November 30, 2025 • 25 mins
Curt Cignetti's Incredible Indiana Turnaround | Buckeye Weekly Podcast
In this episode of the Buckeye Weekly Podcast, hosts Tony Gerdeman and Tom Orr delve into Curt Cignetti's remarkable transformation of Indiana Football. They discuss what they learned from Cignetti's teleconference on Sunday, Indiana's unexpected rise in the Big Ten, and how the Hoosiers are now set to face Ohio State in a 1 vs 2 matchup in the Big Ten Championship Game. Tune in for an in-depth conversation on Indiana's unprecedented success and their head coach's impact on the program.
00:00 Introduction and Podcast Welcome
00:13 Ohio State vs Indiana: A Historic Matchup
00:55 Indiana's Unexpected Rise
06:03 Key Players and Coaching Strategies
12:55 Indiana's Future Prospects
23:03 Game Day Excitement and Final Thoughts
In this episode of the Buckeye Weekly Podcast, hosts Tony Gerdeman and Tom Orr delve into Curt Cignetti's remarkable transformation of Indiana Football. They discuss what they learned from Cignetti's teleconference on Sunday, Indiana's unexpected rise in the Big Ten, and how the Hoosiers are now set to face Ohio State in a 1 vs 2 matchup in the Big Ten Championship Game. Tune in for an in-depth conversation on Indiana's unprecedented success and their head coach's impact on the program.
00:00 Introduction and Podcast Welcome
00:13 Ohio State vs Indiana: A Historic Matchup
00:55 Indiana's Unexpected Rise
06:03 Key Players and Coaching Strategies
12:55 Indiana's Future Prospects
23:03 Game Day Excitement and Final Thoughts
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello, everybody, Welcome to the Buckeye Weekly Podcast. I'm Tony
Gerdaman here as always with Tom or Tom. How's it going, Tony?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
We're here to talk about a one versus two matchup
involving Ohio State football. Sure, absolutely, these things happen quite
often and Indiana football. Tony, what is going on?
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Why?
Speaker 2 (00:30):
What is happening? I don't understand what is happening?
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Is you should google things. Tom. If you I don't know,
you're probably more of a bang guy.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
But if you google a name to google rather than
just sings.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
You can google Kurt Signetti, who took part in the
Big Ten Championship Game teleconference on Sunday. He and Ryan
Day both spoke for a kurtse Signetti went for the
first thirty minutes. Friday went for those second thirty minutes.
So we're going to recap some of the things that
they've said and just es the sheer fact that this
is Indiana's first Big Ten Championship Game appearance never never
(01:06):
really aspire. I'm sure they aspired. We never expected to
see them here until last year. Talking with Kurt Signetti
at Big Ten media Days, and you just get the
feeling like I don't. I don't know if this is real,
but I believe he believes this. I believe that he
(01:28):
believes everything that he's saying. And I don't know if
he's living in a world of make believe. But what
I do know is he believes he's living like he
believes he's living in this world that he's talking about.
So maybe we're all tom As it turns out, now
we're all living in Kurt Signetti's world of make believe
because his Indiana Hoosiers are number two in the nation.
(01:50):
They are playing in the Big Ten championship game. And
this is not a one off This is at the
very least a two off for them.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Yeah, it is, it is. I don't it's it's kind
of the point where the most surprising thing is that
it's not surprising that they're here. That last year it
was twenty twenty four, it was Indiana football. Son of
a gun. Look at these guys. Look at these little rascals.
They are winning football games. Are they beating anyone?
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Good?
Speaker 2 (02:19):
No, But like you just want to like mess up
their hair and go, look at you, champ. That's great,
Good for you, you all eleven and one wow, And look,
you get to go play Notre Dame. How's it gonna go?
Not great? Doesn't matter. Listen, champ, you you are living
your dream. It is never gonna get better than this.
(02:39):
Then it's better than that. It's like way better than this.
They are no longer like oh look at you. This
is like oh look at you, like oh this is
this is a This is an Indiana team that belongs
in the Big Ten Championship Game. This is an India
team that has earned its spot in the Big Ten
Championship Game. They beat Indiana or they beat they beat Produce, well,
(03:00):
they beat Purdue that didn't really impress me. But they
beat Enn State, they beat Oregon on the road, they
beat Iowa on the road. Those are those were you know,
those are tough teams to beat. Those are not easy teams.
And they beat them, and they beat them with in
games where it wasn't all going their way. They beat
them in games where you know, oh, you know Indiana
(03:23):
football bands, I'm sure have a long history of watching
you know, Bill Lynch throw his gum and it's like
something goes wrong. It's like, oh, here we go, and
you had kind of oh here we go moments in
all those games and then Indiana kind of went yeah,
all right, fine and then just won the games anyway.
