NOTEBOOK: Turnover Ratio Helps Fuel IU Success
Pete DiPrimio | IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Once again, second-ranked Indiana is among the national leaders in turnover margin, which is a big reason, but far from the only one, why the Hoosiers (8-0 overall, 5-0 in the Big Ten) are Big Ten and national title contenders.
It’s a point of emphasis this season, as it is every year under head coach Curt Cignetti. IU has 11 interceptions and forced three fumbles. It has thrown four interceptions and lost a fumble.
“No matter who you play,” Cignetti said during Monday’s press conference, “you've got to win the line of scrimmage. You've got to be able to run the ball, stop the run, put pressure on the quarterback. You've got to win the turnover ratio. Turnover ratio equals points.”
Cignetti says his teams have been among the nation’s best in turnover ratio in almost every year he’s been a head coach, from Indiana University Pennsylvania to Elon to James Madison to, now, IU.
This season, he said, “We've done a really good job of protecting the football. We haven't turned it over hardly at all. We've been getting takeaways.”
Cignetti wants that to continue Saturday when IU plays at Maryland (4-3 overall, 1-3 in the Big Ten).
“I expect us to practice up to the standard and stack meetings and days, have a great week of preparation, and put it on the field, play hard from Play 1 to 150.”
Maryland opened the season with four-straight wins, including a victory at Wisconsin, but has lost its last three games, all by four points or less. It’s coming off a bye after a 20-17 loss to UCLA.
The Terps have outscored opponents 175-50 over the first three quarters.
“I’m really impressed with them,” Cignetti said. “They fly around on defense. They create turnovers. We’re going to have to be at our best. We have to have a great week of prep.”
Maryland quarterback Malik Washington, a 6-foot-5, 231-pound freshman, completes 59.7 percent of his passes for 1,716 yards, 11 touchdowns, and three interceptions. He’s also rushed for 112 yards and three TDs.
“He has a really strong arm and can run,” Cignetti said. “He’s got great size.
“They're doing a good job protecting him, which is huge. They've only given up two sacks. He's got the ability to extend plays, avoid the rush, which he's done, and throw it down the field or run.
“He can make all the throws down the field, and he's learning as he goes. He's very impressive.”
Receiver Octavian Smith Jr. had a pair of early 100-yard receiving games and has 378 yards on 27 catches. Jalil Farooq leads with 31 catches for 277 yards. Shaleak Knotts has 26 catches for 421 yards and five touchdowns. Five receivers have at least 20 catches.
The Terrapins are last in the Big Ten in rushing at 103.3 yards a game, and average just 3.6 yards a carry. DeJuan Williams leads with 292 rushing yards.
Defensively under coordinator Ted Monachino, who won a Super Bowl with the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens as a linebacker coach and spent two years as the Indianapolis Colts defensive coordinator, Maryland leads the nation with a plus-11 turnover margin with 14 interceptions and four defensive touchdowns. Cornerbacks Jamare Glasker and Dontay Joyner each has a pick-six. The Terps’ 22 sacks rank third in the Big Ten behind IU (29) and Oregon (25).
Head coach Mike Locksley has led the Terps to a bowl game in three of the last four seasons.
“Maryland is going to be quite a challenge,” Cignetti said.
Cignetti listed linebacker Aiden Fisher as “probable” to play on Saturday. Fisher, who ranks second on the team with 49 tackles, left last Saturday’s UCLA victory in the first quarter -- shortly after his pick-6 -- and never returned. After the game, Cignetti said Fisher was kept out for precautionary reasons.
IU has beaten four of its five Big Ten opponents this season by 10-or-more points. In the last two years under Cignetti, it has 10 double-figure victories, an unprecedented run of dominance. Cignetti is 12-1 in Big Ten play in his two seasons with the Hoosiers and is 19-2 overall. The only Big Ten loss came last year at eventual national champion Ohio State.
Cignetti credited some of that success to fan support. IU has drawn at least 54,867 fans to each of its last three games at Merchants Bank Field at Memorial Stadium.
“Our fans are the best, and playing at home is a huge advantage for us,” Cignetti said. “Once they get going, it's just so loud and crazy, and our players feed off of that.”
Beyond that, he added, “We ask our guys to play every play like it's 0-0, like the game is on the line, from beginning to end, regardless of the competitive circumstances. I think they've bought into that message.”
