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The man has won everywhere he has coached. In 14 years of being a head coach, he has never had a losing season. His father, Frank Cignetti, Sr., coached at Indiana University, Pennsylvania (IUP), and West Virginia, and is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame. Curt was a valued assistant for Nick Saban at Bama. He took a huge pay cut when he left Bama to coach IUP. As he has said, he made a bet on himself, which turned into an $8 million a year deal at Indiana. He took the 'losingest program' in CFB to the PO in 2024, and has the Hoosiers in the PO hunt in 2025. Many experts predicted his team would regress this season. I believed and so opined that this Indiana team could be this season's Indiana. It looks like this team is better than last season's PO team. It is better on both LOS. As a P4 head coach, Cignetti has two losses. On the road against Natty champ Ohio State, and on the road at Natty runner-up Notre Dame; 0-2 against two top 10 opponents. Only two B1G coaches have winning records against top 25 opponents: Danno and Ryan Day. Many of Dan Lanning's and Ryan Day's B1G wins have come against teams that finished .500 or lower. A program like James Madison, now a Sun Belt member, will have many losses against P4 teams out of conference (OOC), as will the other conference members. When Cignetti coached JMU before it moved up to the FBS, he defeated many FCS top 25 opponents. His teams with similar financial resources defeat the majority of teams with similar resources. Cignetti was drilled last season and this season for playing a featherweight OOC schedule. In Michigan's 2023 champ season, it played junk OOC, ditto Ohio State last season, and Penn State this season. After the loss at Ohio State, Texas posted home wins over San Jose State, UTEP, and FCS opponent Sam Houston State. Ole Miss has defeated Georgia State and Tulane OOC, plays Wazzu this Saturday, and plays The Citadel in the penultimate week of the regular season. As Cig said, he's only following the SEC OOC model. Comparative scores are deceptive. Nevertheless, last season, Indiana defeated a team that beat Alabama and blew out a Nebraska team that Ohio State struggled to defeat in Columbus. Do I think Indiana will defeat Oregon in Autzen? No. But OBD could struggle to cover the -10.5 spread. I think Indiana will hang with OBD into the 2nd half. I do not doubt that Dan Lanning is taking next Saturday's game seriously. This could be the only other ranked opponent OBD plays the rest of the regular season. Indiana will show up with something to prove from Cig on down. Fired up to hand OBD its first regular-season Big Ten loss. On 10/11/25, there will be more than a couple of future NFL players across the LOS, possibly QB'd by a 1st round draft pick. However 😁, Hose Down the Hoosiers! Put Out That Cig!

Watching Bear chew up and spit out the Spoiled Children O-Line will be a sight that will warm my heart. Centuries ago, when I was a Berkeley undergrad, we would wave $1 bills across Memorial Stadium at the U$C fans while they waved $100 bills back at us. So, yeah, it's personal.

My ears were ringing for a couple of days and I lost my voice. Now I wear ear plugs…

I think Ohio State will get the benefit of the doubt until they take a loss for two reasons. First is because they scheduled Texas who just so happened to be number one. How good Texas will be is kind of irrelevant because of the brand, much like Penn State. Notre Dame will make the playoffs if they win out, that likely means they won't have a top 25 win. But they scheduled games against two top twenty teams. Plus they are Notre Dame and they proved themselves last year in the playoff which gave them credibility. Speaking of credibility built over past years, Ohio State cruised to a title. People remember the Rose Bowl pasting over Oregon more than the October matchup which Oregon won in an instant classic. The same thing applied to Alabama vs LSU in 2011. LSU actually won the regular season matchup 9-6, but got crushed in the BCS Title Game rematch. Should the past have any bearing on the future? I'd say no, but as long as we have preseason rankings it matters. In what world should Penn State, Texas, Notre Dame, or Georgia be ranked ahead of undefeated Vanderbilt, Missouri, or one loss Mississippi State? Look at the wins those lesser thought brands have had and how much better they've looked than the four established brands. The Ducks should win out imo. They'll get their shot to earn the only number one ranking that matters if they do that. That of course being the final poll.

The article reads like a boy girl breakup story. Give me a break. It's embarrassing for their program to even publish that. Why would you?

When Michigan was at Autzen to play Da Ducks, I walked out that day with a crackling ringing in my ears that lasted at least a couple of days... It was so loud it hurt. I want to be reminded of that feeling again every game I see at Autzen.