So it is it is very very It is as
(03:43):
different from any any previous Indiana football experiences you could
possibly imagine. I was just pulling up earlier. So Tony,
let's say the year is twenty two thousand and two. Okay, okay,
I'm going to tell you over the next twenty three years, Tony,
(04:06):
that the Indiana football team is going to make the
Big Ten championship game in football more often than the
Indiana men's basketball team is going to make the Big
Ten men's basketball tournament championship. Now, Tony, I know what
you're going to say, and you're going to say, you idiot,
there isn't a Big Ten championship game in football. And
it's like, aha, just wait eight years and then wait
(04:29):
another fourteen years, but it's going to happen. And you're
going to say, well, certainly the basketball team will have
made the title game, but then no, in fact, they
will not.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Indiana is two things. It's a soccer school. It's football
school that is known and is now known that they're
a football school. And they were that Oregon game and
we were at Illinois watching. At least I was watching
the end of it. I don't know where you were.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
You were also after a postgame showing up in the
press box watching.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Yeah, and it's like, you know, we do need to
go home, but also let's watch this because I think
I expected Indiana to lose. I expect most people going
to Oregon to lose. So this is no slight of Indiana.
This is just an acknowledgement of Oregon's place in college
football at home and for Indiana to go and win
(05:23):
that game, and it's like, well, okay, this is happening again,
and it's happening in a larger, better way than it
did the year before. So you're thinking, like Kurt Signetty,
what can you do? What can you do for an
encore to year one, which is the greatest year of
football in Indiana history. I believe he's also said that
it was the greatest year of Indiana football in history? Well,
(05:45):
what can I do? How about do you want twelve
and oh would you like it? Would you like a
twelve and oh? Would you like an appearance in the
Big Ten championship game? Perhaps a Big Ten Championship Rose
Bowl number one seed in the College Football Playoff because
the one game away and so credible credit. He credits
the fact that you look at the staff that he
(06:07):
brought to Indiana from JMU. Same offensive coordinator, same defensive coordinator,
same special teams coordinator, same strength coach. They've been with
them all, you know, five to ten years, depending on
the guy. So that creates a level of continuity. You
trust all of your guys, and you know the kind
of players that you're looking for, the kind of players
that you're not looking for the best way that your
(06:31):
your system operates, and the best players to operate that system.
So they brought some guys from JMU. They've developed some
of the guys at Indiana. They've brought in Bernana Mendoza,
Curtis Rourke, They've supplemented well. I do wonder what happens
when Mendoza's gone. I know his brother is there. But
(06:51):
even even if you lose a Heisman front runner right now,
at some point, I can see Indiana staying as an
eight nine win team where you know, between six and
eleven wins depending on how the seniors line up and
how the transfer portal lines up. I don't see them
(07:12):
going back to four and eight, you know, things like that.
While he is at Indiana.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
I don't know that I see them going back to
being a six win team while he's there. I wonder
if you know seven or eight is the floor, and
you know that right now sounds like it would be
a disaster, Tony. Do you don't how many nine win
seasons Indiana had in their entire history, starting back in
eighteen eighty seven through the time Kurt Signetti walked in
the door in before the twenty twenty four season, how
(07:43):
many nine win seasons had they had ever in history?
Speaker 1 (07:47):
I'm I'm wondering if they won nine games in a
Copper Bawl year, but I think those way have even
been eight wins. They are the losing it. They were
the losing his program in college football history, at least
the FBS level. I will say, Tom, just as a guess,
two two.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Is exactly correct. Nineteen sixty seven John Pont got the
Rose Bowl at nine and two, and in nineteen forty
five Beau McMillan they went nine to zho to one,
finished fourth in the nation. That is that and the
nineteen sixty seven season, that's the highest they've ever finished
in the polls that is fourth. Those are and it's
not like wow, they have a bunch of sixth and
(08:28):
seventh place finishes. No, the entire chan the entire final
AP poll list for them is fourth in nineteen forty five,
twentieth in nineteen forty six, fourth in nineteen sixty seven,
nineteenth in nineteen seventy nine, twentieth in nineteen eighty eight,
twelfth in twenty twenty, and then last year and this year,
(08:52):
nine win Indiana. There's a T shirt company called the
home Field in that's based out of Indianapolis. It's run
by an Indiana graduate. And nine Indiana was like this
t shirt that they printed because that was a dream
Indiana winning nine games in a season. Indian won nine
games by like Halloween. This year, Indiana, they have this
is already last year set a program record for most
(09:13):
wins in a season. They have already broken the program record.
