Curt Cignetti had his weekly press conference on Monday as Indiana transitioned out of its 31-7 season-opening victory over Florida International and into a short prep week for Friday’s home game against Western Illinois.

Here is everything Cignetti had to say to the media.

Opening statement …

Cignetti: Good solid performance in the opener, did a lot of positive things. I like the way our defense swarmed to the ball, put pressure on the quarterback, TFLs.

Offensively strung together four straight drives that averaged 75 yards, 11-plus plays, three straight touchdowns, and then a field goal. We hit that halfback pass, which we normally do in practice, then we’re looking at four TDs.

Had a couple of clunker drives there at the end of the third quarter, fourth quarter. Offensively, penalties obviously, too many on offense. Got to cut those out. I think we had seven second and 11 pluses and six third and 11 pluses, some were 17, 21. Things we can teach off tape obviously, all correctible.

Last drive of the second quarter, crucial missed assignment on third and five. We should have had that play nailed. Guy didn’t do what he was supposed to do.

We didn’t finish the second half the way we want to finish the second half. That’s always a point of emphasis. We did start the third quarter by stopping them and driving down the field. We ended up kicking a field goal, should have scored a touchdown.

Special teams was solid, and I thought the effort was good. We’re excited to play again Friday.

On different guys getting involved defensively …

Cignetti: That’s what I’m used to seeing. We like to pride ourselves on playing defense. We pride ourselves on being fast and physical and disruptive up front and creating a lot of different looks for the defense and being really good against the run. I think we gave up 53 yards rushing, less than 200 total yards.

And we’ve always been really good against the run and had TFLs and sacks. So it was nice to see that carry over with this group. We’ve added faces to the defense, and a lot of guys did get involved, like you said.

On Indiana’s tackling …

Cignetti: We did tackle well, we swarmed and had multiple hats. We didn’t tackle in fall camp and only once in the spring. There you go. So a lot to build on.

On safety Josh Sanguinetti and linebacker Isaiah Jones …

Cignetti: I think everybody on this team sort of starts with a clean slate and evaluated daily, in season or out of season. Once we start practice, typically fall camp, day in, day out practice and who earns the right to be on the field.

Those guys have done well and earned that right. We need them to play well throughout the whole season.

On play-calling when the game is in Indiana’s hands …

Cignetti: Yeah, we were still in attack mode. At that point we weren’t really satisfied with how we had played since really our last touchdown drive. Even the one we went down and kicked the field goal, we weren’t pleased we had to settle for the field goal.

There were some missed opportunities out there, and sometimes we got behind the sticks because of penalties. So we wanted to keep attacking.

On college football games on Friday nights when high schools play …

Cignetti: I’ve played Thursday. I’ve played Friday. I’ve played Saturday. We just get ready to play them when we’re asked to play them.

On having flexible role players …

Cignetti: It’s real important, and Bryant does a great job, along with the defensive staff, of creating different packages and week to week based on team’s tendencies, what they think puts us in the best position to be successful. Those guys have to be versatile, but part of being a safety is being able to play low, run for it, play deep, and stop the pass.

That’s where it helps to have intelligent guys defensively because it is a heavy plate, where they’ve got to learn some things and there’s checks built into formations, et cetera.

On the passing game and whether it was intentionally conservative in the passes attempted …

Cignetti: No, we should have had two post touchdowns. The one we hit Cooper on the deep cross, probably should have gone to the post. He’s open. We didn’t throw it. We did throw the post later in the game to Andison Coby, who’s open. We got to use the field and lay it out there. That should have been a touchdown too.

We had some other down the field opportunity chunks that we just didn’t convert on.

On who may have stuck to him from guys who got playing time …

Cignetti: I thought they all played hard. Overall, Aiden Fisher, we thought really played well. A number of guys played well on defense. I like the way the running backs ran the ball on offense, and Carter Smith played well up front, Zach Horton did a good job.

I like the way we kicked off. McCormick, I thought was excellent on kickoffs.

