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Coach Q&A: Indiana football head coach Curt Cignetti previews Notre Dame CFB Playoff Matchup
Dec 11, 2024
Coach Q&A: Indiana football head coach Curt Cignetti previews Notre Dame CFB Playoff Matchup
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0:02
okay busy day today uh obviously the big
0:04
news um find out who our opponent will
0:09
be first round of the college football
0:12
playoffs and still juggling portal
0:15
evaluation official visits coming in
0:18
this week and game prep and practice so
0:21
quite Aon mon so another Dame don't I'll
0:25
be honest uh saw him on tape against
0:27
Purdue we're getting ready for Purdue OB
0:30
a very good football team they've won 10
0:31
in a row coach Freeman's done a
0:34
tremendous job with that football
0:36
team
0:38
um I little at their stats haven't had a
0:41
chance to really watch them today with
0:44
all the media stuff going
0:46
on uh but I saw enough of them against
0:50
Purdue to know that they're an excellent
0:53
football team and when you look at their
0:55
scores they haven't played in very many
0:58
close games so I'm sure it be quite the
1:01
challenge but we're looking forward to
1:03
it we're a good football team I'm
1:06
confident in our football team I think
1:08
that we will apply the Lessons Learned
1:11
Ohio State when we had to go on the road
1:14
in hostile environment against good
1:16
football
1:17
team and uh apply
1:21
those
1:23
U up at Notre Dame and uh got have a
1:27
great week of prep questions Z your left
1:30
this I guess you answered there a little
1:32
bit but just how much did you allow
1:33
yourself if at all really to look ahead
1:37
to the idea of teams you might face
1:40
things you might be prepared for maybe
1:41
even talking with your team about things
1:43
like the Ohio State atmosphere and
1:46
learning from that because you you knew
1:47
you might have to go on the road to a
1:48
similar sort of Road environment just
1:50
without knowing where you were going how
1:52
far ahead do you let yourself look I
1:55
think we addressed the high state issues
1:57
with the team Monday
1:58
afternoon uh uh and then uh in terms of
2:03
uh you know last week um we did a Monday
2:08
routine which is kind of a walk
2:10
through 20 minute walkr on offense five
2:13
minute on
2:14
punt about 10 minutes of
2:17
individual stretch stride 660s that's
2:20
our Monday routine right we we review
2:22
the Purdue game we and we preview the
2:26
next opponent we didn't know who the
2:27
next opponent would be we PR Georgia for
2:30
15 minutes and worked against them uh in
2:35
a 20 minute walk through just some base
2:37
first and 10 P10
2:41
defenses uh or plays that they you know
2:44
talk three runs talk three passes the
2:46
next day which was a Tuesday practice
2:48
off week Tuesday by an hour and 10
2:50
minute practice we worked the highest
2:53
state
2:55
corrections uh Bas looks same thing
2:59
Wednesday
3:00
uh which is similar practice
3:02
Tuesday um we did work Notre Dame P10
3:06
first and
3:07
10 you know Tuesdays punt punt return
3:10
Wednesdays kickoff kickoff return P
3:13
for and then uh so those practices
3:16
occurred on Wednesday Thursday Friday
3:19
but they were Monday Tuesday Wednesday
3:21
type
3:23
practices so that's where we're at M
3:26
upper left and mat yeah C you mostly
3:28
stayed away from com kind of on the
3:30
playoff rankings except kind of over the
3:32
last 24 hours you made a couple media
3:34
appearances waigh in a little bit are
3:36
you frustrated kind of just having to
3:37
defend any in his resume at 111 and kind
3:40
of seeing you guys take some shots
3:43
nationally from coaching people you know
3:44
that that kind of you know that's all in
3:47
the past you know our eyes are forward
3:49
right now on what we got to get done in
3:52
terms of preparation for the next
3:53
opponent and also handling the other
3:56
things that have to handle nowadays in
3:58
December
4:00
um so um this team's accomplished a lot
4:04
uh I'm proud of what they've
4:06
accomplished I think coaches have done a
4:08
great job players have done a great job
4:10
but saying that no one is
4:13
satisfied no one's satisfied the players
4:16
are hungry for more the coaches are
4:19
hungry M on your left and T coach today
4:22
on the cfp show Coach Z as Dan Ling
4:24
about making sure the players don't get
4:27
the r poison you guys have been really
4:29
good about this year with 3 weeks off I
4:31
guess how were are you about that and
4:32
what do you do to try to you know keep
4:34
them the main thing the main thing yeah
4:36
well I'm I'm not really concerned about
