{"id":794224,"date":"2026-07-30T22:45:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T22:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/794224\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T22:45:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T22:45:09","slug":"indianas-curt-cignetti-is-stalking-complacency-as-hoosiers-get-ready-to-begin-their-title-defense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/794224\/","title":{"rendered":"Indiana’s Curt Cignetti is ‘stalking complacency’ as Hoosiers get ready to begin their title defense"},"content":{"rendered":"

CHICAGO \u2013 Indiana coach Curt Cignetti says he\u2019s \u201cstalking complacency\u201d as he makes sure there\u2019s no championship hangover now that he\u2019s orchestrated one of the most remarkable turnarounds<\/a> in college football history.<\/p>\n

Cignetti took over a program that had gone 9-27 the three years before his arrival and led it to College Football Playoff appearances in each of his first two seasons, including a 2025 national title<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He wants his program to maintain the same edge it carried while working its way up.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a way of doing things,\u201d Cignetti sad. \u201cWe\u2019ve got guys that have been together, and all we do is win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indiana\u2019s stunning two-year run under Cignetti already has allowed the traditional Big Ten also-ran to shed its status as the Bowl Subdivision program with the most losses in history. That dubious honor now belongs to conference rival Northwestern.<\/p>\n

The Hoosiers obviously have bigger long-term goals than that.<\/p>\n

They want to keep it going without Heisman Trophy-winning<\/a> quarterback Fernando Mendoza,<\/a> who went to the Las Vegas Raiders with the top pick<\/a> in this year\u2019s draft after his lone season at Indiana. He was one of a school-record eight players drafted.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to make sure that we keep the same blueprint as last year going into this year, and that includes maintaining the same work ethic,\u201d offensive tackle Carter Smith said.<\/p>\n

Indiana did a remarkable job of restocking its roster by getting one of the nation\u2019s top collections of transfer portal<\/a> talent. Indiana\u2019s list of 18 transfer newcomers includes former TCU quarterback Josh Hoover<\/a> and ex-Michigan State wide receiver Nick Marsh.<\/p>\n

Marsh got an early indication of Cignetti\u2019s no-nonsense approach, as the former Spartans player showed up for a spring practice in gold cleats and got criticized by his new coach. Cignetti has since praised the work habits of Marsh, who caught 100 passes for 1,311 yards and nine touchdowns over the last two seasons.<\/p>\n

Indiana\u2019s chances of earning a third straight playoff bid could depend on Hoover, who threw for 9,627 yards, 71 touchdowns and 33 interceptions over the last three years. He has rather large shoes to fill.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat separated Fernando was when the game was on the line, those fourth-quarter wins, the last three minutes, four minutes, that\u2019s when he played his best football,\u201d Cignetti said.<\/p>\n

Indiana could be on the verge of establishing itself as annual contenders as long as Cignetti sticks around, as the Hoosiers have followed up their portal success by making inroads in high school recruiting. Over the last two weeks, Indiana has gained verbal commitments from 2027 five-star wide receiver Monshun Sales and highly regarded 2028 quarterback Lukas Prock.<\/p>\n

Cignetti is more focused now on making sure his current team is prepared for its title defense. Defensive lineman Tyrique Tucker was asked how it felt to enter a season as the hunted rather than the hunter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe prepare in a way we wouldn\u2019t think we\u2019re being hunted,\u201d Tucker said. \u201cWe\u2019re preparing like we\u2019re predators and we\u2019re hungry. We still have that chip on our shoulder, ultimately.\u201d<\/p>\n

Big Ten media may have given Tucker and his teammates some ammo in that regard. A Cleveland.com<\/a> poll of reporters that serves as the unofficial Big Ten preseason media forecast had the defending national champions finishing third in the conference, behind Ohio State and Oregon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Cignetti understands the challenge ahead after beating both Ohio State and Oregon on the way to the title last year. Cignetti, who worked as an assistant at Alabama from 2007-10, closed his news conference Thursday by explaining why he believes the Big Ten is college football\u2019s best conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t run a hype machine up here in the Midwest,\u201d Cignetti said. \u201cWe believe everything is earned, not given. When we fall short, we say, \u2018We fell short.\u2019 We don\u2019t cry a river, whine and complain. That\u2019s why we\u2019re the best.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP college football: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/ap-top-25-college-football-poll<\/a> and https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/college-football<\/a><\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHICAGO \u2013 Indiana coach Curt Cignetti says he\u2019s \u201cstalking complacency\u201d as he makes sure there\u2019s no championship hangover…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":794225,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4,450,24321,68073,451,188919,337403,3,188922,99,452,453],"class_list":["post-794224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-curt-cignetti","tag-fernando-mendoza","tag-headlines","tag-josh-hoover","tag-lukas-prock","tag-news","tag-nick-marsh","tag-sports","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=794224"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794224\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/794225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=794224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=794224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=794224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}