Curt Cignetti got his start in coaching in 1983, when he served as a graduate assistant at age 22 at the University of Pittsburgh. In total, he’s coached at 11 different schools over a 42-year coaching career.
Cignetti has been around college football during all sorts of big-name coaches’ careers, even spending four seasons on Nick Saban’s staff at the University of Alabama from 2007-2010.
To Cignetti, Oregon head coach Dan Lanning is different.
“Probably one of the most impressive young coaching phenoms to come around in a while I would say, having been in this game for a little bit,” Cignetti said in a press conference Monday. “They're a great football team.”
Now in his fourth season at the helm of the Ducks, Lanning’s squad enters Saturday’s matchup against Indiana football with an unblemished 5-0 record. Despite having its first bye week of the season, Oregon dropped a spot to No. 3 in The Associated Press’ top 25 poll Sunday.
The Ducks are coming off a 30-24 victory at then-No. 3 Penn State on Sept. 27 — their signature win so far this season. However, the Nittany Lions now sit unranked at 3-2 after losing to UCLA on Oct. 4.
Still, Lanning’s squad, which Cignetti deemed “great,” poses a significant challenge for the Hoosiers.
Another big game for the Cignetti-led Hoosiers
ESPN’s “College GameDay” has been in attendance for three of Indiana’s last 11 games — Saturday will mark its fourth.
In 2024, Indiana defeated Washington by 14 points when “College GameDay” made its first trip to Bloomington. However, the Hoosiers fell in the other two contests — at Ohio State and at the University of Notre Dame — the show made appearances at.
Indiana was overmatched at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball against the Buckeyes and Fighting Irish. Cignetti said he didn’t think the Hoosiers won any position battles in those two contests.
To win against “big boys” on the road, Cignetti said at Big Ten Media Day in late July, the Hoosiers must win the battle up front.
Saturday marks Indiana’s first opportunity to do that.
The Hoosiers have plenty of players with big-game experience, as 29 players are in their final season of eligibility — tied for third most in the country.
Players like senior linebacker Aiden Fisher, senior receiver Elijah Sarratt and sixth-year senior defensive lineman Mikail Kamara returned from last season’s squad. Redshirt senior center Pat Coogan, who spent the last four seasons at Notre Dame, is also accustomed to high-profile games.
“... We have a veteran team,” Cignetti said. “They've been around the block. Most of them have been in games like this before.”
Indiana’s offense faces another test
The Hoosiers had their worst offensive statistical output against Iowa on Sept. 27. They gained a season-low 337 total yards. Indiana’s rushing attack totaled just 104 yards — it previously notched at least 300 in each of the first four games.
Redshirt junior quarterback Fernando Mendoza threw his first interception as a Hoosier in the fourth quarter against the Hawkeyes. He finished 13 for 23 for 233 yards passing with two touchdowns alongside the pick.
Cignetti said Mendoza “passed the test,” as he came through in the clutch to secure the victory.
For Mendoza and the Hoosiers to earn their sixth win of the season and remain undefeated, they’ll have to pass another test: Oregon’s defense.
The Ducks are third in the country in points allowed at 12 per game. Opponents have gained just 236.8 yards per contest and four yards per play — placing Oregon in the top 10 nationally in both categories. But Cignetti wants the Hoosiers’ offense to play like it has.
“I just want Fernando, like the rest of the guys on the team, to relax and play their game,” Cignetti said. “We're just going to go out there and play our game and play it well.”
The environment at Autzen Stadium
Prior to its first bye week of the season, Indiana went on the road and won at Kinnick Stadium — a historically difficult place to play.
Cignetti described it as a “gut-check game.”
But for the Hoosiers to exit with a victory, even when they didn’t play their best, was “huge,” he said.
Indiana is tasked with another daunting environment Saturday. Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Oregon, constantly earns recognition as one of the loudest stadiums in college football as it resembles a double-sided amphitheater.
Originally built in 1967, Autzen Stadium underwent a $90 million renovation ahead of the 2002 season. The renovation added12,000 seats and 32 luxury boxes, bringing the capacity to 54,000. However, standing room only tickets allow for over 60,000 to file into the stadium — 60,129 were in attendance for Oregon’s win over Ohio State last October.
Since 2022, when Lanning arrived at Oregon, the Ducks have lost just once at home: against Washington that season.
The Hoosiers already have experience in top environments. Saturday will be another.
“Well, I think anytime you do something the second time, it helps that you've been through it one time before,” Cignetti said. “Iowa was a sellout. It was loud. To have that kind of preparation going into this game will help.”
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.
