'Church of Cignetti.' Indiana football coach 'as close to Saban as I’ve seen.'

‘Church of Cignetti.’ Indiana football coach ‘as close to Saban as I’ve seen.’

Posted by Admin November 8, 2024 Football

Michigan at No. 8 Indiana, 3:30 p.m., Saturday; TV: CBS

BLOOMINGTON – Last season, as he watched Nick Saban navigate a lackluster start, a quarterback benching and a withering schedule en route to winning the SEC, Rick Neuheisel — believing this was some of Saban’s best work — began saying he “worshipped at the church of Saban.”

When the legendary Alabama coach retired last offseason, Neuheisel, an analyst for CBS Sports’ ‘College Football Today’, needed a new parish. Watching Indiana demolish UCLA, his alma mater, in Week 3, Neuheisel knew he’d found his congregation.

“I said, ‘I’m going to be at the church of Cignetti,’ given the way they boat-raced UCLA,” Neuheisel told IndyStar this week. “I thought I saw a lot of Saban in Cignetti, not because of the way he said, ‘I win. Google me,’ but in terms of the no-nonsense approach, the adherence to the process.”

Cignetti has converts all over the country now: fans, analysts, former players, current and former coaches. College football has looked on with astounded fascination as Cignetti ruthlessly turned a Big Ten also ran into one of the most intimidating football teams in the country.

The Hoosiers lead the nation in average margin of victory. They’re second in points per game and seventh in points per game allowed, seventh in tackles for loss and tied for fourth in sacks. Among qualified passers, only Ole Miss’ Jaxson Dart has a higher quarterback rating or averages more yards per attempt than Kurtis Rourke, and only Army, which runs the option, has more rushing touchdowns (33) than IU (32).

Those numbers run on, but they all tell the same story of a team so efficient, so unrelenting, so meticulous, it is resetting all kinds of program records and expectations on its way to a potential College Football Playoff berth.

“You’ve got a coach that stands up there and picks on the bullies,” said former Purdue quarterback Gary Danielson, who will call this weekend’s game against Michigan for CBS. “All of us that wear a college football expert hat should just put it aside, because nobody saw this coming.”

The Hoosiers will appear Saturday in one of the Big Ten’s prime slots — the 3:30 CBS game the league poached from the SEC in its latest media rights deal — for the first time this season.

Danielson will work as ever alongside Brad Nessler, in one of the most prestigious play-by-play pairings in the sport, for IU’s visit from the Wolverines.

After debuting at No. 8 in the first Playoff rankings of the season Tuesday, the Hoosiers appear to have a path into the 12-team field by winning out at home. That starts with Michigan, a team struggling for offensive consistency.

In Neuheisel’s estimation, Indiana’s success this season starts with the attention to detail evident in its players’ performances week to week.

A former quarterback who coached the position in college and the NFL, Neuheisel used Rourke as an example. Neuheisel said he too often sees quarterbacks coached into bad habits, or not held to task for sloppiness. Rourke, he said, is an example of the demanding approach that makes Cignetti so successful.

“He just is a guy where, everybody in the program knows exactly what their job is and is held accountable to get their job done,” Neuheisel said of Cignetti. “There is a clear understanding of what you’re responsible for getting done, and he’s going to hold you to that. There’s very little wavering in the process.”

The bandwagon Neuheisel pushed down the road early in the season has a lot more passengers now.

Indiana arrives to its meeting with the reigning national champions a top-10 team in both the polls and those CFP rankings. The Hoosiers have paths open to them to both the 12-team field and, with a perfect 3-0 finish to the season, a place in the Big Ten championship game next month.

Neuheisel’s church of Cignetti has welcomed a hefty share of worshipers in the past two months. And Neuheisel, who sees a remarkable amount of Nick Saban in a coach who worked under Saban at Alabama before leading his own programs to so much success, is prepared to keep making room.

“There have been Saban disciples, Saban guys that go to places and try to be Nick Saban and can’t be,” Neuheisel said. “I think Cignetti is as close to Saban as I’ve seen. (Georgia coach) Kirby (Smart) is pretty close to Saban in terms of his attention to detail but this guy’s unique, and I won’t be surprised if this story continues for a while.”

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