Indiana football wants 'every team's best shot,' knowing they're no longer a surprise

Indianapolis Star

6 days ago

BLOOMINGTON — Indiana football has been in the eye of the storm since making its first College Football Playoff appearance last season.
The Hoosiers have been a popular target on social media for fans of teams (mostly in the SEC) who felt like they didn't belong in the 12-team field.
Those conversations resurfaced this week as the SEC gathered for its annual spring meetings in Destin, Florida, where much of the discussion centered on tweaking the format of the CFP in coming years leading to fans criticizing IU's credentials once again.
That's just the tip of the iceberg for what the Hoosiers can expect to deal with as they head into the year dealing with the weight of increased expectations.
'If you want to get into the noise and clutter and BS and social media stuff, you can, but it's not going to affect you positively,' IU football coach Curt Cignetti said at a recent booster event. 'That's for sure.'
It's part of the message Cignetti plans on delivering to players this week as they arrive back in Bloomington for summer workouts.
'It's hard to turn it off completely, sometimes you want a sense for what's going on out there, but I think the guys that are able to turn it off for a significant amount of time are putting themselves in position to stay focused on what's important in their development,' Cignetti said. 'When you get a bunch of guys thinking that way then the team benefits as well."
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Cignetti was just as vigilant about his team's culture last year. As the Hoosiers rattled off 10 straight wins to open the season, he talked about making sure players didn't get the 'warm fuzzies' and start overlooking opponents.
He demands a high level of focus from his team from the meeting rooms to the field, and isn't afraid to call them out when they don't meet that standard. He's publicly made a point of criticizing a poor practice effort in the spring each of the last two seasons.
In 2024, that moment came after a two-day "eclipse holiday.' He was quick to criticize a lackluster effort back in April as well — 'we just didn't have enough juice out there' — even though it was an outlier for how the Hoosiers practice during this year's spring camp.
'It's all about controlling the controllables, maximizing your opportunities and improving as much daily as you can,' Cignetti said. '... It's stacking meetings, stacking practices and being totally prepared so you play your best individually and collectively … It's the only way to do it.'
That focus will be as important as ever this fall as Indiana hopes to maintain its contender status.
'We aren't going to sneak up on anybody, but that's OK,' Cignetti said. 'We want every team's best shot, great competitors do.'