Ahead of No. 23 Indiana football’s Week 2 contest against Kennesaw State University at noon Saturday, head coach Curt Cignetti made his weekly appearance Thursday on Inside IU Football at Hoosier Hank’s.
Defensive coordinator Bryant Haines also joined the show after Cignetti. The pair discussed several topics throughout the hour-long show.
Here are some key talking points and takeaways:
QB Mendoza’s play
Redshirt junior quarterback Fernando Mendoza made his Indiana debut against Old Dominion University on Aug. 30. He completed 58.1% of his passes and accumulated 193 yards passing with neither a passing touchdown nor turnover.
Cignetti said Mendoza made some “really good plays” against the Monarchs, but he also “left a couple out there.” Despite the latter taking accountability for the offensive performance postgame, the former said the Hoosiers’ receivers could’ve helped Mendoza.
Still, it was just his first game with a new squad. Week 1 rust is largely inevitable. It’s about how he responds.
“So, just looking to build off that performance and get better every week,” Cignetti said. “Once you get that positive performance, that confidence and belief starts to roll and everything picks up. And that’s kind of what we’re looking for on offense.”
WR/PR Brady’s performance, capabilities
Indiana trailed Old Dominion by a touchdown when senior Jonathan Brady returned a punt for a 91-yard to even the contest.
Cignetti said he thought Brady should’ve run up and caught the ball in the air instead of playing it off the bounce. Still, Brady delivered an electrifying play in his first game as a Hoosier.
The Los Angeles native was a late addition to Cignetti’s second roster in Bloomington, joining the Hoosiers via the spring portal window in early May. He played with Mendoza at the University of California, Berkeley in 2024 after beginning his career at New Mexico State University.
“This day and age in college football, you play for three to five schools,” Cignetti said, which garnered a chuckle from the crowd. “Good player and returned punts.”
There was a competition between Brady and two other players to become the Hoosiers’ punt returner. Brady seized control of the battle.
“The most important thing in the return game, especially punt return, but even kickoff, is possession of the ball,” Cignetti said. “When the play’s over, you got to have the ball.”
Being a good decision maker with quality ball skills is crucial for a punt returner, Cignetti said. Brady has those skills. He’s also a “really smart” player.
Brady also made a pair of receptions for eight yards in the contest.
“He can play inside, outside,” Cignetti said. “He knows all the spots at receiver. And he’s really got good balance and body control and a high football IQ. He’s already helped us. He’s going to help us more.”
Preparation for KSU QB Dexter Williams II
Former Hoosiers quarterback Dexter Williams II, who is Kennesaw State’s starter, will make his return to Memorial Stadium. He last played in Bloomington in November 2022, when he was carted off the field and taken to a Bloomington hospital with a knee injury.
Williams, who is known more for his running ability, is a “good athlete,” according to Cignetti
“He’s elusive and they have designed quarterback runs,” Cignetti said. “And he’s got a strong arm.”
Williams went 12 for 33 for 149 yards passing in Kennesaw State’s season-opening loss to Wake Forest University on Aug. 29. He finished with 44 yards rushing on 14 carries.
“He can definitely be a nuisance,” Cignetti said.
How the process of watching film has changed
When Cignetti began coaching as a graduate assistant at the University of Pittsburgh, game footage was on 16-millimeter film with projectors.
There were four GAs on offense, Cignetti said, but it was he and now Maryland tackles and tight ends coach Hal Hunter, who was the offensive coordinator at Indiana from 2000-01, who did the “bulk” of the work.
“We had to take the tape, the film — they came in canisters — and we had to cut and splice every single play of a season, tape it on a wall and categorize it and then glue it together so that the coaches could kind of watch each segment,” Cignetti said.
Now, Cignetti said the same process is taken care of — by quality control coaches and student volunteers — with the snap of a finger.
Coaches now get more information as they watch more film, which is categorized by down and distance, formation and personnel. Players can access the film directly on their personal devices, which allows them to do the same.
Plus, the team has access to tablets on the sidelines, the coach’s booth and the locker room. Coaches can now see what went on during the play, Cignetti said, and can instantly make adjustments.
But the advancement in technology has made games more complex, Cignetti said.
Indiana’s defensive line
Defensive linemen CJ West and James Carpenter exhausted their eligibility at the end of 2024, leaving defensive coordinator Bryant Haines to find their replacements and add depth.
Redshirt senior Dominique Ratcliff, redshirt senior Hosea Wheeler, senior Stephen Daley and senior Kellan Wyatt all joined the Hoosiers via the transfer portal in the offseason, providing depth to the Hoosiers’ defensive line.
Indiana accumulated one sack, three tackles for loss and three quarterback hits against Old Dominion. Still, it wasn’t up to the Hoosiers’ standard. They’re “a lot more aggressive” than they showed against the Monarchs, Haines said.
“You got to make plays in their backfield and there wasn’t enough of that,” Haines said. “A little bit too controlled, not dynamic, not aggressive, not our style.”
Why Haines is in his 11th season with Cignetti
Haines began as a defensive line coach under Cignetti at Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 2014. The former has since followed the latter from IUP to Elon University to James Madison University and now to Bloomington.
“He’s different, but he’s very true to who he is,” Haines said. “He’s not going to be different in front of anybody here as he is with us in the office, or if he comes to my office or I go into his.”
Cignetti has the makeup of somebody Haines wants to work for: he’s transparent, open and honest, Haines said.
In his 15th season as a head coach, Cignetti makes sure coaches are held accountable for the contents of their job description, according to Haines. It’s a strategy the second-year Hoosiers defensive coordinator follows with his players.
“So, I think in that way, he and I are very aligned,” he said, “and that makes the working relationship very easy.”
The Hoosier faithful inside Memorial Stadium
There were 47,109 fans in attendance for the Hoosiers’ season opener. Some fans left the contest early, much like the 2024 season opener.
However, it’s about the on-field results for Cignetti. He said Monday his squad left 35 points on the field after failing to execute in the red zone.
“I’ll sacrifice 5,000 fans for about 28 more points,” Cignetti said.
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.
