Heard you missed IU football.
Good news — they’re back.
With the Rose Bowl set for next Thursday, it’s officially game week once again.
It’s been nearly three full weeks since Indiana’s Big Ten Championship clinching 13-10 win over Ohio State on Dec. 6. And if you’ve learned nothing else about coach Curt Cignetti, you know this time has not been wasted.
Sure, Cignetti broke his own 24 hour rule and gave the players 48 hours to celebrate their win over the Buckeyes. 25 days between games provided that luxury.
And yes, there was the little matter of Fernando Mendoza winning the Heisman Trophy, and all of the noise and clutter that came with it.
But still, much was accomplished before 13-0 and No. 1 ranked Indiana turned the page to Alabama (11-3) ahead of the Jan. 1 Rose Bowl (ESPN).
The weeks of Dec. 8 and Dec. 15 were treated as bye weeks, something IU had two of during the regular season. So it was a familiar process.
The Hoosiers conducted some practices and got in the weight room to stay sharp. But with no opponent to prepare for, the workload was lighter than normal. Cignetti says he learned from his time at Alabama not to overdo it when it comes to practicing during long layoffs like these. Less is more, and he says that’s even more the case with this IU team, which Cignetti acknowledges has less depth than your typical SEC juggernaut.
But still, the goal was to get better.
“We have to find those inches of improvement, find those ways to improve and ultimately better our best. So, come January 1st, we have the best ability to go out there and have success,” center Pat Coogan said.
Time off the field with the 2025 team meant more time for the staff to think about 2026.
Over the last couple weeks, Cignetti and his staff turned their attention to next year’s team. By and large, Indiana already knows who they want back next season, and who plans to return. Retention conversations were had with 95% of the roster as of Monday afternoon.
Indiana, like every other college football program, has also been thinking about the transfer portal. It doesn’t open until Jan. 2, but already star players across the country have announced their intention to formally enter the portal at that time.
And you can only imagine the back channel conversations happening in the interim. Don’t be surprised by a wave of commitments across the nation on the very day the portal opens.
For the eight teams still playing, the portal will officially open a day or two after their next game, setting up an awkward dual track that the IU staff has also been dealing with over the last few weeks.
Cignetti says no one in the coaching ranks likes the current transfer portal calendar, and he’d like to see a commissioner-level individual step in and guide the sport to a more palatable approach to this and other significant matters.
“I definitely think the calendar could be improved,” Cignetti said. “And that would be unanimous amongst the coaches. … What you’re doing within college football is just you don’t have one guy in charge. If you had one person calling the shots, I think it would be a lot cleaner.”
But that’s for another day. Over the last few weeks, the staff has been busy doing whatever they can to prepare for portal mania 2026.
Indiana was also able to sign new long-term deals after the Ohio State game with both defensive coordinator Bryant Haines and offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan.
“Both those guys have been with me a long time. They both do a great job,” Cignetti said. “Bryant had some calls, had some people very seriously interested in him. We thought it was important to be proactive.
“We also wanted to lock Mike up, who’s very deserving. And I’m glad we did. And at the end of the season we’ll move on to the rest of staff.”
You’re either getting better or you’re getting worse, Cignetti likes to say. You never stay the same.
It’s been an unusually long layoff for Indiana ahead of the Alabama game.
But chances are, the program got a little better each day. Much was accomplished.
Still, Cignetti would have been more than happy to knock a week off this break and get the show on the road.
“Would I prefer to play earlier?” he said. “Yeah, I probably would, to be quite honest with you.”
The wait is almost over.
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