97 While high school recruiting is important and should be the foundation to build a roster. The portal is more impactful.
While there are home grown recruits making big contributions, Pat Coogan, Fernando Mendoza and guys like Kellen Wyatt and Stephen Daley have been the real difference makers.
Teams with an older roster and a great QB will win more times than not and that’s what IU has had the last two seasons.
Now, upgrading the high school talent coming in can only help and the portal is probably better served to fill needs, but the importance of star rankings has dropped.
On star rankings too, there are a lot more athletes who peak athletically in high school now due to sport specialization. There’s just not a ton of room to improve. So is the guy a five-star because he’s just better than everyone else in HS due to hitting his peak at 17-18 instead of 21+.
The staff is elite at evaluating talent and developing that. For IU that may be the smarter way to build a roster in the NIL Era. Why pay $2 million or whatever for a 5-star freshmen WR when you can get 2 portal guys and like 3 other good HS prospects.
PFF has a couple nice high school recruiting spots on youtube about the Hoosiers. They call our 2026 class underrated. And mention several who are reported signing with other power schools, (nice to say 'other' power schools) but who have started talking with Indiana a lot more in recent weeks.
I watched hudl vids of half dozen of the names they liked, and several guys we have inked, their 2025 season tape looks like a big leap in how impressive it is compared to what I watched when they were announced. Some really good players. A reason why we have to fight off suitors. The pff guy used 'Indiana was on him early' a lot for those we got, and are still after and have a chance. The PFF guys gave us kudos for recruiting the trenches.
High school recruiting is big, per Cig, I won't doubt him. But filling in with quality players, veterans, is important because we are going after specific needs and known qualities.
@thehoosierhuddle I think for those exact reasons the Maryland game could bite us, as I see it as a bit “trappy,” wedged between UCLA and PSU. I’m thinking back on those bad Purdue teams that upsets OSU.
Cignetti will be able to land some incredible portal talent after showing his coaching ability and showing that IU can be a household name.
Nobody expects 0.900 forever, and the foundation has already been set. Nothing but positives in terms of chance to compete in the future.
@openwheel Our 2026 class is very underrated. Rivals is way higher on our class than ESPN (who is by far the worst recruiting service) and has been pulling away from 247. They did a study on how many of their projected 4/5*s actually make the NFL (which is what that rating is supposed to project) and Rivals has the highest hit rate
They also just did some midseason re-rates, lot of HS talent in the state of Indiana the next two years. Bunch of 4*s we are in play for like Myles Smith and Mason Oglesby
Right now Rivals has us with 3 top 140 players in the 2026 class:
Henry Ohlinger - #106
Gabe Hill - #133
Ronelle Johnson - #139
They also have Cameron and Kasmir as 4*s
The best part of our 2026 class IMO is that its focused on the DL and OL. We have a lot of big, NFL sized bodies coming in on the trenches. Those kind of guys are costly and rare in the portal. Much easier to find productive skill players than trench players in the portal
ESPN is becoming down on the B1G. Really getting to be at a homer level. Am I the only one who feels like they (ESPN) dog us at every turn?
I thought everybody felt ESPN dogs us at every turn.
And yeah, it's filtering over to all of the Big Ten. Our league can have several good games but the first half dozen on ESPN's main page will be SEC games even if they're meaningless. And the headline will try to pretend the teams did something amazing.
Cig even alluded to the media tie-ins without calling ESPN out by name in his cookies vs brownies comment.
But, we get some coverage on there. And a few of their commentators don't just shill for ESPN, so they give some love.
CNN had an article on IU today. This team and Cignetti are truly taking the country by storm. I don't know how these guys will handle all of this attention, but I'm excited for the game tomorrow!
All correct, expect Maryland being a huge away game. Every game is huge for IU, I just don’t see it as a huge game because it’s at Maryland. They’re on a three game slide and Cig is a far better coach.
I thought IU handled all the noise coming out of the Oregon win well. They were ready to play, they didn’t go oh well MSU stinks we can just show up and win. Now, MSU made some plays bc they have a talented QB and wide receivers.
I don’t think IU gets caught looking ahead with Cig at the helm. It has t happened in 19 games. Can they get beat? Sure, anyone in the Big Ten can beat anyone these days.
It is a fun spot to be in.
I will continue to be my cautious self and remind everyone that at this point, every game is huge. We are in a position where any loss - or even a "bad" win - will cost us. Maryland, Southwestern Nevada A&M, doesn't matter anymore. We don't have any small games left, if this is the season we prove we are elite.
@goat I agree with that. The pressure builds with every game and every win.
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