Curt Cignetti envisioned big things for Indiana when he became the coach in late November. In a short span, he's orchestrated quite a turnaround. No.
23 Indiana comes into Saturday's game at Northwestern unbeaten and ranked for the first time in more than three years. “I pretty much told everybody when I got hired that this is what was possible,” Cignetti said. Indiana made bowl games in 2019 and 2020 under Tom Allen.
But with three straight losing seasons, he got fired. Cignetti quickly went to work and added 31 players through the transfer portal, including 13 who followed him from James Madison. Now, the Hoosiers (5-0, 2-0 Big Ten) are rolling.
Indiana entered the AP Top 25 this week after beating Maryland 42-28. The Hoosiers are ranked for the first time since they were 17th in the preseason poll in 2021. They lost the opener that year to Iowa and finished with a 2-10 record.
Indiana is 5-0 for just the third time in school history. The Hoosiers have a chance to join the 1967 Rose Bowl team as the only ones to win their first six games. It would also be the earliest the Hoosiers have been bowl-eligible since the NCAA established the six-win standard in 2010.
Northwestern (2-2, 0-1) got shut down at Washington two weeks ago, losing 24-5 in the Huskies' first ever Big Ten game. The Wildcats are 0-2 against power-conference teams, having also lost to Duke in double overtime at home. Their wins were against Miami (Ohio) in their first game at their temporary lakefront sta.