Curt Cignetti entered the Don Croftcheck Team Room inside Memorial Stadium through a back door behind reporters. It’s a regularity for the Indiana football head coach on Mondays.
He walked down the stairs toward the podium, as he typically does. Once he stood behind the Indiana trident-branded podium, a Gatorade Zero Glacier Freeze sat to his right — a constant.
But Cignetti began his opening statement in a way he rarely does: praising Indiana’s opponent. He spoke glowingly about UCLA in 234 words before looking back on the Hoosiers’ victory over Michigan State on Saturday.
“UCLA — we're playing a 3-0 football team that's undefeated, 3-0 in conference (under the new coaching staff),” Cignetti said. “Since they have retooled their staff, now have their new defensive coordinator and offensive staff in place, very impressive football team, okay?”
The Bruins went 0-3 to begin their season, leading to the dismissal of second-year head coach DeShaun Foster on Sept. 14. Tim Skipper, who started the season as a special assistant to Foster, was named the interim head coach. Then, just three days later, defensive coordinator Ikaika Malloe left the program Sept. 17.
In UCLA’s first contest under Skipper, it fell to 0-4 after losing to Northwestern by just 3 points. On Sept. 30, offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri, who took the position after spending 2024 as Indiana’s co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, mutually agreed to part ways with the Bruins.
Since then, however, UCLA is undefeated, sitting in a seven-way tie for second in the Big Ten with a 3-1 mark in conference play.
Enter assistant head coach and tight ends coach Jerry Neuheisel. The acting-offensive coordinator has gone viral on social media for leading the Bruins’ postgame celebrations in the locker room.
In his first game as the play caller against Penn State on Oct. 4, Neuheisel struggled pressing the correct button on his headset to communicate the play to redshirt sophomore quarterback Nico Iamaleava. But the Bruins’ offense averages 33.3 points and 422.3 yards per game under his leadership, up from 14.25 points and 321.3 yards in their four games under Sunseri.
And Cignetti is aware of UCLA’s offensive statistics over the last three games, rattling them off throughout his opening statement.
First, it was rushing yards per game: 233.
Second, it was time of possession: nearly 37 minutes per contest.
Next, it was third and fourth-down conversion rates: 50% and 70%, respectively.
Fourth, it was possessions gained via fake punts: two.
Fifth, it was fast starts: the Bruins outscored their opponents 58-17 in the first half.
Then, Cignetti dove into UCLA’s defense, led by senior defensive analyst Kevin Coyle. The acting-defensive coordinator hasn’t made waves on social media, but his defense has surrendered 21 points per game in the four games Coyle has called plays. In the Bruins’ first three games, they allowed 36 points per contest.
Cignetti said he was “really impressed” by the unit.
UCLA uses several different personnel packages, Cignetti said, to try to keep offenses off balance. When an offense gets outside of typical down-and-distance situations against the Bruins, Cignetti explained the unit will “see a lot of stuff.”
“They got about seven personnel packages, a variety of blitzes, pre-snap looks with linebackers mugged to try to confuse the quarterback a little bit,” he said.
Typically, when preparing for an opponent, the Hoosiers dig into film from as many games as they can. Indiana isn’t doing that ahead of its eighth game of the season. Instead, Cignetti said the Cream and Crimson are only focusing on UCLA’s games where it's been coached by “the people that are pushing the buttons and calling the shots right now.”
While an Indiana victory in Saturday’s contest would’ve been considered a near-certainty a month ago, it’s no longer the case. Sure, the Hoosiers are 24.5-point favorites, per FanDuel Sportsbook, and ranked No. 2 in The Associated Press’ Top 25 Poll. Yes, Indiana is 7-0 for the second consecutive season, and the loss would be one of the biggest upsets of the season.
But Cignetti, who stresses never being satisfied, isn’t taking the new-look UCLA lightly.
“They're a rejuvenated football team,” he 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.
