I am not that far behind you (but I am behind you) Not quite ready to say "Down in front" Getting there but not there yet
Cignetti quote on winning now
- Thread starter phatcat
- Start date
Michigan is not
wouldn’t be surprised if they offer a big raise with extension and significant buyout increase very soon.
Their game with Michigan will be highly interesting. Not because it will neccesarily be some big test, Michigan is very mid and Indiana SHOULD win (obviously if they don't it's another story overall). But even if they win by like 10 points, watching how their offense performs vs that defense, which is at a totally different level of talent than any unit they've handled all year, will be interesting. If they win like 21-10 it makes me question if they have the horses to compete with the top teams once they face them. If they drop 30 and 400+ yards on that defense and win like 30-20 then call me a believer, because they can score on truly anybody then.
Of course, they play OSU the next week so we could just wait and watch that one.
After I "Liked" your assessment, I went and looked at the stats...
Indiana has the 3rd best defense in the country, based on both yards/game and yards per play.
Washington is 9th best defense in yards/play and 10th in yards/game. (IU 31 UW 17)
Nebraska is 17th in yards per game and 46th in yards per play. (IU 56 Nebraska 7)
Michigan is 35th in yard per play and 47th in yards per game.
Northwestern is 36th in yards per play and 50th in yards per game. (IU 41 NU 24)
Ohio State's defense is #2 in both categories.
But Michigan looks like NU defensively.
This is classic you. Their strength of schedule and on field talent is totally different from NU and Indiana
Yeah. I'm with you. A few points to the others here.
1. Indiana is 100% going to offer him a very large raise / extension over the 6yr / $27M ($4.5M per year) deal after this season. Have you been watching college football over the last 5-10 years? I think it will be at least $7M a year and I would be surprised if they offer like 8yrs $64M.
2. Whatever Indiana offers, some other top end school (SEC or maybe B1G) will offer him more - say 10 yrs and $90M or something silly like that.
3. It's been extremely impressive what Cignetti has done this year and I have tons of respect for him. I don't think he's doing anything slimy or bad, he just built a really good football team quickly that is executing at a very high level and has an offensive scheme that is difficult to stop. But I have the same read of him as Corbi - he clearly likes Indiana, but I think he also likes himself.
4. He is probably going to get them into the CFP this year so I dispute that he isn't going to compete at the highest level... but if I had to guess he will probably take the larger bag of cash and move up to a blue blood program sometime within the next 1-2 years. Honestly I wouldn't blame him, if that's what you want take the $$$ while it's on offer, they've been incredible this year but it will be hard to sustain at IU. Just look at Lance Leipold of Kansas, he was the hottest thing since sliced bread his first 2 years but now his top assistants have gotten poached, it's tough to win with recruits + in the transfer portal year after year at Kansas or Indiana, and now everyone else has caught up to KU. E.g. note that Cignetti brought in a bunch of JMU guys led by the QB who are a big help this year - that easy pipeline won't exist in the future so he will have to recruit less familiar people in the transfer portal or develop from HS. Leipold declined all the offers to stay at Kansas with the job stability and reasonable expectations - I don't blame him one bit, he is probably happier with better quality of life than the nutso SEC coaches or even the likes of Matt Rhule of Nebraska or Luke Fickell of Nebraska (two schools who would have been interested most likely). But it's worth a reminder that it's not easy to build on or maintain an initial flash of success at a school that isn't known for it (Gary Barnett at NU post the 1995 and 1996 seasons is another example)...
As of now, without a sizeable upset (always a real possibility) it looks like the conference championship is Oregon vs. the winner of OSU / IU. If IU wins and goes undefeated they play Oregon in Indy. If OSU wins (and beats us + Mich), even if Indiana and PSU win out for 8-1 in conference (11-1 overall), OSU beat them both so they take the tiebreaker and get a rematch with Oregon in Indy.
The quarterback is from Ohio U and he came with his leading receiver, so not from JMU. I really think Cignetti is at Indiana for the duration.
Oh boy.
I didn't adjust for strength of schedule because I couldn't find a free source of all the football scores this year.
If I had all the scores in a good format, I would have done the analysis.
All I did was report the raw data.
I'm sorry you don't like the data.
However, Its pretty hard to imagine looking at those numbers and thinking that Michigan has a better defense than Indiana.
Here's some more data for you. Michigan and Indiana have one opponent in common...
Indiana 31 Washington 17
Washington 27 Michigan 17
Just saying - you have an opinion that is not supported by the data. Doesn't necessarily mean you're wrong.
Just means it is likely that you're wrong.
That you find this hard to imagine says it all, to say nothing of the final score checking you think passes for any kind of analysis. Muting this thread, this is very silly.
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Cignetti reminds me of Randy Walker and Kevin Wilson. Hardscabble guys raised with Eisenhower era ethos, tough guy hat-on-hat football, super cold winter basketball freezing in January, family, community, Rotary club (or Lions Club), local volunteer fire/EMS departments and the boy scouts, etc. Cignetti comes across as a bit arrogant (all good football coaches are, Fitz, Walker, Barnett etc) but also like Walker he comes across like a guy who does not mind pouring the gas can into the machine and then happily mowing his own lawn.