We got some young guys in there at the end. Landino saw some action, and Hardy saw some action at linebacker. That was good to see. Continue to try to build some depth.

Thoughts on the offensive line …

Cignetti: Did a nice job, rushed for 240 yards. I thought we ran the ball effectively, averaged about six yards a rush.

Pass pro, we had a couple issues, but nothing that’s not correctible there. We’re not real deep there on the offensive line. We can go probably six deep with veteran guys, seven. So got to keep progressing.

On wide receiver Donaven McCulley and his Saturday performance …

Cignetti: Well, I don’t get frustrated when a guy gets hurt because it’s next man up. I don’t have time to think about that.

We got him in there, and he was playing fast, doing a nice job, and took a hit and was ruled out. He’ll be anxious to get back, and I’ll be anxious to get him back.

On the process of evaluating Kurtis Rourke and quarterback play …

Cignetti: I always come in early and look at ODK, and then when we come in as a staff Sunday morning, the offensive staff will watch it together, defensive staff will watch teams together. I may cut out a few plays I watch with the defense. This past week I didn’t.

But in terms of the quarterback coach, and Tino will coach — tonight Kurtis will review the tape with Tino, and that’s how we did it. I thought he did a nice job. He made some plays when he was under pressure, getting out of the pocket, and made a throw or two and threw the ball fairly well.

He missed a couple reads, but I thought it was a good first time out for him.

On correcting penalties …

Cignetti: Now you can teach it off tape and the consequence of having a holding penalty and how it puts you behind the chains. We’ve got to get better with our hand placement, got to get our hands inside, they can’t be outside. It’s always a concern going into the first game.

We don’t have officials at every practice like some people do. So you harp on it during fall camp. Sometimes it takes a consequence to get the result.

On what goes into the offensive gameplan …

Cignetti: Well, I mean, every week we’re going to put our best run game plan together based on the opponent, what we’re seeing schematically. Then we’ve always tried to play three backs, keep them fresh.

And I thought Elijah Green did a nice job because Kaelon Black, you know, ham was a little tight. So we held him precautionary after he ran down on kickoff and I think had one carry. I thought all those guys did a nice job.

More detail on Donaven McCulley injury …

Cignetti: I think we’ll have him back soon. Right now I would say it’s more day to day.

Caitlin Clark had 28 points and 12 assists and the Indiana Fever overcame a record-tying nine three-pointers from Arike Ogunbowale in a 100-93 victory over the Dallas Wings on Sunday.

Kelsey Mitchell scored 36 points, including a three that gave the Fever a four-point lead with 1:58 remaining in a meeting of teams that entered with matching three-game winning streaks.

Ogunbowale finished 9 of 16 from long range – beating her previous career best of seven – and scored 34 points. The All-Star Game MVP missed two attempts at a record 10th 3-pointer, including one with the Wings trailing by six in the final minute.

Ogunbowale, who tied a career high with eight rebounds, matched the league record for 3s held by Mitchell (2019) and Seattle’s Jewell Loyd (2023).

“I salute people like Arike because off the court, we’re really great friends,” Mitchell said. “We tend to work out and train together in the offseason. I wasn’t expecting any other way coming from a person like that.”

Clark and Mitchell hit five deep-shots apiece, combining to go 10 for 18 as the Fever shot 50% from long range and 53% overall.

“When you have two guards that are both making plays, it puts the other team in the tough position of what to take away, who to put on who,” Clark said. “We’re definitely shooting it well. We’re playing off each other well. We’re looking for each other, and we’re getting downhill, too. I think it’s been a good balance of everything.”

Clark was coming off a career-high 31 points in a win over fellow rookie of the year contender Angel Reese and the Chicago Sky. She set a WNBA record with 19 assists in her first regular-season visit to Texas in the game before the Olympic break, a 101-93 Indiana loss when the Fever were on the edge of the playoff picture.

