The Indiana Hoosiers weren’t letting head football coach Curt Cignetti go to a bigger school.
They took care of their head football coach on October 16, giving him an eight-year contract through the 2o33 season. The deal has an average annual value of $11.6 million, making Cignetti one of the highest-paid college football coaches in the nation.
“At Indiana University, we are committed to performing at the highest levels in everything we do, and no one has exemplified that more than Coach Cignetti,” Indiana president Pamela Whitten said in a statement. “Put simply, Cig is a winner. From last year’s College Football Playoff appearance to this year’s top-3 national ranking, the IU Football program’s success has been tremendous. Curt and Manette Cignetti are home in Indiana, and we are delighted that the Cignetti family will be Hoosiers for many years to come.”
Cignetti is fresh off leading the Hoosiers to a massive upset win over the Oregon Ducks in Eugene last Saturday, 30-20. The Hoosiers’ defense forced Ducks quarterback Dante Moore into two interceptions, while the Hoosiers’ offense was very balanced.
The win put the Hoosiers at 6-0 overall and vaulted them to No. 3 in the latest AP poll. They’re one of the top favorites to win the Big Ten title and make a deep run in the College Football Playoff.
Joel Klatt is Super Impressed With Indiana Thus Far
Fox Sports college football analyst Joel Klatt is loving what he’s seeing from the Hoosiers this season. Cignetti has completely turned that program around after coming over from the James Madison Dukes ahead of the 2024 college football season.
“Indiana beat Oregon up. Indiana is a legitimate National Championship contender this year,” Klatt said on “The Joel Klatt Show” this week. “They’ve got great quarterback play, they’re balanced, they play excellent defense, they’ve got an excellent coaching staff, and they just did something in Oregon that not even last year’s national champion (Ohio State) could do. What I love about what Indiana does is that they attack your weaknesses, and they do it with urgency, great play, great execution, and great fundamentals.”
Cignetti has won 17 of 19 games since becoming the Hoosiers’ head coach, and is team is getting better each week.
Indiana’s Schedule the Rest of the Way Is Favorable
As it stands right now, the Hoosiers won’t play another ranked team for the rest of the regular season. They have six games left, and all of them are against currently unranked teams.
They’ll play the Michigan State Spartans at home this Saturday, followed by the UCLA Bruins, Maryland Terrapins, Penn State Nittany Lions, Wisconsin Badgers and Purdue Boilermakers. There’s a legit chance that the Hoosiers will go 12-0 during the regular season before playing for the Big Ten title.
However, anything can happen on any given Saturday, so the Hoosiers will have to take it game by game. Speaking of that, kickoff for this Saturday’s contest between the Hoosiers and Spartans is set for 3:30 p.m. Eastern on Peacock.
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