LAS VEGAS — Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti and new Purdue coach Barry Odom are starting from scratch.
The 126th Old Oaken Bucket game on Nov. 28 at Ross–Ade Stadium will be the first time Cignetti and Odom cross paths. Odom came up in the profession at Missouri working for his mentor Gary Pinkel, who he eventually succeeded.
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Cignetti had already left Alabama by the time Missouri made it into the SEC.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for coach,” Odom said, at Big Ten media days Thursday. “He’s had great success everywhere he’s been, he’s a heck of a coach and they got a really good roster. I know he’ll have a really great year.”
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Cignetti noted that he “liked” Purdue’s new head coach earlier in the week while downplaying a critical comment Odom made about IU’s non-conference scheduling strategy during a recent radio interview.
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“Taking a shot at our schedule — did I think about it much? Not really, but that would be an overstatement,” Cignetti said. “… Not that I didn’t think much of it (as in) he shouldn’t have done that. I saw it. It was a flicker in my brain, and then it was over.”
The Hoosiers are 43-77-6 all-time against Purdue, but are coming off a 66-0 win over the Boilermakers last year that was their most lopsided loss in the series history. The 66-point margin of victory was IU’s largest ever against an FBS opponent.
Odom hasn’t spent much time watching the game (or any game Purdue played last season) as he built a roster with very few returning faces. His focus going forward is ensuring all the various transfers and freshmen he signed understand how important the rivalry is.
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“I think it’s important you are deliberate about that,” Odom said. “You make it known that it’s really, really important, the rivalry, the reason why it is a rivalry game. You make it part of what your program is, whether you got the players for seven months or five years.
“We have classes, we talk to them about the history of our program, university and these are the reasons this is a rivalry game. You have to assume nothing and teach them, we’re educators and it’s our job to make sure to know what’s going on.”
Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Indiana-Purdue football rivalry: Barry Odom praises Curt Cignetti, roster
