The Indiana Hoosiers were not a flash in the pan, after Saturday’s 63-10 win over No. 9 Illinois, that much is obvious. And neither is Curt Cignetti.
The man who, in one year, took Indiana football from years in the Big Ten basement to the College Football Playoff with 11 wins continues to add to his growing mystique with another blowout win and some major recognition. On Monday, Cignetti was named the Dodd Trophy Coach of the Week by officials from the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Foundation and Peach Bowl, Inc.
“This victory highlights just how far Indiana football has come under Coach Cignetti,” said Gary Stokan, Peach Bowl, Inc. CEO and President, in a statement. “He has established a program rooted in toughness and belief. A victory like this demonstrates that the Hoosiers are prepared to compete at the highest level nationally.”
While awards like this one can ultimately be somewhat meaningless, that is exactly why this matters for Cignetti and the Hoosiers.
Cignetti’s national recognition fuels Indiana’s quest for long-term success
The country seemed to forget about Indiana after last season’s first-round CFP exit, and maybe for good reason. The Hoosiers lost both games they played against ranked opponents and appeared to be the beneficiaries of unbalanced scheduling in newly bloated conferences.
Still, those two losses also happened to come against Ohio State and Notre Dame, which played for the National Championship, and every other team Indiana played, they pounded. The Hoosiers had a 9-4 record against the spread and had the greatest positive margin against the spread in the country at +12.8 points. Arizona State was the only other team over 10 points better than the spread on average.
Then, Cignetti, unlike most upstart programs that seem to be one-hit wonders, brought back most of his roster. Indiana returned eight starters, including nearly all of its All-Big Ten selections. It wasn’t recognized by the national media because Curtis Rourke was gone, but the foundation of this team is the same as it was in 2024, and Cal transfer QB Fernando Mendoza appears to be an upgrade.
So why exactly does this coach-of-the-week recognition matter? Because eventually Cignetti won’t have Elijah Sarratt and Omar Cooper Jr. and D’Angelo Ponds and Aiden Fisher and Mikail Kamara. Eventually, likely this upcoming offseason, he’ll have to turn over his roster in a major way, and any national recognition for the coach, the program, and its players will help in that cause.
With so many Midwest powerhouses gobbling up the top high talent in the region, Indiana can only make so much headway in high school recruiting. Under Cignetti, the Hoosiers will be a portal team, and that introduces significant volatility. Just ask Mike Norvell and Florida State about that.
Veteran players who want to make it to the NFL, like Mendoza, need to know that Cignetti and his staff are among the best in the country. Mendoza had an in with his younger brother, Alberto, a backup QB on Indiana’s roster, to see just how impressive the staff is, but anyway that IU can get the word out to the next stud quarterback will make a big difference.
Yes, 53-point victories over top 10 teams say more than any award ever could, but it certainly doesn’t hurt the quest to raise Indiana’s national profile because that’s what it takes to build a sustainable winner beyond just two years.