Head coach
Curt
Cignetti, 63, decided to take a swing at perhaps the toughest job in
the Big Ten after leading James Madison to a 52-9 record over the past
five seasons, including an 11-1 finish last year in the school’s second
season of FBS membership. Indiana fired Tom Allen after seven seasons,
only two of which ended with a winning record, and negotiated a $15.5
million buyout to do so (the original figure was $20.8 million). The
school is paying Cignetti an average of $4.25 million over the next six
years.
Prior to James Madison, Cignetti spent two successful
seasons at FCS Elon, and before that coached Division II Indiana
University of Pennsylvania (IUP) for six years. Those jobs followed a
28-year assistant career that included stints at Pittsburgh (twice),
Davidson, Rice, Temple, NC State and, from 2007-10, Alabama, where
Cignetti coached receivers during Nick Saban’s first four seasons in
Tuscaloosa.
Cignetti played quarterback at West Virginia, where
his father, Frank Cignetti Sr., had coached from 1976-79. West Virginia
fired Frank after Curt’s freshman year, but he resurfaced at IUP, where
he coached 20 seasons, and was eventually inducted into the College
Football Hall of Fame.
History against Washington
Washington is 1-2 against Indiana:
2003: Washington 38, Indiana 13 (Seattle)
1978: Indiana 14, Washington 7 (Bloomington)
1976: Indiana 20, Washington 13 (Seattle)
- UW’s
only win against Indiana, in the 2003 home opener, was the first of
coach Keith Gilbertson’s brief tenure (the Huskies had lost the week
prior, 28-9, at No. 2 Ohio State). Reggie Williams caught two touchdown
passes against the Hoosiers, including a 70-yarder from quarterback Cody
Pickett on a short crosser. Indiana finished 2-10 that season under
Gerry DiNardo.
- Ranked No. 11 and coming off Don James’
first Rose Bowl season, the Huskies stumbled in their opener against
UCLA, then were upset by the Hoosiers two weeks later. Indiana’s coach
was none other than Lee Corso, then in the sixth year of a decade-long
tenure in Bloomington. Indiana finished 4-7 that season, but did notch
Corso’s first two winning seasons at the school in 1979 (8-4) and 1980
(6-5). The Huskies recovered well enough, finishing 6-2 in conference
and tied with UCLA for second place behind co-national champion USC.
- Indiana
got James in his second season, too. Both programs went 5-6 that year,
but the home defeat still was perceived as a massive upset, and James
was furious. He told reporters afterward: “It looks like we are going to
have to go out and beat the hell out of them in practice this week. …
This week we’ll be scrimmaging. We’ll be hitting a lot more.”
The pinnacle
Indiana
does claim one unbeaten season, under coach Bo McMillin in 1945, which
the Hoosiers finished 9-0-1 — they tied Northwestern — and ranked No. 4
in the final AP poll, still tied for their highest finish ever. They
ranked No. 20 after going 6-3 the following year, and were unranked but
above .500 at 5-3-1 in 1947, McMillin’s final year at Indiana before he
left to coach the Detroit Lions.
The school’s only Rose Bowl
appearance came at the end of the 1967 season, under coach John Pont,
who guided Indiana to a 9-2 record (though USC defeated the Hoosiers in
Pasadena, 14-3, en route to a national title). Indiana also finished
that year ranked No. 4 nationally.
Since its four consecutive
winning seasons from 1944-47, Indiana has yet to put together more than
two winning seasons in a row. Still, the 13-year tenure of Bill Mallory
(1984-96) was a relative success, as he guided the Hoosiers to six bowl
games, winning two of them, and finished the 1988 season ranked No. 20.
The
next time Indiana finished a season in the top-25, Penix was the
starting quarterback (though an ACL injury cut his season short).
Indiana still went 6-2 during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season,
defeating Penn State and Michigan in the same year for the first time
ever. The Hoosiers’ No. 12 final ranking remains their third-best ever.
Rock bottom
Things
were pretty bad in 2021, when Indiana finished 2-10, went winless in
Big Ten play and scored only 10 total touchdowns against conference
opponents, one year after their 2020 breakout. But Indiana also has a
winless season to its name — an 0-11 finish in 1986, Mallory’s first
year — and had just one winning season from 1995 through 2018.
That
period encompassed seven different head coaches, including DiNardo’s
three-year tenure from 2002-04, which yielded an overall record of 8-27
and 3-21 in Big Ten play. In eight of 10 seasons from 2002-11, Indiana
won either one or zero conference games.
