Curt Cignetti stood alone at a podium on a stage inside Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. It was July last year.
It’s before his first season at the helm of the Hoosiers. Before starting 10-0, a program record for most wins in a season. Before guiding Indiana to its first appearance in the College Football Playoff.
But his goal was simple.
“We want to be great,” Cignetti said at Big Ten Media Day last year, his voice echoing throughout the approximately 67,000-seat stadium.
His message also boomed throughout the college football world, though it took a few months before the Hoosiers became the talk of the country. They were a “feel-good” story. The all-time losingest program in college football suddenly wasn’t losing.
For all the Hoosiers’ success last and this season, they’ve yet to beat a top-ranked team on the road, falling at No. 2 Ohio State and at No. 7 University of Notre Dame.
Indiana’s next opportunity awaits Saturday: a matchup with No. 3 Oregon at 3:30 p.m. EDT inside Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Oregon.
When the Hoosiers suffered their season-ending loss to the Fighting Irish on Dec. 20, 2024, then-junior linebacker Aiden Fisher said the Cream and Crimson made “critical errors” that cost them the game.
The Hoosiers don’t want to have a repeat of last season.
“We're making sure that we take the initiative, take command now,” Fisher said during player availability Tuesday. “And those won't play a factor in the game as long as we're keen on them now, kind of hammer those details out.”
Cignetti has long believed the margin for error in college football is very slim. On his first media day at the helm of the Hoosiers, he cited Indiana being a touchdown away from winning the Big Ten in 2020.
“Now, in this day and age, the Internet society, I've got to have it now, three seasons ago seems like three decades ago,” Cignetti said then, “and all of a sudden Indiana's become like an impossible job or they're irrelevant.”
He was tasked with turning around a program that went 9-27 in the three seasons before arriving. So when he left James Madison University, he brought 13 players who were accustomed to winning — including Elijah Sarratt and Fisher.
Sarratt, now a senior receiver, said he envisioned turning the Hoosiers around when he arrived in Bloomington. Just two years removed from a flailing program, Fisher said Saturday is why players go to Indiana: to play against “really good football teams.” Outside hype followed.
“A lot of people are going to be watching,” Fisher said. “But I mean, this is what Indiana football is now. We're going to play in these big games and expect a great outcome. So, you just got to prepare for it like any other game.”
The Hoosiers have a 72% chance of reaching the CFP again this season. The college football world saw Indiana throttle Illinois by 53 points on Sept. 20. A win Saturday would prove the Cream and Crimson can win high-profile games away from Memorial Stadium.
Still, Indiana doesn’t feel like it’s trying to prove anything to anyone outside of the facility — just to those inside its own locker room.
When the Hoosiers were in the midst of summer workouts, Sarratt said they pushed through being “dog tired.” That’s what they’ll have to do if they want to win games like the one against the Ducks on Saturday, he said.
The preparation hasn’t changed, though.
“So, obviously, I know the media and the narrative is this is a really big game,” Fisher said. “I think it is that way ‘cause we've kind of earned it to be a really good football team as well as they have. But I'm not going to put too much pressure and emphasis on it. It's the next game on our schedule.”
Sarratt echoed Fisher.
Except he recognized the magnitude of Saturday. It’s an opportunity for the Hoosiers to assert themselves. To be “great” like Cignetti’s message echoed 14 months ago.
“We know it's a big moment,” Sarratt said, “but it's just another game we're going to go out there and do our thing.”
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.
