Indiana
Curt Cignetti ‘not supposed to say’ he’s proud of IU football. But at 6-0, he let it slip.
Podcast: IU football is 6-0, and no one wants this to be the end
Insiders Zach Osterman and Mike Niziolek break down the Hoosiers’ 41-24 win over Northwestern.
EVANSTON, Ill. — Indiana football defensive end Mikail Kamara knows how much Curt Cignetti loathes handing out praise.
Kamara has been with Cignetti going back to 2020 as the first verbal commitment for James Madison’s coaching staff during that recruiting cycle.
There’s a small window when Cignetti lets down his guard after games — just a tiny bit — and that happened Saturday in the wake of IU’s 41-24 win over Northwestern. It was the type of gritty victory that was missing from IU’s resume, and after the game he had to admit something he doesn’t like to put out in the public.
“We are 6-0 as a football team, proud of the team up this point,” Cignetti said. “Which I’m not supposed to say.”
Insider: This IU team is nothing like the IU anyone has ever known. It’s ruthless.
IU vs. Northwestern grades: Hoosiers far from perfect, but their record still is
Kamara said that sentiment will be a distant memory once the team gets back to Bloomington as everyone turns their focus to Nebraska, but that small bit of praise from Cignetti was still a meaningful moment given the high bar of success he sets.
“It’s like we are playing so well he has no choice but to tell everybody,” Kamara said with a chuckle.
The final 12 minutes of the game is what Cignetti will remember the most from Saturday.
Indiana’s offense kept on putting points on the board, but the defense struggled to come up with a stop for much of the second half. Northwestern quarterback Jack Lausch orchestrated a six-play, 61-yard scoring drive early in the fourth quarter and got the crowd on their feet with a 47-yard completion to Bryce Kirtz that was the team’s longest play of the day.
The Wildcats’ upset hopes evaporated after that.
Indiana starting quarterback Kurtis Rourke connected with the team’s leading receiver Elijah Sarratt three times on the ensuing drive to get right back into the red zone where Ty Son Lawton rushed his seventh touchdown of the season.
Rourke and Sarratt connected again to convert on a 4th-and-5 late in the quarter to set up another score.
The Hoosiers defense swarmed Lausch on Northwestern’s final two drives — they had four quarterback hurries from four defenders — and the secondary locked things down. Lausch was 6-of-15 during that stretch and barely avoided turning the ball over on a near-sack from Kamara.
“I really liked the way we finished the game on defense with the last two drives,” Cignetti said. “I really liked that a lot, that was awesome.”
Indiana is the first team in the FBS that is bowl eligible. That wasn’t mentioned at the podium by Cignetti and it wasn’t uttered in the locker room either.
The Hoosiers have national title aspirations — not a typo — and Cignetti loves that there will be people doubting his program every step of the way. He would much rather players lean into that than read any positive coverage about the team’s historic start.
Indiana is 6-0 for only the second time in program history (1967) and haven’t trailed for a single second.
“I’m not concerned with them reading about their accolades on social media and the paper cause they have been around the block a little bit,” Cignetti said of his veteran team. “They’ll be reading a lot about how we aren’t good enough to do this and that. I want the chip on their shoulder to keep growing, is what I want.”
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.
INJURY REPORT
PACERS
Ben Sheppard: Out – Calf
Tyrese Haliburton: Out – Achilles
Quenton Jackson: Out – Hamstring
Aaron Nesmith: Out – Knee
Obi Toppin: Out – Foot
Kam Jones: Out – Back
KINGS
Keegan Murray: Day-to-day – Trapezius
Domantas Sabonis: Out – Knee
Dennis Schroder: Out – Hip
Game date, time and location: Monday, Dec. 8, 7:00 p.m. EST, Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Indiana
TV: FanDuel Sports Network Indiana, NBC Sports California
Radio: 93.5/107.5 The Fan (Indiana), Sports 1140 AM (Sacramento)
VITALS: The Indiana Pacers (5-18) and Sacramento Kings (6-17) meet for the first of two regular season matchups. The two teams met twice last season, both resulting in wins for the Pacers. The Pacers are 55-45 all-time versus the Kings during the regular season, including 33-17 in home games and 22-28 in road games.
PROJECTED STARTERS
PACERS
G Andrew Nembhard
G Bennedict Mathurin
C Jay Huff
F Garrison Matthews
F Pascal Siakam
KINGS
G Russell Westbrook
G Zach LaVine
C Maxime Raynaud
F DeMar DeRozan
F Keegan Murray
Spread: Pacers -3.5 (-110), Kings +3.5 (-110)
Moneyline: Pacers -162, Kings +136
Total points scored: 233.5 (over -108, under -112)
QUOTABLE
Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle addresses recent wins and upcoming Kings game: “Getting back on defense was a big part of it. We did well in both games. We did good things offensively that helped our defense as well. Sacramento has got two Hall-of-Famers on their team, you know, DeRozan and Westbrook. They got Monk coming off the bench who’s explosive. They got LaVine who’s been an All-Star, who got 42 points last night, they smashed Miami last night. They got Murray, they got a bunch of guys. This guy Raynaud is a very good young big who’s very skilled.” … “It’s a big challenge.”
Alexander Toledo is a contributor to Indiana Pacers On SI and producer/co-host of the Five on the Floor podcast, covering the Miami Heat and NBA. He can be reached at Twitter: @tropicalblanket
The Indiana Hoosiers edged the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Big Ten championship and were rewarded Sunday morning with a No. 1 College Football Playoff ranking and the invitation to the Rose Bowl that goes with it.
Indiana (13-0) will play the winner of the CFP quarterfinal between No. 8 Oklahoma (10-2) and No. 9 Alabama (10-3). The Sooners host the quarterfinal game on Dec. 19 at 5 p.m. PST on the Oklahoma campus. The game will air on ESPN and ABC.
The Rose Bowl will kick off at 1 p.m. PST on Jan. 1 and will air on ESPN.
Ohio State was looking to cap off an undefeated regular season with a win over Indiana in the Big Ten Championship Game Saturday, but it wasn’t meant to be. In a defensive struggle, the Hoosiers made more plays when it mattered most and took advantage of their opportunities late for an old-school, classic 13-10 win in Lucas Oil Stadium
Give Indiana credit, but it was not the best game for the Buckeyes, and Ohio State head coach Ryan Day was clearly short and irritated after the contest in his postgame press conference. He didn’t take anything away from the Hoosiers, but was quick to point out the lack of execution by his team.
We have the entire Big Ten Championship Game press conference by Ryan Day and quarterback Juilian Sayin, thanks to the WBNS 10TV YouTube channel. Day laments the third-down conversions, play of the offensive line, lack of a running game, and more.
Ohio State must now regroup and try to go on another magical run like it did last year after another 13-10 loss as it gets ready for the College Football Playoff. We’ll know exactly what that path looks like on Sunday when the last CFP rankings are revealed.
Contact/Follow us @BuckeyesWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes, and opinion. Follow Phil Harrison on X.
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