Leave a comment
Big football names
Indiana
counts six College Football Hall of Famers, including running back
Anthony Thompson, a two-time All-American (1988-89) who rushed for 5,299
yards and scored 65 career touchdowns. He finished a close second in
the 1989 Heisman voting behind Houston’s Andre Ware and is widely
considered the best player in school history. McMillin is the only
Indiana coach to be inducted. Pete Pihos is the school’s only Pro
Football Hall of Famer.
Antwaan Randle El became a household name
and finished sixth in the Heisman voting in 2001, a year in which he won
Big Ten MVP despite Indiana’s 5-6 record; Randle El passed for 1,664
yards and rushed for 964, and had a nine-year NFL career as a receiver.
The
Hoosiers’ NFL Draft history is relatively scant but not barren. Former
Falcons, 49ers and Jets tailback Tevin Coleman is one name you might
recognize, as is former cornerback Tracy Porter, a second-round pick of
the New Orleans Saints in 2008 who wound up on the wrong end of a
Marshawn Lynch stiff-arm
one January afternoon in Seattle.
Indiana’s best sports
You
know about Indiana’s rich men’s basketball history, though the program
hasn’t been to a Final Four since 2002. The women’s basketball team is a
consistent NCAA tournament presence and has advanced to the Sweet
Sixteen in three out of the last four years.
Men’s soccer is a
powerhouse, winning national titles in 2003, 2004 and 2012, and losing
in the championship game in 2022. Women’s golf won the Big Ten
championship last season. Swimming and diving has a strong history.
Indiana finished 41st in the 2023-24 Directors’ Cup standings and ninth in the Big Ten.
2023 football season in review
Record: 3-9 (1-8)
Bowl game: N/A
The
Hoosiers ranked 105th in scoring offense and 101st in scoring defense,
beat only Wisconsin in conference play and needed four overtimes to beat
Akron. Though the Penix era offered some fond memories, Allen won only
three Big Ten games in his final three seasons, and his seven-year
tenure ended with an 18-43 record in conference play.
2024 football outlook
FanDuel
set Indiana’s over/under win total at 5.5, which is largely a
reflection of the Hoosiers’ ultra-soft nonconference schedule of FIU,
Western Illinois and Charlotte. Indiana ranks 58th in FBS in returning
production,
.
Former
Ohio University quarterback Kurtis Rourke transferred in this
offseason, giving Cignetti a veteran starter to helm an overhauled
offense. The Hoosiers’ top receiver, Donaven McCulley, is back after
tallying 644 yards and six touchdowns last season. Indiana also added
four FBS transfers, including James Madison’s Elijah Sarratt, who led
the Dukes with 1,191 yards last season. Similarly, Cignetti will rely on
a couple of JMU transfers in a new-look running back room: Kaelon Black
and Ty Son Lawton, a duo that combined for more than 1,200 yards last
season. Indiana also added transfers from Wake Forest (Justice Ellison)
and North Carolina (Elijah Green), and another from James Madison,
Solomon Vanhorse, who missed most of the last two seasons due to injury.
Cignetti
also is relying on JMU transfers at several other positions on both
sides of the ball, including the offensive and defensive lines. As at
Washington, there was a lot of portal activity, in both directions, in
Bloomington this offseason.
2024 schedule
Aug. 31, vs. Florida International
Sept. 6, vs. Western Illinois (Friday)
Sept. 14, at UCLA
Sept. 21, vs. Charlotte
Sept. 28, vs. Maryland
Oct. 5, at Northwestern
Oct. 19, vs. Nebraska
Oct. 26, vs. Washington
Nov. 2, at Michigan State
Nov. 9, vs. Michigan
Nov. 23, at Ohio State
Nov. 30, vs. Purdue
Final thoughts
Like
Rutgers, Indiana competed for the past decade in the Big Ten’s East
division, which meant, cruelly, that the Hoosiers faced Michigan, Ohio
State and Penn State every year (it’s no wonder their nonconference
slate is so weak). Their all-time records against those opponents: 10-62
(Michigan), 12-79 (Ohio State) and 2-25 (Penn State). They’ve beaten
the Wolverines twice since 1967, the Buckeyes twice since 1951 — and not
at all since 1987 — and Penix’s pylon-scraping score in 2020 granted
the Hoosiers just their second win ever against Penn State. The gap
between Indiana and the top of the conference is immense.
The
Huskies really are getting the full Big Ten experience this season, with
games against historic powers like Michigan and Penn State … but also
against Northwestern, Rutgers and Indiana. Nothing is ever guaranteed,
especially on the road, and Indiana could be an interesting team this
season under Cignetti with so many experienced transfers. As with
Northwestern and Rutgers, though, it’s hard to envision a successful
season for Washington if it involves losing to Indiana. This is a game
the Huskies simply must have, and that will largely be true whenever the
Hoosiers appear on the schedule.
— Christian Caple, On Montlake
for that flight.