In the 1993 film “Groundhog Day,” weatherman Phil Conners, played by Bill Murray, is trapped in a time loop. He’s forced to relive the same day — Feb. 2 — over and over again.
To escape the cycle, Conners has to learn to become a better person.
Indiana football head coach Curt Cignetti’s team, on the other hand, will have to learn from its costly red zone mishaps and make the plays it became accustomed to last season.
Cignetti felt the No. 20 Hoosiers’ season-opening 27-14 victory against Old Dominion University on Aug. 30 closely resembled the film.
“Like FIU (in 2024), dominate the game, not reflective in the scoreboard,” Cignetti said during his press conference Monday. “Not happy with the way the offense played in the second half of FIU, in the red area in this game, and the fans left at halftime. But it all felt like ‘Groundhog Day’ to me.”
In 2024’s season opener, the first of Cignetti’s tenure at Indiana, the Hoosiers earned a 31-7 win over the Panthers. However, there was plenty the Cream and Crimson needed to clean up from that performance. The same sentiment remains after the 2025 season opener.
Cignetti and the Hoosiers know that.
Domination not reflected in the score: “Had the game in total control.”
Indiana won by just 13 points. While Old Dominion is a respectable Group of Five school in a familiar-to-Cignetti conference — the Sun Belt — the Hoosiers were disappointed in their performance.
Still, a win is a win. Cignetti said Monday he “wasn’t going to apologize” for winning.
“They’re too hard to get,” he said.
But if it wasn’t for two defensive lapses, Indiana could’ve had a shutout.
Old Dominion redshirt sophomore quarterback Colton Joseph notched touchdown runs of 75 and 78 yards, respectively. The first looked like an outside zone to the Hoosiers’ defense, but Joseph fooled them and found the end zone. The second was a “egregious missed assignment by the field end who has the quarterback and took the dive,” according to Cignetti.
Other than Joseph’s long runs, the Hoosiers’ defense gave up just 161 yards.
In terms of Indiana’s offense, its play resembled the 2024 season opener.
Redshirt junior quarterback Fernando Mendoza went 18 for 31 for 193 yards. Against FIU in 2024, quarterback Kurtis Rourke went 15 for 24 for 180 yards and a touchdown.
Indiana’s rushing attack gained 309 yards compared to 234 last year.
And in both games, the Hoosiers’ offense struggled in the second half with just 10 points.
However, there was one glaring difference: the 2024 Hoosiers converted for touchdowns on three of their four trips to the red zone. The 2025 Hoosiers scored just two touchdowns despite finding the red zone on six of their drives.
“Got to make the plays on offense,” Cignetti said. “Got to get better, period, all the way around. Got to get better. And we should get much better this week.”
More on lack of red zone execution
Redshirt senior running back Roman Hemby took responsibility for failing to punch the ball into the end zone. He said he felt there were things he could’ve done better on his eight carries inside the 10-yard line.
Mendoza said it was his fault, too.
He said the offensive line, running backs and tight ends all played great while the wide receivers constantly created space and were open.
Even Cignetti said he was concerned about the Hoosiers’ low red zone and goal line plan heading into the game.
No matter who is at fault, converting against Big Ten schools will be crucial in emerging with victories, which is just what Indiana did last season.
“Last year we led the country in red-area touchdown percentage,” Cignetti said. “But we've got to get better. Doesn't matter what you did in the past; got to get better now. So, that's that.”
Still, Cignetti told his squad to enjoy the victory. The four Hoosiers — Mendoza, Hemby, junior safety Amare Ferrell and senior wide receiver Jonathan Brady — who met with reporters postgame weren’t overly pleased with the result, matching Cignetti’s sentiment.
“I told the team in the locker room, the wins are hard; enjoy it, but not pleased with the way we played,” Cignetti said Monday. “With you guys (reporters), I put the game in perspective. With the team, the focus will be on what we put on tape and what we got to do to improve.”
Crowd inside Memorial Stadium
The Hoosier faithful showed out in droves for their squad — nearly 3,000 than the 2024 season opener. But just like last year, some fans left at halftime. Cignetti previously said a year ago he was trying to change that tradition.
But before the game and in the first half, Indiana fans were loud, which Hemby and Brady said was “awesome” and “amazing,” respectively.
Some of the energy can be attributed to Indiana Athletic Director Scott Dolson announcing Aug. 28 that additional tickets would be open for students to purchase.
“I thought the students were awesome,” Cignetti said. “They bought extra tickets. They were loud. The place was rocking. We didn't see the Bison come in. I heard it was spectacular, big time. The crowd was rocking. And we needed to give them more to cheer about.”
With the Hoosiers making their fair share of mistakes against the Monarchs, fans who entered the stadium expecting a blowout victory were surely let down.
It shows the massive steps the program has taken since Cignetti became the head coach.
“It's a two-score win,” Cignetti. “But we left a lot out there. And it's good that we've gotten to the point where people's expectations are such that they're not happy with just wins. But at the end of the day, they all count as one win.”
But now, the Hoosiers are tasked with doing what they did a season ago — recovering, learning from and improving upon a dominant season-opener that was still littered with mistakes.
Follow reporters Conor Banks (@Conorbanks06 and conbanks@iu.edu) and Dalton James (@DaltonMJames and jamesdm@iu.edu) and columnist Quinn Richards (@Quinn_richa and qmrichar@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana football season.
