The post Curt Cignetti defends Indiana football’s CFP bid after breakout season appeared first on ClutchPoints.
The vibes are much different around Indiana football coming into the 2025 season after a transformative first year under new head coach Curt Cignetti. After being a middling program in the Big Ten for years, Cignetti immediately launched the Hoosiers into contention and earned them a spot in the first 12-team College Football Playoff.
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Even after Indiana was selected into the field at the end of a stellar 11-1 regular season, there were plenty of detractors who pointed at Indiana’s weak schedule as the reason that it was able to win so many games.
At Big Ten Media Days on Tuesday ahead of his second season in Bloomington, Cignetti defended Indiana’s spot in the CFP last season via ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg.
“When a newbie like us breaks into the status quo, that’s going to create some waves,” Cignetti said, per Rittenberg in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “A team comes out of nowhere. But everything’s earned, not given. There’s no entitlement.”
Indiana did have the easier side of the Big Ten schedule last season, taking a trip to Michigan in a down year before losing at home against Ohio State. However, that won’t be the case this season as Cignetti and company will take trips to both Eugene and Happy Valley for road games against Oregon and Penn State.
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Indiana likely won’t be challenged in the non-conference slate after it cancelled a scheduled series with Virginia to play an FCS school instead, a move that Cignetti called an “SEC scheduling philosophy” on Tuesday.
There will be some growing pains for Indiana this season after losing quarterback Kurtis Rourke to the NFL, but Cal transfer Fernando Mendoza is more than capable of coming in and keeping the train on the tracks on that side of the ball. Mendoza himself could become an NFL prospect with a strong season similar to what Rourke had in 2024.
Indiana gets a lot of its stars back on defense, so that side of the ball should be stout once again. If both units come together, Cignetti has a chance to lead the Hoosiers back to the CFP once again. That should shut up the doubters once and for all.
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