Curt Cignetti’s evaluation of his team’s schedule has undergone numerous revisions after the fact, much like a fishing tale.
He described its eight home games as a great schedule during Big Ten media days in July. Encouraged by his success in the latter part of the season, he said that he had once viewed IU’s 2024 schedule during the hiring process and questioned whether the Hoosiers could win nine games.
By Nov. 30, Cignetti had goosed that figure once more while reveling in the aftermath of a historic victory over Purdue.
My wife would tell you that I said, Look at this schedule, as we lay in bed the night I took the job. This schedule has ten wins, Cignetti stated. Naturally, at that time, I was kind of unsure about whether to come or stay.
According to Cignetti, Scott Dolson, the athletic director at IU, called him ten minutes later and made the offer.
Cignetti responded matter-of-factly, and I replied, “Okay. We’re going to shock the world,” he continued, and I said, Yes, we are.
Dolson’s statements turned out to be foretelling. Indiana spent the fall of 2024 doing things that no one believed were conceivable, partly because they had never been done in this area before.
The eighth-ranked Hoosiers are now traveling to South Bend in hopes of making history by winning the first-ever game played in a 12-team College Football Playoff field.
Cignetti has a great deal of respect for Notre Dame and is adamant about not limiting his team’s goals. Although the Hoosiers’ traveling party does not take its opponent lightly, nobody is eager to go north this week.
IU thinks there is still a lot more to reveal. It’s important to keep in mind the incredible journey that brought the Hoosiers here in the first place.