I just don't see Cig. at someplace like Ole Miss or Florida State or someplace like that. It's just really different down there. Celebrity stuff. Flashy. Lane Kiffin is perfect down there. Coach Cig...not so much.
I think he take a big contract, surprises everyone for the next decade with many upsets and banks mucho dinero and is pleased.
Great hire by Indiana.
Go Cats.
I just don't see Cig. at someplace like Ole Miss or Florida State or someplace like that. It's just really different down there. Celebrity stuff. Flashy. Lane Kiffin is perfect down there. Coach Cig...not so much.
I think he take a big contract, surprises everyone for the next decade with many upsets and banks mucho dinero and is pleased.
Great hire by Indiana.
Go Cats.
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Fair point, my mistake on Rourke. But he got 13 of his 31 transfers to follow him from JMU, including 2 of Indiana's 3 top rushers (the other is a WF transfer) and their #1 WR Sarratt this year.
That matchup with osu soon for indy will be worth tuning into for sure. Cignetti will be coy national without a doubt if they make it to playoff. If army makes it they play nd I think their coach could have an argument too
Oh look, Michigan’s defense is giving Indiana its first real tough challenge of the season, who could have guessed
Ohio State is going to blast this team. If Michigan didn't have junior high level QB play, they would have won going away.
I too have gone from somewhat bullish on IU probably staying in the game vs OSU to thinking they’re not very likely to. It’s a week to week game, but anybody is gonna have a hell of a time keeping down OSU’s offense and their defense is a lot better now too. I won’t be shocked if they make it a game, but I’ll need to be convinced until further notice.
Impressive to see them muscle out a close win though, if they sneak into the playoffs at 11-1 I buy they can win a close one with a Tennessee type team.
They were nearly shut out in the second half and Rourke was not the same after he threw a pick inside his own 10 yard line. I think he was rattled after that and off his game. If he can flush this second half and avoid that kind of confidence blowing mistake against OSU then they’ll have a good shot.
I watched much of the game and have a good sense of how it went overall. IU also missed a couple big play opportunities, but just in general spaces were a lot tighter and pressure a lot greater due to Michigan's excellent defense. That pick O'Rourke threw was an A+ defensive play not a lot of DBs are really capable of making. IU played well but everything isn't so easy when the guys lining up on the other side are seriously good. Michigan totally dominated at the line of scrimmage, shut down the IU run all game, and it made it predictably a lot tougher on O'Rourke.
Will be interested to see what kind of “teeth” this deal has. Seems like most contracts these days are still breakable, as the top schools have no problems paying >$10 million dollar buyouts.
72 million over 8 years.
10-0 Indiana gives Cignetti new 8-year contract
Indiana has agreed to a contract extension and raise for coach Curt Cignetti after he has led the Hoosiers to a 10-0 start in his first season.
As I've said on a number of occasions, Cignetti isn't going anywhere. Under the new contract he can retire as a very rich man at age 71, and relax from the recruiting nightmare that is currently in vogue in FBS football. Does anyone here think that LSU is happy about hiring a-hole Brian Kelly for big dollars.
It’s all about the buyout. Tell me what the buyout is and I’ll tell you whether he is sticking around long term or not.
I think Curt Cignetti has obviously done a great job. At the same time, as much as they have made vast improvement, Indiana has benefited from a really soft schedule non-conference schedule and avoidance of the strongest Big Ten teams. Washington is their only competition that currently has a winning record (6-5). They other best wins are us, Nebraska, Michigan, UCLA, Michigan State, and Maryland who are all in danger of not being bowl eligible. In their defense, Indiana has dismantled some of lesser teams like you expect a top team to do, but beating Ohio State would change the perception of their season. They will probably still make the playoff if they lose to Ohio State and finish 11-1, but I would think they would not be seeded to have a home game in the CFP.
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Doesn't matter what the buyout is - he isn't going anywhere. Why would he leave when he will be 71 and a rich man at the end of his contract.
After now having seen both teams up close, I fully expect Ohio State to win that one by 14
Because he can be 71 and a rich man at a program that gives him a better shot of maintaining this level of success year in and year out. You dismiss the ego aspect of this but for a lot of these guys, that’s the main thing that drives them.
Suppose Indiana finishes 7 -5 or 6 - 6 next season because they have a tougher schedule and lose their excellent transfer QB I don't think many big time teams will come calling for a 64 year old one year wonder. But Cignetti can still retire at 72 as a multi millionaire and enjoy the rest of his life. We'll see.
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Except that he brought in a bunch of guys from his former gig that ended up being about half of the starters so he had time to build a culture and program with and for them
22 frosh and 27 transfers. Big NIL money. Guy is a genius. That means 49 kids on the roster last year are no longer on the squad at IU. Do we want that at NU? It certainly is one way to win.
