Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti met with the media ahead of Indiana's much-anticipated matchup with the Ohio State Buckeyes. Here are the takeaways heading into the top-five matchup.
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The Indiana Hoosiers (6-0,3-0) host the first-ever matchup between top five teams in Memorial Stadium history on Saturday when the Ohio State Buckeyes (6-0, 3-0) roll into Bloomington. Indiana.
Head coach Curt Cignetti shared his thoughts on the Hoosiers showdown on Saturday as well as some reflections on IU's dramatic win against Nebraska.
Home, Sweet, Home
The Indiana Hoosiers return home for the first time after two weeks on the road. It is the "biggest" home game, and maybe even sporting event, in school history. While the fans and media get caught up in it, Cignetti is just glad he gets the Buckeyes at home.
"I'm glad we're playing at home. We really need our crowd to be loud and very involved. We got to give them reasons to be," Cignetti said. "So I can't -- it's just a football game, but I'm glad it's at home. Two really good teams. Great team we're playing. Not sure how good we are yet. But our crowds have been awesome. They need to be loud, real loud."
The Hoosiers have won 19 consecutive home games and are undefeated at Memorial Stadium under Cignetti.
2. Jeremiah Smith is a 'Wow' Player
Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith should be the Heisman favorite this season and he has the attention of Cignetti.
"Not only do they have a lot of excellent players they have a wow player. That's the only really word to describe him that I can think of," Cignetti said of Smith.
Smith has 48 receptions for 916 yards and 11 touchdowns in six games this season. He is a special athlete and Ohio State will feature him as much as possible.
"They move Jeremiah around quite a bit. He's taken it up a notch without question. I think he has nine touchdown catches in the last three, four games. You know, there is no one like him right now playing at this level. We got two really good ones. He's a freak. We're going to have to do a great job on him," Cignetti said.
3. Just Win, Nothing Else Really Matters
The box score from Indiana's 20-17 win against Nebraska would paint a different picture than what actually happened. Nebraska was 10-18 on third down and held IU to just 1-10.
They ran nearly double the number of plays and held the ball for two-thirds of the game. That's a recipe for a Husker win, until it wasn't. The bottom line is Cignetti just cares about one stat: the score.
"You're not going to win many games doing that. Although I will say this: One of the biggest wins I ever had in my career is when I was the head coach at Elon and we went to JMU and broke their, whatever 26- or 27-game winning streak at home. I think we were 3-15 on third down. Bottom line is win, but if you're good on third down it sure helps." Cignetti explained.
Cignetti also is not focused on Indiana trying to match Ohio State's 23-game winning streak either. He is treating both teams as 0-0 squads, to no one's surprise.
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Sammy, a native of New York City, is a 2009 graduate from Indiana University with a degree from the School of HPER (Public Health) in Sports Communication and Broadcasting. He started Hoosier Huddle in July of 2013 and has been the statistician for Indiana Football radio broadcasts since 2019. He also has a Masters Degree in Physical Education from Canisius College in Buffalo, NY. He is a member of the Football Writers Association of America and a voter for the Outland Trophy, Ray Guy Award, Lou Groza Award, Eddie Robinson Award and the FWAA All-American Team.