Now they could have four more games left this season.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
They're twelve to zero.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
They've never won twelve games before, they'd never won eleven
games before last year. They never won ten games before
last year. So yeah, I think understanding Kurt Signetti and
his you know, his place in Indiana football history, like
he hasn't finished his second season, like they should already
be like finding a sculptured sculptor to make the statue,
because it is like this is I mean, to say
(09:43):
this is unprecedented is to undersell it. They put up
a graphic on one of the broadcasts we watched, might
have been the Oregon game that we're rewatching for this week,
and the two people that they comped him to in
terms of basically resurrecting the dead are Bill Snyder and
Barry Alvarez, who are two like the two guys who
are like this guy. You know, to call it miraculous
(10:05):
might be to slightly undersell it, that you know, this
is just this is a place that you know, you'll
hear people UCLA is a sleeping giant, or you know
North Carolina is a sleeping giant or whatever. No one
has ever said Indiana football is a sleeping giant. And
then Chritzignetti shows up and then just like boom day
one that they're they're I mean, you mentioned it there,
but we at Big Ten Media Days in twenty twenty four,
(10:29):
we listened to him talk and I remember saying to you,
like man, I'm sold. I am sold on this guy.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
He he might get Tony, he might get them to
like the Pinstripe Bolt. No, I mean not now, someday,
Like I am sold on this guy, like I am
really impressed, and I mean, but I mean, at what
six wins, like man, that would be incredible, good for him.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
I'm I'm really think they were picked to finish seventeenth
in the Big Ten last year. I mean it was
it was league and then it was just all of
a sudden, Like I ate again, miraculous is like maybe
slightly overselling it, but only slightly.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
You know. I'm just looking through their history right now
to see they've won twenty three games these past two years.
How many times in their history have they won twenty
three games over a three year timeframe? And I've found
a couple of twenty two's, No twenty threes, and that
twenty two includes the Copper Bowl, the Bill Mallory Heyday
back in the late eighties. They've never done what they've
(11:35):
done this year or these two years over three years.
So I think it's you can say, yes, we believed
in Kurt Signetti, but I don't think we expected I know,
I didn't expect this and to see it and see
it happen. We don't get to see this in college
(11:59):
football and in sports really too. Like again, this is
the losing his program in college football history, and now
they're no longer a joke. And Chris Signetti was asked
in the teleconference, do you think you know you're taking
more seriously now? It's like, yeah, we're taken more seriously now.
And I'm gonna be interested to watch that become a
(12:22):
recruiting thing, a transfer portal thing where you know, we've
seen what Lane Kiffin did for Ole Miss. Now I'm
not this is a very different type of coach, although
he had different both very confident in each other and
in themselves, and so yeah, it'll be interesting to see
(12:44):
how they do with recruiting. Clearly they can and Ryan
dasaid this is well they taken spot talent and we'll
see how well he develops it over time. Eventually his JM,
you guys are going to be gone, and Fernando Mendozo
will be gone. And still they're still running the ball
extremely well, they're still doing things well on defense, and
(13:08):
at some point the foundation that he brought in will
be gone. And the foundation that remains is the one
that has always remained. It's him and his staff, and
it's their philosophy and it's how they build things and
it's how they maintain things. And so to think that
that's going away, I'm with you. I'm only saying six
to eleven wins, you know, I'm just trying to give
them a wide range, and knowing that six wins is
(13:34):
Indiana's supposed to be pretty good. I don't think he
would like it, but yeah, I'm just I'm trying not
to put too much on him, even though he's like, again, google.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
Me, this is not someone who lacks for confidence. I
don't feel like we always when we talk about not
when he puts something on someone, it's like, well, this
freshman running back. We don't want to say he's going
to rush for one thousand yards because he's, you know,
eighteen years old and there's a lot going on and
you don't want to you don't want to put too
much on him. Kurtz Signetti like kurtz Signetti will tell you,
(14:07):
Kurt Signetti will tell you that kurtz Signetti is gonna
win a crapload of football games. Kurt Signetti came in
and in his introductory like he's at the basketball basketball arena,
and he's calling out Purdue, he's calling out Michigan, he's
calling out Ohio State, and it's like, who the heck
is this guy? This he's at the basketball He's always
(14:28):
talking about ohiostiate football right in contact as the football coach,
You're talking about Ohiostate football, right And it took him
two years to get Indiana in the conversation, not just
in the conversation but basically at the level of Ohio
State football.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Like it, it would not be have.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Been completely crazy for Indiana to enter this game as
the number one team in the number one versus number
two matchup. It is. It is remarkable to Speed that
it has all happened with h for him, but he
is he continues to work, he continues to you know,
he continues to be able to build on his early success,
(15:04):
and I think he's already probably hit the point where
investment has always been one of the issues with Indiana football,
and they started investing in, you know, with stadium construction
seven years ago, eight years ago. I think we were
there in two thousand and seventeen. I think and they
were in the middle of that India that stadium construction
project and then it was done, you know, nineteen ish
(15:27):
or so. But they're now investing in coaches, they're now
investing in players, and they've kind of hit that tipping
point now where you can sometimes get some real someone
real charismatic to walk in the door, get people just
you know, to write a check. But then if you
get people to write a check and then they don't
get anything back on their money, it's hard to get
(15:47):
him to write a check again. Indiana football is now
a winner. Indiana football. Signetti mentioned in the conference call
that they have the biggest alumni base in America. It's
like eight hundred thousand alumni for Indiana. A lot of
those people are gonna write checks. Some of them are
not going to write big checks. But you know, Mark
Cuban went to Indiana. Mark Cuban probably has some money.