Now, Indiana (17-16) is above .500 for the first time with Clark and solidly in the playoff mix while the Wings (9-23) are still hoping to recover from a slow start triggered by injuries to several key players. Dallas, who won their first playoff series last year, are two games out of the final postseason spot with eight remaining.

The Fever are 6-1 since the Olympic break with three of those victories on the road. The reward is six consecutive home games starting Wednesday against the last-place Los Angeles Sparks before the regular-season finale at Washington.

“They’ve laid it out there. We just keep talking about emptying our tank,” Indiana coach Christie Sides said. “The confidence that they’re playing with, I’m proud of the road games. The road games have been tough. We just keep talking about momentum, keeping our foot on the gas.”

After making her eighth three-pointer in the third quarter, Ogunbowale was called for a foul for not giving Kelsey Mitchell a landing area on a three.

The Wings challenged, and lost, which led to Ogunbowale getting a technical foul. The Fever scored five points on that possession, cutting their deficit to 67-64 after Dallas had taken its biggest lead at 64-55 less than two minutes earlier.

Mitchell added two free throws after her crucial three as the Fever scored eight consecutive points for a 99-91 lead with 39 seconds remaining.

Satou Sabally scored 25 points, and Natasha Howard had 18 points and nine assists for the Wings. NaLyssa Smith had 14 points and eight rebounds for Indiana.

Purdue did exactly what they should have done to an FCS team after a one-win season, maybe even more convincing than many believed it would be.

A lot of A’s are to be handed out after such a dominant performance at Ross-Ade Stadium,

Offense:

Hudson Card torched the undermanned Indiana State defense, completing 96% of his passes onto one of the best days a quarterback has ever had in the old gold and black.

He completed 24 of 25 passes for 273 yards and four touchdowns, while the total yards may not be one of the best of quarterbacks to play at Purdue, the efficiency and completion percentage sure is.

Devin Mockobee paced the starting unit with 11 carries for 89 yards, but did not score a touchdown. But, Reggie Love II, Elijah Jackson, and Jaheim Merriweather all scored rushing the ball, including a nice 69-yard touchdown by Elijah Jackson.

Twelve different Boilermakers caught passes on Saturday, none made more of an impact than Tight End, Max Klare, who has star player written all over him. Jahmal Edrine is physical on the outside, he should provide Purdue the type of presence on the outside that they lacked so much last year.

The Offensive Line played well, they were much bigger, stronger and faster than the Indiana State defensive line, but still gave up two sacks, with Card and Browne both taking a sack.

Offensive Grade: A

Defense:

Will Heldt, the sophomore Rush End from Carmel, Indiana, was the star of the defense, having two sacks and tallying up 7 tackles. Jeffrey M’ba was unblockable as well as an interior defensive lineman, racking up 6 tackles.

A bright spot in the secondary was Antonio Stevens, who many years ago suffered a severe injury and has worked his way back to being the player that everyone thought he could be. He is a mountain of a man coming to hit you from the safety position, at 6-2 200+ pounds.

Kydran Jenkins picked up where he left off as well, tallying a sack on the afternoon and five tackles.

The Purdue defense held Indiana State to just 104 yards rushing on 43 attempts, (2.4 Yards Per Carry) and 50 yards of total passing, as the freshman quarterback for Indiana State was just 5 for 10 on the day, they forced the Sycamores to punt ten times during Saturday’s contest, which has to be close to a record for the Boilermakers.

Overall Grade: A

Special Teams:

Purdue did not attempt a field goal, as they scored on 7 of 10 possesions and punted the other three times, but they were 7 for 7 on the PATs, as that operation looked very smooth.

Crimmons averaged nearly 47 yards per punt, pinning Indiana State inside the 20 once, and forcing a fair catch once as well.

Overall Grade: A

This is exactly what Boilermaker fans wanted and needed to see from Purdue against a FCS opponent. Purdue will now head into the bye week, in which they are undefeated, before they host Notre Dame on September 14th, at 3:30 PM.