After its first of two bye weeks this season, Indiana football faces its toughest test to date.
The Hoosiers, now ranked No. 16 in the AP Poll, return to action this week against Nebraska. The Cornhuskers (5-1, 2-1 Big Ten) dropped out of the top 25 after their loss to Illinois on September 20, but are still the best team Indiana has faced thus far. Memorial Stadium is sold out for the homecoming weekend game, which has also drawn FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff show to Bloomington.
IU head coach Curt Cignetti met with local media on Monday to talk about the matchup and his 6-0 Hoosiers. Here are a few things he discussed.
Spotlight growing
Indiana’s hot start to the season is bringing increasing attention to the program.
The national rankings, the prime TV slot, the pregame show in town — all signs of a thriving program. But it all makes Cignetti’s job even more important, in keeping his players and staff focused on the task at hand.
“You’ve got to eliminate the noise and clutter and focus in on what’s going to help you prepare so you can be your best on Saturday. We have enough maturity and leadership and experience on this football team, I’m confident that we can handle that,” Cignetti said. “But that’s my job, too, to make sure if I see an area that’s maybe not quite where it needs to be, to push the right buttons and get it where it needs to be.”
But this isn’t Cignetti’s first time dealing with success. He — and much of his staff, and a group of transfers he brought to Bloomington — experienced rapid success at James Madison. So he knows how to go about this, and he knows that his program’s culture has been effective in instilling strong mentalities.
“Those guys (the JMU transfers) and a lot of the other new guys we brought in and the guys that decided to remain, the right kind of guys, kind of the mindset and culture that we’ve been able to create here, those guys certainly have facilitated the change early on,” Cignetti said. “Dealing with success is a lot better than dealing with failure. But you’ve got to stay humble and hungry and maintain your edge.”
A Huskers snapshot
The Cornhuskers will enter Bloomington looking to clinch bowl eligibility, themselves.
UNL will need its defense to step up to make that happen. And that unit is — by far — the best IU’s offense has seen this season. Nebraska is 13th in the nation in total defense, seventh in rushing defense, tied for 18th in tackles for loss, and tied for 26th in takeaways. The Husker defensive line is tough, with three players at three or more tackles for loss so far this season.
“They’ve got good players. They’re very well-coached. They play really hard. They’re very multiple in their scheme,” Cignetti said. “They’ve got guys that can affect the passer, a couple big guys inside, 315-plus type guys. They play a lot of people. They do everything they can to keep you off balance. They also deflect a lot of passes.”
Offensively, five-star freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola has had some strong moments mixed with some mistakes, but he’s been solid on the whole. He’s ninth in the Big Ten at 226.3 pass yards per game, with a 66.9 completion percentage, nine touchdowns, and three interceptions. The rushing offense (90th in the country, 136.7 yards per game) lags behind the passing attack (57th in the nation, 244.7 yards per game).
This isn’t the best offense, statistically, that IU has faced this season — Maryland’s is. But with a young, developing quarterback at the helm, Nebraska’s offense can look very different from week to week.
Cignetti praised Raiola’s talent, as well as the work Nebraska’s staff has put in with him and the offense to maximize that ability.
“He’s a really talented guy who’s got great arm talent. He plays with a lot of confidence. He’s got a really nice supporting cast. They protect him well up front. They’ve got one receiver who’s 6-foot-4, 225 and can really go, deep-ball-type guy, and schematically, the staff does a really nice job of — they don’t put too much pressure on him,” Cignetti said. “They’re balanced. They want to run the football, good play action pass, get him out of pocket, change the launch point. I think they’ve done a tremendous job with him.”
The bye week
Cignetti has been successful over the last several years coming off bye weeks. Not counting the 2020 season played in spring, with a schedule riddled with postponements, Cignetti went 4-1 in his four normal seasons at JMU after regular-season bye weeks.
He said during the bye week, the team didn’t step back at all. IU practiced three times last week and started some advanced preparation on Nebraska, and the staff looked at other teams on the schedule and around the conference and country to glean some ideas that could be useful later in the season.
“I just think we have a way we do things and we have a way we do things during bye weeks, and then we have a way that we do things the week after a bye week. It really doesn’t change very much,” Cignetti said. “It’s not quite as intense during the bye week, but we still have a structured routine. When you’ve got good players, you have a better chance of being successful.”
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