After Indiana football’s 13-point win in its season opener against Old Dominion University, Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti said he wasn’t pleased. He guaranteed everyone in the program realized the squad didn’t play “as well as we wanted to.”
Red zone execution on offense and stopping the quarterback run game defensively plagued the Cream and Crimson.
The Hoosiers largely fixed those concerns in their victory over Kennesaw State University on Sept. 6, going seven for seven in the red area and allowing just five quarterback rushing yards.
Still, Kennesaw State’s offense — much like Old Dominion’s on Aug. 30 — had Indiana’s defense in precarious situations with its high-tempo play style. The Owls notched eight plays of at least 15 yards, leading Cignetti to have frustrations with defensive coordinator Bryant Haines’ unit.
He wanted the defense to get lined up quicker, communicate better and have more attention to detail — he singled out the safeties — in preparation throughout the week.
The Hoosiers then closed nonconference play with a dominant win over Football Championship Subdivision opponent Indiana State University on Sept. 12. Cignetti sought to see his squad playing each play as if the game hung in the balance. It did, he said.
Each week, Indiana has made strides, Cignetti said after defeating the Sycamores. Still, along with penalties, there’s “always a few other things to clean up,” he said in a press conference Monday.
“We had to bring this team along as far as we could,” Cignetti said. “We were playing teams we were pretty heavily favored against — ODU turned out to be a pretty decent team, didn’t they? — so now that we're ready for Big Ten football. And I like the progress we've made.”
Not only have the Hoosiers shown improvement over their first three weeks, but so has redshirt junior quarterback Fernando Mendoza. The University of California, Berkeley, transfer completed just 58.1% of his passes, throwing for 193 yards without a passing touchdown in his Indiana debut.
He took accountability then, explaining he had to get better so the offense could execute smoothly.
Then, in Week 2, Mendoza passed for 245 yards and four touchdowns, completing 72% of his passes.
And in Week 3, the Miami native put together his most complete performance: 19 for 20 for 270 yards passing and five touchdowns, as he played just the first half. Still, Mendoza said after his prolific day that he needs to refine his footwork and be smarter and more effective in terms of red zone decision-making.
Mendoza said he transferred to Indiana to play “great” teams like No. 9 Illinois, which will be the first of three currently ranked opponents the Hoosiers will face in the regular season.
In Cignetti’s first season at the helm of the Hoosiers, Indiana played against just one ranked opponent — in either The Associated Press’ Top 25 Poll or the College Football Playoff rankings — in the regular season: No. 2 Ohio State. The Cream and Crimson struck first against the Buckeyes but ultimately lost by 22 points.
Indiana’s season ended with a loss to the University of Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff, leading to an 0-2 mark against ranked opponents.
But that was 2024.
“Last year's history,” Cignetti said. “I don't compare the last year. I'm totally focused on the here and now and this team.”
This season, the Hoosiers have three currently ranked opponents on their schedule. But they don’t have the luxury of playing the other two — No. 6 Oregon on Oct. 11 and No. 2 Penn State on Nov. 8 — inside Memorial Stadium in Bloomington.
That’s in the future though, and Cignetti doesn’t look ahead. He’s focused on preparing for the first challenge in Illinois.
“And I don't look down the road at who we play, this and that,” he said. “I just want to have a great Monday today.”
Indiana will be without redshirt junior running back Lee Beebe Jr. for the remainder of the season, as he suffered a non-contact right knee injury against Indiana State. Cignetti said redshirt freshman running back Khobie Martin is “going to need to” step into a larger role in the backfield alongside sixth-year senior Kaelon Black and redshirt senior Roman Hemby.
Senior punter Mitch McCarthy has missed the last two games while freshman safety Byron Baldwin Jr. has yet to don an Indiana uniform. Both are dealing with undisclosed injuries.
For the Hoosiers to continue their upward trajectory, improve to 4-0 and notch their first conference victory of the season, Cignetti’s vision is simple.
“Now we got to stack days, meetings, practices and days in preparation to put ourselves in position for success Saturday night,” he said.
Memorial Stadium is sold out for the fifth consecutive conference contest. Come 7:30 p.m. Saturday, the Hoosier faithful will surely have their rally towels in hand as they don red for the “Red Out.”
“Ought to be a great environment Saturday night,” Cignetti said. “Looking forward to it.”
Follow reporters Dalton James (@DaltonMJames and jamesdm@iu.edu) and Conor Banks (@Conorbanks06 and conbanks@iu.edu) and columnist Quinn Richards (@Quinn_richa and qmrichar@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana football season.
