Big Stage, Big Game, Big Noon Crew Praise Cignetti's Hoosiers
Pete DiPrimio | IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Brady Quinn squints into bright sunlight outside Memorial Stadium, reflects on Indiana’s football potential and smiles.
“This is what makes college football special and more fun than the NFL,” the FOX Sports announcer and former Notre Dame quarterback says about the Hoosiers’ start and top-20 national ranking under head coach Curt Cignetti. “You get a program like Indiana that’s been down, and get a coach that breathes life into it, and it becomes this thing that no one expected or saw coming.
“You see TCU make the national title game a couple of years ago, and BYU and Indiana this year and ask, ‘Why not them? Why not be a team that cracks into the college playoff and makes a national title run?’”
Quinn and the FOX Big Noon Kickoff announcing team of Urban Meyer, Matt Leinart, Mark Ingram and Rob Stone gathered outside Memorial Stadium for pre-game work before Saturday’s Homecoming showdown between IU and Nebraska.
Cignetti arrived in Indiana last winter with a win-at-every-stop resume and a confidence that bordered on cockiness. The fast start confirmed his win-now approach.
Quinn is all in.
“I love him,” Quinn says. “He’s awesome for college football. He’s had success at every level for a reason. He talks the talk, walks the walk.”
Beyond that, Quinn adds, “It’s how he schedules things for his coaches and sees the bigger picture of life and family. It’s a great work environment. His coaches love working for him. You can tell why he’s been successful.”
Success is fueled by a winning system, transfer portal standouts and productive returning players. That includes bringing in 13 players from James Madison, which Cignetti led into the national rankings last season before taking the IU job.
Then there’s quarterback Kurtis Rourke, a former Mid-American Conference offensive MVP at Ohio University having a huge Hoosier debut season.
“The transfer portal is part of it,” Quinn says about IU's success. “(Cignetti) is a piece of it. Convincing a guy like Kurtis Rourke, ‘Hey, this is the place for you,’ was big.
“They are one of the best-coached teams I’ve seen all year. They don’t make mistakes. They seem to do everything right. Their offensive line play has really stood out. You don’t see many mental errors or penalties. It’s a very well-rounded team.”
Meyer, the former national title-winning head coach at Florida and Ohio State, also is impressed with the Hoosiers.
“I admire well-coached teams,” he says. “I sometimes watch (college team) videos that are hard to watch. There are other videos I can’t shut off (because of the quality of the play). Indiana is like that.
“They don’t make mistakes. You see incredible execution, minimal penalties, minimal turnovers, minimal mistakes. You see back-shoulder throws. This is the best edge blocking, perimeter blocking I’ve seen this year. That’s coaching.”
Coaching excellence sometimes comes down to getting players to play to their ability, and then a little more.
“At certain programs,” Meyer says, “good players play great, and some great players only play good. That’s coaching. It would drive me out of my mind when we had a great player who didn’t play great.
“When you see a good player play great, that’s when you’re in your strike zone as a coach. Indiana is doing it on both sides of the ball.”
Rourke reflects a good player playing great.
“He ran a different system at Ohio,” Quinn says. “He’s developed into a better pocket passer at Indiana.
“When I break down a (game) tape, I don’t see a lot of intermediate throws. That’s what you see at the next level. The teams that can move the ball and finish drives have a quarterback when they throw 10 to 20 yards down field, the ball is on point. Kurtis can do that. Can he do it against teams like Nebraska and Ohio State? Those are the big challenges.”
Adds Meyer: “You can tell he’s worked on his game. His progression as a passer is phenomenal.”
Meyer says he can’t understand why IU football has struggled for so long.
“I call Indiana the enigma of college football. It’s a beautiful place. It has pretty good high school quality in the state. Yet it (has struggled). Bill Mallory is the winningest coach here and only won five games a year. That doesn’t equate when you look at this place.
“(Former coach) Kevin Wilson did a pretty good job (two bowl teams) and it was hard to maintain. (Former coach) Tom Allen did a good job (two bowl teams) and it was hard to maintain.
“I hope Coach Cignetti pumps some life into them. That’s good for the school and the Big Ten. They deserve it.”