EVANSTON, Ill. — Nothing in Curt Cignetti’s past told him he should say what he did.
But Indiana football’s first-year head coach, moments removed from the Hoosiers’ 41-24 victory over Northwestern on Saturday at Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium, felt compelled to say it anyways.
“I’m proud of the team up to this point,” Cignetti said, “which I’m not supposed to say. But we can certainly improve a lot more and we’re only halfway through the regular season.”
Before entering his press conference, which took place in a classroom inside the Henry Crown Sports Pavillion, Cignetti lectured his team about avoid complacency. It’s a message he’s preached since his introductory press conference 10 months ago and now carries legitimate weight.
The Hoosiers are 6-0 for the first time since 1967. They’re bowl eligible for the first time since 2020.
And they’ve bought into the approach Cignetti hoped they would — to the extent redshirt junior defensive end Mikail Kamara’s mind is thinking national championship.
“Right now, this is not the goal,” redshirt junior defensive end Mikail Kamara said postgame. “Being 6-0 is not necessarily the goal. The goal is to go and try to win a Natty. This is fantastic, but this is not the end.”
Cignetti told the Hoosiers after the game he doesn’t just want them to keep a chip on their shoulder, but make it grow. Indiana has already won twice as many games as it did last season, and public perception surrounding the program is beginning to shift.
The Hoosiers passed their biggest test of the season Saturday, finishing strong after holding a narrow 27-24 lead midway through the fourth quarter. They’ll face another crucial challenge in the week ahead.
Indiana enters its bye week 6-0, a long way from where many expected it to be. Cignetti said his players will be subjected to a variety of opinions over the next week, from lofty praise to loud doubters.
But Cignetti is confident the Hoosiers will handle it well.
“We have an older team,” Cignetti said. “I'm not really concerned about them so much reading about their accolades on social media [or] in the paper, because they've been around the block a little bit.”
Cignetti has oft noted Indiana has a veteran squad, which is useful for more than just canceling outside noise. On Saturday night, it may have been the most important intangible trait to the Hoosiers’ victory.
Sixth-year senior quarterback Kurtis Rourke said postgame he needed to settle down and take a deep breath after Indiana’s first two drives, one of which ended with a turnover on downs and the other with a punt after going three-and-out.
Rourke, who made his 39th collegiate start Saturday afternoon, responded the way veterans are supposed to. Indiana scored on its final seven possessions, reaching the endzone five times while kicking a pair of field goals. Rourke threw for 380 yards and three touchdowns while the offense totaled over 520 yards.
After Northwestern trimmed the Hoosiers’ advantage to 3 points in the fourth quarter, Indiana scored back-to-back touchdowns. The Cream and Crimson’s defense, which had allowed points on four of its previous five drives, forced consecutive turnover on downs.
Indiana has faced game pressure each of the past two weeks, finding itself in one-score games in the fourth quarter. Both times, the Hoosiers pulled away late, outscoring their opponents by a combined 17 points during the final frame.
Having veteran players who have been through the fire and have experienced similar games many times before is a key reason why.
“It just brings a confidence to the team knowing we have a lot of guys who came in who are older, who came from winning cultures and understand what it takes be a good team and how to win late and end a game,” fifth-year senior receiver Ke’Shawn Williams said postgame. “Clearly, it translates.”
Williams, who caught two touchdown passes from Rourke against the Wildcats, transferred to Indiana from Wake Forest University last winter. He’s part of a 30-man transfer class that he said carries the common denominator of wanting to bring past team success to Bloomington.
Thus far, the assortment of new faces has delivered results better than anyone could have reasonably expected. The Hoosiers became the first bowl eligible team in the Football Bowl Subdivision on Saturday and are one of only four Big Ten teams still undefeated.
But Williams, armed with over 50 games of collegiate experience, knows how fast it can change. He’s committed to avoiding it.
“You got to understand that preseason, they didn’t have us doing anything special or doing what we’ve done so far,” Williams said. “People have their own opinions — if we go out there in two weeks and lose, they’re going to say, ‘The old Indiana is back.’ They’re going to have their opinions that we’re no longer that good, special team — so we can’t get caught up in opinions from outside what’s going on in house.”
Cignetti stresses resiliency and poise — never being too high or too low. His teams have long been strong finishers, something he puts down to culture and mindset. Indiana went 2-4 in one-score games last season, while Cignetti led James Madison University to a 5-1 record in such affairs.
Junior receiver Elijah Sarratt, who caught seven passes for 135 yards against Northwestern and was with Cignetti at James Madison, said postgame the process of breeding such a finish-oriented mindset started this summer, when Indiana held workouts at noon on days.
The Hoosiers’ strength staff built a team physically suited to dominate late. Cignetti and the coaching staff assembled a roster mentally capable of finishing games.
And Indiana football, now nationally ranked and orchestrating a program turnaround, is reaping the rewards. That, by all accounts, is enough of a reason for Cignetti to be proud.
“When you take over a program, the No. 1 thing you have to do is to change the way people think,” Cignetti said. “We have a blueprint, we have a way we play, we’ve got character, we’ve got some talent. They’re playing like all of our other teams have played in those situations.”
Follow reporters Daniel Flick (@ByDanielFlick) and Dalton James (@DaltonMJames) and columnist Jhett Garrett (@jhettgarrett) for updates throughout the Indiana football season.