4:38
rat poison uh right now um keeping the
4:43
main thing the main thing is the main
4:46
thing and uh I think we did a pretty
4:48
good job of that last week and we got to
4:50
do it again this week and then next week
4:52
got to have a great week preparation
4:54
stack days to put ourselves in the best
4:57
position uh I think Dan situation might
5:00
be a little different because they're
5:01
coming off a uh championship game
5:04
Victory right and then they've got a by
5:06
week uh so our situations are a little
5:09
different I a tremendous amount of
5:11
respect for job he did at Oregon another
5:13
coach saving disciple to some degree um
5:18
and uh so I'm confident that we'll do
5:21
the things we have to do to put
5:22
ourselves in the best position play on
5:24
Saturday or Friday
5:26
night on your left and set when you play
5:29
that Columbus crowd noise was an issue
5:31
for your team how do you do learn the
5:34
lessons from that having played at Ohio
5:36
State and what what really different can
5:38
you do to deal
5:40
with well I I do think having been in
5:43
that environment and coming out uh
5:45
individually and collectively um you
5:48
benefit from uh the notes taken um I
5:52
think where it affected us most was
5:54
offensively having to go to a silent
5:56
Cadence the third play of the game
5:59
didn't affect us the first series of the
6:01
game but once Ohio state had a chance to
6:04
get their guys on the sideline and this
6:07
is what they're doing and you know they
6:08
started to tee off on us pretty good
6:11
there are some things we can do in
6:12
incorporate which do um and then we did
6:17
some uncharacteristic things in that
6:19
game like you know we dropped a punt
6:21
snap you know we had poor location on a
6:24
punt that resulted in the punt return
6:26
for Touchdown still got to get to on the
6:28
field did some communication errors on
6:31
pass
6:33
protection uh and and a couple critical
6:37
misassignments um so you know I think
6:42
uh I I think we're going to be a lot
6:44
better the next time we're in
6:47
that that thing left in z c I know you
6:51
said you'd only be able to watch so much
6:53
of Notre Dame so far but what from what
6:55
you've been able to see of them I guess
6:56
what stood out and with an extra week to
6:58
prepare for this game I guess how does
7:00
what's your process look like for
7:01
getting ready for for this game yeah
7:04
well I mean what stood out in a little
7:06
bit I've seen right is a really good
7:08
football team is very disciplined and
7:10
very well coached and executed at a high
7:13
level and in terms of our preparation uh
7:17
normally this would be sort of like when
7:18
you have an off week right the coaches
7:21
dig deep and we we install some with the
7:25
players and then the next week you know
7:27
we're more aggressive in our install
7:30
uh we're doing a balancing act between
7:33
recruiting and preparation
7:36
okay and uh
7:40
so we're going to have to make the most
7:42
of every day but we are going to turn
7:45
sort of the
7:47
portal recruiting official visit piece
7:51
off Saturday around noon so that Sunday
7:56
which is really like a Monday now right
8:00
it's all it's all football it's all
8:02
print for for the
8:05
coaches Zach be on your right and P
8:08
you've mentioned kind of your last and
8:09
prior playoff experience as a head coach
8:12
what kind of things do you think would
8:13
specific things that will be applicable
8:15
to preparing for this game well I I am
8:18
kind of used to this
8:20
routine um but you know I I don't think
8:23
it's a major change for any of the
8:25
coaches to be quite honest with you that
8:28
are in the playoff you just have you
8:31
know a few more days between between
8:33
games so I don't think it's
8:36
uh anything that anybody can't figure
8:39
out Pete on your left and rabby Coach
8:42
the the quality of kicking you've gotten
8:44
with with Nicholas can you talk about
8:45
that and and the impact he potentially
8:47
could have yeah he's 100% on his P field
8:51
goals or Pats he missed one field
8:55
go um where our timing was off for just
8:58
a little bit and uh you know he's been
9:01
very consistent uh kicker which is great
9:05
to have
9:10
obviously Ry wrote two on your right
9:12
from Jim yeah coach want to get your
9:14
thoughts Brian Hayes obviously up for
9:16
semifinals for the BS War their defense
9:19
you know ranks I know what it is top
9:21
five top three in a number of categories
9:23
your thoughts on the job he's done and
9:24
then on your defense overall just how
9:26
consistently they play yeah
9:31
Brian's done a tremendous job as a
9:33
