‘Right People, Properly Led’ -- Sarratt, Hoosiers Embrace National Title Opportunity
Pete DiPrimio | IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Elijah Sarratt is pumped. Can you blame him? An Indiana national football championship is one huge game away – beating 10th-seeded Miami (13-2) on Monday night at Hard Rock Stadium – and a goal that once seemed as likely as finding a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow is there for the taking.
“When I'm home talking to my mom and dad and brothers,” Sarratt says, “it’s like, ‘Dang, it's crazy how everything works out. Just to be here in this moment, it's definitely exciting.”
Excitement includes a top playoff seed, a 15-0 record, and so much more.
No Hoosier appreciates it more than Sarratt, once a lightly recruited prospect out of Virginia who began his career at Saint Francis (Pennsylvania) before moving to James Madison and then IU with head coach Curt Cignetti.
Now, Sarratt is one of the nation’s best receivers (62 catches, 802 receiving yards, 15 touchdowns in 13 games) on the nation’s best team, one that just blew out Alabama in the Rose Bowl and Oregon in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl.
“I'm trying to be calm because I understand nothing really matters too much unless we win this game,” Sarratt says, “but these last couple of weeks have been like, man, just playing in the big bowl games, Rose Bowl, Peach Bowl, all of that.
“It was cool watching these games, watching legends play in these games. For me to make some plays in these games and see my guys make some plays in these games has been exciting.”
Excitement brings perspective. Center Pat Coogan, a Notre Dame transfer, is the only Hoosier with national title game experience. The Irish lost to Ohio State in last season’s national championship contest. Coogan has lived that hurt and doesn’t want a repeat. It starts, he says, by not making the moment bigger than it is.
“It’s just being where our feet are and maximizing each day and opportunity,” he says. “It’s maximizing our practices. Make sure we have the best possible practice day. Really take what we learn in the team meetings and put it onto the field.
“At the end of the day, it’s just another game. The stage is big, but the stage has been big the past couple of weeks.
“We’ve done a good job of never making it bigger than it is, making sure we put in the work and the prep so when we get to the game, we put our best foot forward.”
Guiding it all is Cignetti, whose impact on his players goes well beyond football. Sometimes, standout linebacker Aiden Fisher says with a smile, it includes the way the players talk to each other, friends, and family.
Take, for instance, the word, “complacent,” something Cignetti doesn’t want his players to become. He mentions it frequently as part of his ways to ensure his players remain motivated and unsatisfied with previous success.
“It happens all the time,” Fisher says. “I was on the phone with my mom about two days ago. I don't even remember what we were talking about. I was just like, ‘Yeah, I hope somebody doesn't get complacent.’ And I was like, ‘Wow, I have been with Cig way too long.’ And she said, ‘Yeah, I said the same thing the other day. She used the word ‘complacent.’
“It's funny when you've been with somebody for so long you start talking like them a little bit. Everything he talks about is true in football and in life. Complacency kills. Everything about the way he makes this football program better makes you a better person, too.
“I think my mom gets that when I'm texting her: No more talking about the last game, on to the next.
“It's funny how long I have been with him and the things that rub off on me.”
Still, the biggest rub off is Cignetti’s winning approach, which has produced a 26-2 two-year record and brought IU to the cusp of its first football national championship, a remarkable turnaround given the Hoosiers had gone 9-27 in their previous three years before Cignetti arrived, and were once the losing major college football program in history until this season.
“It’s been kind of surreal,” Cignetti says, “but you get it done with the right people, properly led.
“You've got to have a blueprint, a plan in process. You've got to have the right people on your staff and the right people in the locker room. We've been fortunate to have great staff continuity. And then, in the locker room, we've got a lot of older guys that have high character, great leadership traits. They buy into the team vision.
“They're very consistent, day in and day out, in terms of being committed and disciplined and working hard toward improvement, staying focused on the goal, keeping the eye on the bullseye.
“Being able to enter every Saturday prepared with the right mindset and then putting it on the field. There's no question about it, that's what's gotten us to this point.”