The tone never wavered. Not after the opening interception return. Not as the lead stretched. Not even as the questions turned toward what comes next. Curt Cignetti sat at the podium the same way his team lines up on Saturdays, grounded, direct, unmoved by the noise.
“It’s a great win against a really good football team,” Cignetti said. “Really proud of our players, our staff.”
In his telling, the night turned immediately.
“It all started with Ponds’ pick-six,” he said. “They put a nice drive together, had us off balance a little bit, but we responded with a score and then created some turnovers on defense. We capitalized on offense, and that was the story of the first half.”
That response has become automatic for Indiana. Pressure arrives. Indiana steadies itself. Then it takes the game back.
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“Scoring early in the second half and distancing ourselves helped,” Cignetti said. “Got a couple guys nicked in some areas we were thin on defense, which was concerning, but it’s a great win.”
When asked about the growing list of contributors, Cignetti never strayed from the foundation.
“When you have good people and they buy in and they prepare the right way,” he said, “they’re high-character, smart guys that can play.”
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The explanation stayed rooted in fundamentals, the same way his program has all season.
“You gotta win the line of scrimmage,” Cignetti said. “Run the ball. Stop the run. Affect the quarterback. Protect the quarterback. And then the turnover ratio.”
Indiana leads the nation there for a reason.
“Our philosophy is to attack,” Cignetti said. “We’re moving a lot of pieces in the front seven. That’s just our philosophy on how to play defense.”
As the conversation drifted toward preseason odds and outside skepticism, Cignetti brushed it aside without edge.
“A lot of times people really don’t know our team,” he said. “They don’t know what we’re made of.”
What he does know is why Indiana continues to meet every moment the same way.
“The reason we are where we are is because we’re prepared the right way,” Cignetti said.
And as always, he returned to alignment over hype.
“You gotta get everybody to think alike,” he said. “If you can get everybody focused on the same thing, you can accomplish anything.”
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Indiana has followed that script all season.
And yet, for all the discipline and control, there was one brief crack in the armor.
However, in a rare moment of levity during his on-field postgame interview, Cignetti briefly let the guard down.
“I’m really not thinking about the next game,” he said. “I’m thinking about cracking open a beer.”
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