E.J. Williams Jr. sometimes gets overlooked with fellow receivers Elijah Sarratt and Omar Cooper Jr. lighting up defenses. Sarratt has 43 catches for 603 yards and nine touchdowns. Cooper Jr. has 37 for 581 and seven.
Williams Jr. got his turn against UCLA and totaled five catches for 109 yards and two touchdowns, including a 62-yarder. That gives him 19 catches for 212 yards and three TDs this season and validates his decision to return to the Hoosiers after entering the transfer portal last year.
“One of the main things coming back to Indiana was Coach Cignetti and his coaching style,” Williams Jr. said. “He is really assertive. He is in your face. He says, ‘I want this and if you can't do it, you're getting out of here. I want a guy who is going to be the best and who is going to get the job done.’
“With a coach like that, he's really paying attention and really wants you to be on the details. It's going to help me in my career. I felt I could help this program.”
Cignetti continues to push for Williams Jr.’ best, including instructions to not taunt a defender, as Williams Jr. did on one of his touchdowns against UCLA.
“It's great to get big plays from E.J.,” Cignetti said. “He's got a lot of talent. I've always been really high on him.
“He has to make sure when he's running in the end zone for a touchdown that he doesn't taunt the defender. He got a mulligan on that one from the official. When the game is on the line, that's a spot foul. You have the ball on the 30-yard-line and don't get the points.”
IU’s unprecedented success under Cignetti has made a big national impression. That includes FOX Big Noon Kickoff analyst Brady Quinn, a former Notre Dame standout quarterback who played seven NFL seasons.
Quinn compared IU to Gonzaga basketball, which had a limited NCAA tourney presence until, in the late 1990s, it became a consistent national power under head coaches Dan Monson and now Mark Few.
“When I was young,” Quinn says, “Gonzaga was a Cinderella story just to see them in the tournament. Now it's built up to one of the top programs. You expect them to win.
"That's what Curt Cignetti is doing at Indiana. I think that's what this university is building.
“After what they did last year, it was going to be hard to take those next steps. That's always the hardest thing to do, following it up. But Indiana has done it.
“It's remarkable to think what they've been able to build over the past two years.”
A huge reason for Cignetti’s consistent success over the years, Quinn said, is the continuity of his coaching staff, especially defensive coordinator Bryant Haines and offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan, who both came with Cignetti from James Madison.
“That group has remained intact,” Quinn said. “That’s a big piece of it. Then it’s the talent evaluation. It’s understanding the type of character you want within the program. That’s another big piece.”
Quinn also mentioned the coaches in Cignetti’s background, highlighted by his father, Frank Cignetti Sr., a Hall of Famer, and former Alabama head coach Nick Saban. The younger Cignetti was on Saban’s staff before beginning his head coaching career.
The fact IU is playing better than last season’s 11-2 playoff performance, Quinn adds, comes from continued strong quarterback play and defensive dominance. He cited the win at Oregon as the biggest example.
“They’ve proven they can win the big game. The way they won at Oregon, not only the physicality, but the dominance to go in like that, was impressive.”
Cignetti’s knack for developing elite quarterbacks, including Fernando Mendoza and Kurtis Rourke at IU, ranks among the nation’s best, Quinn said.
“It starts with Curt being able to identify what he’s looking for in a quarterback. With Kurtis and Fernando, both are really accurate. If they have a clean pocket, they will eat you alive.
“Going back to his James Madison days, all those quarterbacks ended up being conference players of the year. He’s able to identify the traits to be the right fit for his situation.
“Situation, circumstance and fit are so big for quarterbacks. And it’s a two-way street with the transfer portal -- coaches are able to identify players and players are able to see that if I go to this program, the coach can maximize my abilities.”
Mendoza is having the best season of his career after transferring from the University of California. He leads the FBS with 24 touchdown passes, nine more than the next closest in the Big Ten. He completes 72.9 percent of his passes for 1,923 yards and has only thrown three interceptions.
“Look at what Mendoza is doing,” Quinn said. “He’s decisive with the football. On the best-coached teams, quarterbacks work through progressions. They’re decisive. There’s no double clutching the ball or happy feet. It’s all because of preparation, the way a quarterback is taught and trained. Mendoza knows where to go with the ball.”