It’s a new week and IU football coach Curt Cignetti has turned the page to the next opponent, the Iowa Hawkeyes.
But in paying his respects to Iowa’s football program and head coach Kirk Ferentz, Cignetti perhaps inadvertently shoveled one more pile of dirt on Illinois’ grave.
“Iowa, it’s a tough place to play, Kinnick Stadium. They sell out almost every Saturday. It’s loud. So we’re going to have to play well,” Cignetti at his regular Monday press conference in Bloomington. “This will be a challenge, a more difficult challenge than the last one (against Illinois), for sure.”
What all was intended there in that last sentence we’ll leave for you to decide, but it’s worth a reminder Cignetti had plenty of praise for Illinois coach Bret Bielema heading into last week’s game. Don’t exclude that the second-year IU head coach was really just sending a message to his own team that coming off a 63-10 win, is at risk of feeling a bit too good about itself right now.
And Cignetti knows that’s a dangerous formula when heading to Iowa City, where the Hawkeyes rarely lose.
“Got a lot of respect for Coach Ferentz, everything he’s accomplished throughout his career as a head coach and as an assistant, too,” Cignetti said.
“He was a great line coach before he became a head coach. And he was a graduate assistant at Pitt in 1980. I was a graduate assistant at Pitt in ’83 and ’84. He used to come by the offices now and then. Met him a couple of times out and around. Got to know him during the Big Ten meetings. I congratulate him on the big win a couple weeks ago to make him the winningest coach in the Big Ten.”
Ferentz is in his 27th year as the head football coach at Iowa. And while he’s 70, the program is showing no signs of slippage.
Iowa has recorded eight wins or more the last ten seasons (Iowa was 6-2 in the 2020 COVID-19 season). Only four other programs (Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Ohio State) have won eight games every year over that time frame.
The Hawkeyes won 18 games the last two seasons, including 10 and capturing the Big Ten West Division in 2023. The Hawkeyes earned their eighth 10-win season, something IU had never done until last year, and 13th January bowl game in the Ferentz era in 2023. Iowa has been ranked in the final AP Top 25 five of the last seven seasons.
And after a disappointing week two 16-13 loss at in state rival Iowa State, Iowa appears to be doing what they do almost every year — improving as the season progresses.
Indiana gets Iowa coming off a 38-28 win at previously unbeaten Rutgers, and the Hawkeyes enjoy an extra day of rest following that Friday contest.
Cignetti knows Iowa will be well prepared and fundamentally sound on Saturday afternoon.
“One thing I’m going to say about Iowa, and you guys all know this that have been in the Big Ten a while, is, I mean, they’ve been running basically the same defense for a long time,” he said. “Now, there’s tweaks, and they’ve always played great defense and they’ve got great special teams.
“They’ve always been able to run the ball really well. And this quarterback has been a guy that finds a way to get it done. But the thing about Iowa in general, they will not beat themselves. You will have to beat them. They’re not going to beat themselves and they play really well at home.”
For complete coverage of IU football, GO HERE.
The Daily Hoosier –“Where Indiana fans assemble when they’re not at Assembly”
– Join our Premium Discord Chat by GOING HERE.
- You can follow us on X: @daily_hoosier and find us on Facebook and Instagram
- Seven ways to support completely free IU coverage at no cost to you.