coordinator and has it every year since
9:36
he's been the coordinator I think this
9:37
is his third full year house I
9:41
believe if I'm not mistaken we're number
9:44
one against a rush and number two in
9:48
least amount of yards given up per
9:50
game and
9:54
uh I mean we play with that edge fast
9:58
physical Tough Run to the ball swarm the
10:02
ball pressured quarterback just like
10:06
every defense I've had since really I
10:07
went to J in the 19 that's
10:11
when that philosophy of being disruptive
10:14
up in front was put in place and a
10:17
premium put on on those front guys in
10:20
Lineback things have been tweaked
10:23
through the years we play more zone now
10:25
we used to
10:26
play um but
10:29
our guys really uh play in play out not
10:34
always perfect not always perfect uh but
10:38
we play with a with a nasty Edge we get
10:41
a lot of hats in the
10:42
ball and uh you know we're going to have
10:45
to be able to stop the run this week in
10:47
the next game uh another name's
10:52
got you know an excellent running game
10:55
and the quarterback alone has rushed for
10:57
about 750 yards
11:00
so you add that to it and
11:03
uh be quite the challenge and last me
11:07
your thoughts on I think it's nine of
11:08
your assistance got multi-year deals
11:11
your thoughts on just just getting that
11:13
done and that kind of stability and that
11:15
kind of commitment I you yeah well you
11:17
know I think first of
11:20
all you know the president and Whitten
11:23
and Scott
11:25
doson their commitment to being
11:27
successful providing the resources and
11:29
to be successful at the P4 level in the
11:31
Big 10
11:33
conference
11:35
um I can't say enough about how
11:38
appreciative I
11:40
am right and it uh I think it's a
11:44
statement major
11:47
statement in a sport where you really
11:50
need to be successful at this level for
11:52
a lot of different
11:53
reasons and
11:57
uh you know once
12:00
they came to me and we redid my contract
12:03
and I love it here like it here a lot of
12:07
Bloomington and the next order of
12:09
business was locking in the staff
12:12
because when you
12:13
win like we do right guys have
12:18
opportunities and you know that took
12:20
about 10 to 14
12:23
days and
12:25
uh CU all these guys have agents anymore
12:30
and uh I was really happy that we were
12:33
able to get done what we got done of
12:35
course Tino siner is going to take
12:36
coordinator job at UCLA but coach to the
12:38
playoffs happy for Tino done a great job
12:42
as a quarterback
12:43
coach uh and I've known Tino a long time
12:47
known his family a long time you know
12:49
and I'll miss him being around
12:52
um but you know the philosophy has
12:54
always been when you lose a coach high
12:56
or
12:58
better a lot of players of year
13:00
quarterback before we hard
13:02
Tino so while he's done a great job you
13:06
know we won't miss a step and he'll do a
13:09
great job preparing quarterbacks during
13:11
the
13:12
playoffs Jim right in front of Jack
13:15
coach you and your staff have uh plenty
13:16
of experience in the playoff games this
13:19
time of year whether it's the playoffs
13:21
or bowl season but it's an unusual time
13:24
for teams because there's so much space
13:26
and time between games how do you
13:28
balance that use that to your advantage
13:30
and keep the team where they need to be
13:33
yeah well you know we played Purdue on
13:34
the what the 30th so um you know the
13:37
players had Sunday Monday off and
13:39
Tuesday they lifted weights and
13:41
Wednesday we're in no Monday routine we
13:43
got three days of practicing this will
13:45
be like an off week uh practice schedule
13:48
except we'll be a little more aggressive
13:50
with install uh we got to really make
13:52
the time count because we got to balance
13:54
the recruiting and
13:56
preparation and then next week be like G
13:59
so it it's all about really getting
14:03
enough practice in to maintain your
14:05
timing and your
14:06
fundamentals last week that's what it
14:08
was about and I thought we did a good
14:09
job of that and get players
14:12
refreshed and now this week uh we'll be
14:15
a little bit we be a lot more specific
14:18
to who we're going to play and then
14:19
we'll ramp out up another level next
14:23
week Jack in front and Dennis um you
14:27
know Notre Dame's historically been seen
14:28
as kind of Premier program in the state
14:30
how much just beyond like wanting to
14:32
advance no matter who you play do do you
14:34
see this game as like an opportunity to
14:36
kind of show that Indiana can match or
14:38
even surpass like them in terms of the
14:40