Every time I see a picture of Riley, he looks like a guy that has his accountant on speed dial. Every time I see Lanning, he looks like he needs to be reminded that he actually makes money at this. I think that difference is the difference in the culture that is set at both programs. I have heard all about Riley's $17 million dollar mansion but I've never heard a word about his coaching philosophy or even his love for the game or his team. With Lanning, I've heard about the zero star recruiting, playing to the standard, and getting 1% better every day. Lanning's love for the game, his players and team oozies out of him at every interview. After big wins like this week, he's so fired up and crazed the Wolfman would back away. I think that is what players like Bear, Evan Stewart, Jordan Burch and Bo Nix needed. They all came in with bad wraps and were given second chances to rebuild their reputations and rekindle their love for the game by a coach that brings that passion every single day. Starters don't portal out from the Ducks for a reason. Plenty have portaled in from USC though and that's just fine with me.

I agree. He's a fantastic coach for a mid school like IU. Maybe he can do more with more but right now you have to respect the results considering the resources. With 2 weeks to game plan against IU who is the best remaining team on our schedule, I expect our coaches to have solutions to the things IU wants to do, especially after seeing Iowa having success shutting down their offense and Illinois showing what not to do.

I think Cig is much like Kelly back in the day. He's created lightning in a bottle, has a system that works, his kids believe in him and is getting results. Lanning's team resembles tOSU or UGA in that he has 4-5 star players doing 4-5 star things. I expect Indy to be better than we think, the score to be closer than we think but in the end OBD's relentless drive to seal the deal will be too much. I also expect some Autzen shock to have an effect.

Indiana fans are on their boards down playing the noise level of such a small stadium. The BIG will find out one fan base at a time I guess.

Oh Geez. Am I embarrassed for Huskies? Naw.

TWO 1st Rounders? Do I hear MORE?

Below is from another site, and gives us pause. Have we been fooled by Hoosier success, or is the 'Cig' that good of a coach to outperform? For those worried about Indiana snapping the nation's longest home winning streak, here are a couple of stats for you: The collective record of the teams Indiana has beaten in the last two years is 45-63. Of their ten wins against FBS teams in the last two seasons, only 3 have come against teams that finished the regular season last year with a winning record or currently have a winning record this year. Those include 7-5 Michigan and 3-2 Iowa. Indiana's talent composite this year is No. 72 in the country. Thats lower than Ok State and Oregon State. Obviously they are echelons better than those teams, but still. Dan Lanning has lost 6 games in 4 years. Those losses came against the No. 3, No. 25 (x2), No. 2, No. 20 and No. 54 teams in talent composite. The one outlier there is 2022 Oregon State. (Three years ago...) Against teams not in the top 25 of talent composite Dan is 32-1. Not saying Indiana can’t win or that they aren’t a good team, but if they do win, it would be bucking every single trend we’ve seen in Dan Lanning and Curt Cignettis tenures. Sucking that lemon is sour? Wait until you get to Autzen...

"...move the concrete perimeter wall further back?" My recollection is the stadium wall hasn't changed. However, there use to be concrete traffic barriers behind the end zones when there was more freedom of movement of fans using the field for ingress/egress. Those were removed when it became apparent, they caused potential for injury for players running into them on pass reception plays.

Fun to see the teeth-gnashing... USC Trojans On SIWhy Transfer Lineman Bear Alexander is Thriving at Oregon...The one that got away is now making noise in Eugene. Former USC defensive lineman Bear Alexander, once projected to be a centerpiece in the Trojans’ defensive r

Oregon just teased the Ducks vs Them for the PSU game. DL's quote says it all (and sorry about the profanity).

I know I bring ear plugs with me to every game I attend in Autzen, and a set for any guest I bring. It is still plenty loud, but my ears are no longer ringing all the way home and well into the night!

Back to School - 'You call this a report card!' 🤬 https://nittanylionswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/nittany-lions/football/2025/09/28/grading-penn-states-performance-against-no-5-oregon-in-week-5/86398264007/

Aaron Fentress also said on his podcast that he thought Autzen was louder and George Wrightster said that he talked to 5 members of the current team, after the game, and they all concurred. Everyone admits that it was a very impressive environment.