Ahead of No. 20 Indiana football’s season opener against Old Dominion University at 2:30 p.m. Saturday on Merchants Bank Field at Memorial Stadium, play-by-play announcer Don Fischer hosted Inside IU Football with Curt Cignetti on Thursday night at Hoosier Hank’s in Bloomington.
Across Cignetti’s nearly half-hour on the show, he covered numerous topics. Here’s what Cignetti had to say about his squad and their upcoming season.
Preparation for Old Dominion
During Cignetti’s time at James Madison University, his squad defeated the Monarchs twice. Old Dominion’s offense has undergone significant turnover since then.
Just one wide receiver that caught a pass in 2024 returns for this season, so Indiana corners will have some uncertainty on the pass catchers they’re tasked with defending.
“There’s a lot of unknowns,” Cignetti said. “They’re supposed to have a big, tall receiver that can really fly. I guess we’ll find out Saturday the first time he tries to run by us, whether we can cover him or not.”
Cignetti compared Old Dominion’s offensive tendencies to the University of Tennessee’s.
“They’re really going to spread you out with wide splits and use the box count to their advantage,” Cignetti said. “When the numbers are in their favor, they’re going to run it and they do a good job; they got some nice schemes. They don’t use the tight end very often and the quarterback is gonna run it too.”
When it comes to the Monarchs’ defense, Cignetti said it’s “just different.”
In 2024, Old Dominion finished 102nd nationally in total defense, 101st in passing yards allowed and 63rd in redzone defense. The Monarchs’ 3-3, five-defensive-back scheme could challenge the Hoosiers and redshirt junior quarterback Fernando Mendoza.
“They have like 80 snaps of Cover Zero blitz in 12 games, which is a lot,” Cignetti said. “That’s when they’re bringing one more than you can block, and they’re playing man-to-man all over the field, but you got to be able to get the ball off. And they’re gonna stand there at six yards and try to collision your receivers and grab ‘em. So, you either get off and beat ‘em deep or hope you get a flag.”
Cignetti didn’t go as far as deeming Old Dominion a “preparation nightmare,” but he did say he and his staff have spent “a lot” of time on the Monarchs in the lead-up to the contest.
Offensive line starters set
Indiana’s offensive line was a semifinalist for the Joe Moore Award — which honors the most outstanding offensive line in college football — under coach Bob Bostad last season. With former center Mike Katic exhausting his eligibility, redshirt senior Pat Coogan, who transferred in from the University of Notre Dame in the offseason, will slot into the starting role.
Redshirt junior Carter Smith will continue to protect the quarterback’s blindside at left tackle this season, as he has since 2023. Redshirt junior Drew Evans, who tore his Achilles ahead of the Hoosiers’ victory over Michigan on Nov. 9, 2024, is the starter at left guard again this season.
Redshirt junior Bray Lynch will again start at right guard, while University of Colorado transfer sixth-year senior Khalil Benson, who played at Indiana from 2020-23, gets the nod at right tackle.
“Kahlil Benson started at right tackle the year before I was hired here, and then when I was hired, he was in the portal already,” Cignetti said. “Went to Colorado and heard such great things about the new Indiana, he wanted to come back with his buddy Louis Moore.”
Ohio State transfer redshirt senior Zen Michalski will serve as the backup to both Lynch and Benson.
Fernando Mendoza’s development
In Cignetti’s first season at Indiana, he brought in sixth-year senior quarterback Kurtis Rourke out of the transfer portal from Ohio University.
It took Rourke, who wound up becoming a prolific passer and put together one of the best seasons for an Indiana quarterback, time to adjust to his new squad.
University of California, Berkeley transfer Fernando Mendoza has followed a similar path, Cignetti said.
“Now, again, I’ve said this a few times, all these transfer quarterbacks kind of follow the same path in terms of their development: struggle a little bit the first half of spring ball, improve the second half, have a great summer; fall camp a different guy,” Cignetti said.
Over the last nearly two weeks, Cignetti said he’s seen “marked improvement” from the Miami native.
Cignetti explained quarterbacks like Mendoza can always improve in terms of their reads, their processing of the defense and situational awareness.
“I have a lot of confidence in him,” Cignetti said.
Turning the page
Indiana’s historic season is now in the past. The 2025 iteration of the Hoosiers are 0-0 and hasn’t won anything yet, so Cignetti is interested to see what he and his staff have in their second season in Bloomington.
“Last year is over, and part of creating a winning culture is turning the page,” Cignetti said. “We’ve turned the page with a lot of new guys.”
The Hoosiers brought in 24 transfers — 12 on offense, eight on defense and four on special teams. With so many new faces, Cignetti said he and his staff tried to set the standards in everything they do in the lead-up to contests. He’s “anxious” to see how the Cream and Crimson play in their season opener.
“You really can’t carry momentum between the white lines over from one year to the next,” Cignetti said. “You kind of got to start over. You’re building a new house so to speak — it starts with the foundation and then you build it. It’s go time.”
In terms of depth, Cignetti said his squad doesn’t have the depth they’d like at some positions. However, he didn’t single out which position groups are thinner.
Still, Cignetti and his squad are ready to play a real opponent after months of playing against each other in practice.
“It’s time to kick off,” Cignetti said. “I tell you what, been too much practice scripts, watching tape and listening to all that BS on social media that we stirred up with our success. Let’s go play some ball.”
Dalton James covers Indiana football and basketball for the Indiana Daily Student. You can follow him at @DaltonMJames on X and contact him via email at jamesdm@iu.edu.