Statewide programs I think it's a great
14:42
game for the state in general uh for
14:45
Indiana and Notre Dame to be playing in
14:47
colge football playoff um I think the
14:50
series began in
14:52
1898 and
14:54
um Notre Dame has pretty much had the
14:58
upper hand series records okay um but
15:03
regardless of who we
15:04
play um you know this is the playoffs
15:09
you win or go home you know and we're in
15:11
it to win
15:12
it I mean our odds are probably making
15:15
the college football playoff at the
15:16
beginning of the season I don't know
15:17
what they were but they were pretty darn
15:20
low I'm sure we were picked 17th out of
15:22
18th teams in the Big
15:24
10 our odds a win in the next four games
15:29
probably significantly
15:31
higher than they were making the college
15:34
football in the first playoffs in the
15:35
first place so we've climbed that
15:38
mountain right so regardless of who we
15:41
were going to play in the first round
15:42
the objective is the
15:44
same Dennis far left and Angela I only
15:47
ask this because you have so experience
15:49
in the playf you feel compelled at any
15:52
point to write practice plan travel plan
15:55
day by day until January 20th
15:59
yeah I mean it yeah it's till January
16:03
20th is in my head not on
16:06
paper but like we have our plan
16:10
um we had a plan for the month of
16:13
December which will we Revis slightly
16:16
today because we're playing Friday
16:18
instead of
16:19
Saturday and then I have a plan on
16:23
paper through the end of the month
16:25
January 1st which you have to have
16:30
Angela up top and Joe coach now that you
16:33
had a week off to reflect on this
16:35
incredible season 11 and one and just
16:37
getting to the college football playoff
16:39
for the first time in program history
16:40
what does that mean to a program like
16:42
Indiana to be on this National stage
16:45
yeah well I haven't had a week off it
16:47
has been a week since we played I've
16:50
been busier this past week than I was in
16:53
season
16:54
um
16:56
so I really still hav
16:59
chance to reflect and let it all sink in
17:02
I did walk outside my office this
17:04
afternoon for about 30 seconds and
17:07
looked around the stadium between
17:09
interviews and it kind of hit me and I
17:11
was like Wow we've accomplished a lot in
17:13
12
17:14
months
17:16
um but that's all in the past you know
17:18
what are you going to do now BL gos um
17:22
and that's kind of where we're at and it
17:25
means a lot to any team that's in the
17:27
college football playoff and uh I guess
17:30
we're a newbie to
17:32
this so
17:36
um you know what to measure the value of
17:39
it for Indiana versus uh Notre
17:42
Dame I can't really answer that question
17:45
but I know winning opens a lot of doors
17:47
and it has in the recruiting process and
17:50
uh it will here in the short term for
17:53
sure you on your right and Griffin coach
17:56
I think it's been about a month EV was
17:59
out for the season how have you uh seen
18:01
the offensive line adjust from that
18:04
moment now well I thought Drew was
18:06
really doing a good job I like him a lot
18:07
as a player he's a tough guy I think
18:10
Tyler Stevens has come in and really
18:12
done very well very well so
18:17
um you know we're marching on he's
18:20
playing winning
18:21
football Griffin up left last one coach
18:24
when you came here you said you want to
18:25
change the culture you want to change
18:27
this from a losing program a winning one
18:29
does punching a ticket to the college
18:30
football playoff for the first time in
18:32
school history do that for
18:34
you well I mean changing culture is a
18:38
process you got to change the way people
18:40
think inside and outside the
18:41
organization throughout the state in the
18:43
Big 10 country and and the country right
18:47
and then you got to have a blueprint and
18:48
a plan and you work your plan every day
18:51
uh to gain the edge you got to be
18:54
committed to Improvement and you can
18:56
never you got to have high standards you
18:59
can never lower your
19:00
standards and this is the end result of
19:03
a
19:04
process and this is the reward for a job
19:07
well
19:08
done uh but it's like opening a gate
19:12
into a different world
19:15
right and uh there's work to be
19:19
done and there's things out
19:22
there there goals out there to be
19:25
accomplished and U but that only you
19:28
only have that opportunity because you
19:30
change the culture the product the
19:33
result and the
19:36
expectation all right thanks coach thank
19:38
you
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