IU football 5-0 under Curt Cignetti: ‘We’re not satisfied.’
Indiana beat Maryland 42-28 on Saturday to improve to 5-0 for the first time since 1967.
BLOOMINGTON — IU football continues to garner national attention amidst its undefeated start by breaking into the top 25 of the US LBM Coaches Poll on Sunday.
The Hoosiers (5-0; 2-0 Big Ten) are off to their best start since 1967. This is only the third time in program history they have won their first five games.
Indiana is ranked No. 24 coming off a 42-28 win over Maryland while Oklahoma State (No. 20) dropped out of the top 25. The Hoosiers are one of seven Big Ten teams — No. 3 Ohio State, No. 6 Oregon, No. 7 Penn State, No. 10 Michigan, No. 15 USC and No. 25 Illinois — currently ranked.
INSIDER: Even at 5-0, Curt Cignetti isn’t satisfied. Why should he be?
DOYEL: How is IU off to its best start since 1967? ‘Cause Curt Cignetti said so.
“We’re 5-0, and in 57 years — I’m older than that, by the way — but this isn’t the end for us,” IU coach Curt Cignetti said. “I’m proud of the team and everything they’ve accomplished.”
The last time IU was ranked in the Coaches Poll was in the 2021 preseason poll at No. 17, but a 34-6 loss to Iowa made it a short stay in the top 25.
Cignetti has told his players to shut out all the outside noise including the rankings while echoing his former mentor Nick Saban.
“We are used to being successful, this staff that I brought in, the players that are here,” Cignetti said last week. “When you win, it’s about maintaining your edge and avoiding complacency and not having the warm fuzzies and not taking the rat poison, right?”
“Eliminating the noise and the clutter, focusing on what’s going to help you get to the point where you can perform to the best of your ability on Saturday, the preparation part, the physical and mental preparation.”
Indiana will look to stay undefeated when it visits Northwestern on Saturday in a game that will be played at the Wildcats’ temporary stadium on Lake Michigan.
Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.
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