Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti delivered a blunt assessment on Monday following this weekend’s win. “Saturday definitely took a step forward, but it was far from clean. Still a lot of areas of improvement. Must improve. You always have to improve,” he said. “But I don’t think the players want to look at the score and feel like, yeah, okay, we’re there, because we’re definitely not.”
Defensively, the Hoosiers gave up nine plays of 15 yards or more and consecutive long drives. The turning point, according to Cignetti, came with Jamari Sharpe’s strip. “Really the play of the game is Jamari Sharpe’s strip where it’s 28-9 in the second half and they get a big play, and if they go and score, it’s going to be 28-16. He makes a great play. On the very next play, we run the reverse for a touchdown, so it’s 35-9.”
Still, Cignetti was frustrated with alignment and communication. “We’ve got to do a better job of that. The fast balls, particularly in the middle of the field where they’re going fast, were not aligned correctly,” he noted. “Got to get lined up quicker. Communication has got to be cleaner. There needs to be a little bit more attention to detail in our preparation in the back end.”
Week 2️⃣, win 2️⃣. pic.twitter.com/4UpClHSeY8
— Indiana Football (@IndianaFootball) September 9, 2025
Offensively, he pointed to both missed chances and strong red-zone execution. “Offensively we still had six or seven missed opportunities that we need to convert on. On the plus side, it was good to go seven for seven touchdowns in the red area on offense,” he said.
Looking ahead, the coach wants to see a “clean game” on Friday night against Indiana State, who he said is “doing a nice job on offense scoring 40 points a game…I’m sure they’re going to come in excited to play.”
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