The Curt Cignetti-led Indiana Hoosiers are coming off their best season in program history, with an 11-2 record and are looking to make another run to the College Football Playoff in 2025.
Indiana's season now starts at 1-0, with a 27-14 win over Old Dominion at Merchants Bank Field at Memorial Stadium.
How Indiana got to 1-0 was shaky at best in the teams season opener versus their Sun Belt opponent.
Here are some of the main quotes from head coach Curt Cignetti after the matchup on Saturday and at his press conference.
"Always good to get a win. Wins are hard to get. 1-0. But I guarantee you, everybody in this organization realizes we didn't play as well as we wanted to. That's just a flat out fact." said Cignetti
“Never take a win for granted,” he said. “1-0, that’s fantastic.”
"We had a number of missed opportunities offensively, first-and-two on the 2, couldn't get the ball in the end zone. Get down there the next time and fumbled the ball. Got open for a touchdown, make a nice throw and he drops the ball. Hit the crossbar on a field goal. Overthrow a guy for a touchdown in the second half."
"And so from that standpoint, you know, we have to get better, gotta get better."
"‘I'm not pleased with the way we played’"Curt Cignetti
Cignetti also mentioned that “Maybe it wasn’t a very good plan overall. We do it on Thursdays and it was the low red and goal line. And I was really concerned about it leading up to the kickoff.”
Indiana certainly made many mistakes in its season opener on Saturday versus ODU. The Hoosiers defense allowed the Monarchs’ redshirt sophomore quarterback Colton Joseph to have both a 75- and 78-yard touchdown run. That along with dropped passes, vanilla play calls in the red zone, unorganized chaos at the line of scrimmage and missed special teams opportunities it was a bit of a mess for Indiana overall but a win is a win, especially after the kickoff around CFB for week one.
Coach Cig told Hoosiers Huddle, “Our guys, will get it done, we have such great guys on our team that returned, they have embraced these transfers and make them feel at home. I think we’ve got a pretty close team; we’ve got some great leaders on this team. But there’s nothing that helps culture like winning.”
Indiana will play Kennesaw State in a non-conference matchup on September 6, 2025, at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, Indiana.