Curt Cignetti’s name is enough to define the Indiana Hoosiers football program. Working with a team that lacks a great history wasn’t easy, but Cignetti, who is the real definition of hard work, resilience, determination, and confidence, took the risk and grabbed the golden opportunity. And here he is, making history every single week. But they say the higher you rise, the sharper the criticism.

Even the football committee is not fair to them; despite being undefeated, they are ranked at No. 5. But who cares? 10-0, the record is enough! Coach Cignetti is known for bold statements, and once again, he hit back at critics who pointed out that Indiana’s schedule has not been very tough this season.

On November 20, The Triple Option podcast shared a YouTube short where Cignetti said, “Well, you know, these schedules are set years in advance. Alabama played Mercer, Georgia played Chattanooga. The schedule is what it is, and the fact of the matter is, we’ve beaten seven Power 4 teams.” In the first half of the season, Hoosiers faced Northwestern, Maryland, Charlotte, UCLA, and Western Illinois, and the season opener was against Florida International. They have dominated all of them, without a doubt. Not only that, the next four teams they played against were some of the toughest. Curt has shed light on the same further.

He did not hold back and added, “Every single one of those teams had a winning record when we played them. We also defeated the defending national champion and the runner-up. We didn’t trail until two weeks ago. Do your research. Google us, so you know something about us.”

The strength-of-schedule advocates bat for programs like Georgia and other SEC teams in comparison to Big 10 teams. It can be attributed to the whole SEC bias thing. This argument gains strength when we see that there are 4 Big 10 teams in the top 5 of the CFB rankings. Two of them (Oregon Ducks and Indiana Hoosiers) have been unbeaten so far. At the same time, Ohio State and Penn State, both at 9-1, have also taken care of their opponents. On the other hand, there is only one SEC team that has one loss (no team is undefeated). Five are two-loss teams (Alabama, Georgia, Texas A&M, Ole Miss and Tennessee).

Having said that, one thing is clear. A loss against the Buckeyes (Week 13, November 23) will prove to be disastrous for the Hoosiers. The S-O-S maniacs are waiting with bated breath for Curt Cignetti’s team to have a bad loss.

Will Curt Cignett and Indiana end a 30-year drought?

Curt Cignetti has one more chance to create history and lead the Hoosiers to something that they haven’t done in almost 30 years. Any guess? Well, Indiana has not defeated Ohio State since their series started in 1989, and they have a record of 0-30-1 against the Buckeyes. Expect one game that was tied in 1990 and ended with a 27-27.

The excitement for the game is real, but this matchup is still not considered a rivalry game. College football will be entering its 13th week, and the game carries significant importance for both teams. Buckeyes will enter the game with lots of confidence as they are at No. 2 and have defeated teams like Nebraska, Penn State, Michigan State and a few more. On the other hand, Indiana is enjoying its best season but they have not faced any team ranked in the AP Top 25 or College Football Playoff rankings. If they lose tomorrow, it will raise many questions.