15-0, beating Alabama 38-3, Oregon 56-22, it can all go to your head if you’re not careful.
But Indiana All-American linebacker Aiden Fisher has been with Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti for four years. He was given an opportunity to play FBS college football as a 0-star recruit.
Fisher is the complete embodiment of Cignetti’s culture in the form of a player.
And as such, he seems immune to outside noise.
So much so, even his family is now fully immersed.
“I was on the phone with my mom about two days ago. I don’t even remember what we were talking about,” Fisher said Tuesday. “I was just like, ‘Yeah, I hope somebody doesn’t get complacent.’ And I was like, ‘Wow, I have been with Cig way too long.’
“And she said, ‘Yeah, I said the same thing the other day.’ She used the word complacent. It’s funny when you’ve been with somebody for so long you start talking like them a little bit. Everything he (Cignetti) talks about is true in football and in life, complacency kills.
“The way he makes this football program makes you a better person too. And I think my mom gets that when I’m texting her. No more talking about the last game, on to the next. It’s funny how long I have been with him and the things that rub off on me.”
And because Fisher has been with Cignetti for so long, he knows better than to get caught up in the now fever-pitched hype surrounding IU football.
Is it fair to consider this Indiana team one of the greatest in college football history if they win Monday night in Miami?
They’d be the first 16-0 team in major college football since 1894, with a current 31.5-point average margin of victory including 34.5 in College Football Playoff games. So it’s a reasonable question, if not a week too soon.
“Pretty good” might be Cignetti’s response to what IU has accomplished to this point.
Fisher won’t even go that far.
Is he aware of what the metrics say about this team in a historical context?
“Yeah, I’ll save that question for after this next game. It won’t mean really anything unless we walk away with a win in this game,” Fisher said.
From 0-star to All-American, Fisher knows how he got here, and it wasn’t by patting himself on the back along the way.
You’re either getting better or you’re getting worse, his coach likes to say.
There’s a time and a place for reflection, and the week before the national championship game is certainly not it.
Indiana’s defense gave up 22 points to Oregon, after all, and they’re about to face one of the best quarterbacks in college football.
There was a time in Indiana when every basketball coach adopted Bob Knight’s philosophy, and every father had some stern conversations with their kids modeled after The General.
Now it’s Indiana’s players modeling themselves after Cignetti, along with their families, maybe even you?
Aiden Fisher is certainly in that category.
“We have a lot to clean up from that Oregon film, a lot of sloppy plays, especially in the second half as a defense and the one long drive they had before the half,” Fisher said.
“We know there’s so much more room for improvement. All the things that you guys have pointed out, historical things, doesn’t really mean anything to us right now. We’re all focused on Miami. They’re a great team that has a lot of weapons that are really good on the line, at least the offensive side. We have a lot to deal with, a lot of handle. Everything else will take care of itself, and we just got to win this game.”
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