Mark Cuban would probably not mind being part of a
(16:08):
winner and seeing Indiana football be a winner. So yeah,
I think I think you could see, uh, you could
see that become a you know that that could sort
of become a self fueling machine at this point where
you know, how are they going to how are they
going to find the next uh, you know, Curtis? How
are they going to find the next Fernando Mendoza? Well
(16:29):
this you know, this time last year we were wondering
how they're going to find the next Curtis Wark and
they found it.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
You know.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
It's the same thing with how's Ohio is going to
replace Jim Knowles well with someone better than Jim Noles.
So you know, I if you how can you find
the next Fernando Mendoza?
Speaker 1 (16:43):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
I mean, do you want to bet against him?
Speaker 1 (16:44):
I don't Well, how do you find the next Fernando Mendoza? Uh,
there's pretty good chance the next Fernando Mendoza will find
you or his agent will and there's always going to
be that ability to talk. And that's the other thing
that Indiana can now do under cursig Net is they
can get into the room. And that's the thank you
to Nil, thank you to the transfer portal. These are
(17:07):
things that didn't used to be able to happen for Indiana.
There's a there's a recruit out there right now who's
maybe twenty twenty six, twenty twenty seven, Jeremy Finch Junior Jr.
Finch and his dad was Jeremy Finch, a safety from
the state of Indiana. I think it was a two
thousand and seven class in Ohio state was involved, Florida
was involved, and Indiana was involved. This is a high
(17:29):
blue four star, blue chip and it's like, Wow, the
only reason Indiana is involved is because he's an in
state kid. But you know it's not Unfortunately, he's gonna
have to say goodbye to Indiana. He's gonna have to
go somewhere, and I think he ended up going to
Florida and then maybe he went back to Indiana or
what to Indiana and then left for Florida. But like,
these were extreme circumstances. You don't Indiana has not won
(17:50):
a lot of recruiting battles, but now they're going to
be able to do more, and you're gonna players are
gonna want to be part of a winner. And Fernando Mendoza,
if he leaves after this year and is you know,
a top five pick, that's something that Indiana can ta.
If he wins the Heisman, that's great for recruiting. All
of this is just it builds on each other and
(18:11):
it it becomes self fulfilling, but not because it's just
you know, it's not just momentum, it's they're putting into it.
And yes there is momentum, but it is being pushed
as well. So it's it's been fascinating to watch and
then you see that it's real because if Indiana beats
Ohio State, this is not some the greatest upset we've
(18:34):
you know, in Big Ten history. Ohio State's like a
four and a half to six point favorite depending on
where you're going, and you're gonna have plenty of people
picking Indiana in this game. So the idea, as you said,
they're on Ohio States level. It took two years. Do
you know what Michigan had to do to get on
Ohio States level? Yes, everybody does. Indiana has done it
(18:54):
with you know, James Madison coaches some players, and then
a culture and a foundation and good players, smart players, disciplined,
focused approach both on field off the field, and you know,
and they're here and they've and I was gonna say
(19:16):
they've made it, but I think one of the reasons
Chris Signetti is so good is no, we haven't.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
No, they they absolutely do not feel like they've made
it because you know, he was asked about, well, how
do you balance wanting to win this game with you know,
bigger picture, you got the College Football Playoff next. He's like,
you know, there's a balance. This is this is the
next game, and they want to win it. And now,
I think in terms of his program and what he's
done at Indiana, you look at last year and you know,
(19:45):
we are kind of saying, well, yeah, they're better this
year than they were last year, and they've got you know,
some better players in certain places, and they've won more
impressive games this year. But this time last year, you
went into that game with with Indiana and it was
kind of like, I mean, we all know Ohio State
has more talent than Ohio State's going to just be
able to out talent them. And you know, he said
(20:07):
last year's game against Ohio State was not a lot
of fun, but it was kind of a necessary piece
for them because they needed to sort of see, okay,
like it's great that you're stomping all these bad teams,
but this is what a good team looks like. And
they were in that game for a while and then
they you know, he said, may you've just been a
little bit too big for them, where they made some
kind of unfortunate mistakes on special teams where they had
(20:29):
the one where the punter just kind of dropped the
snap and then they made that they punted the Caleb
downs and all of a sudden they had functionally give
given up fourteen points basically off of two spad special
teams plays. But they learned from that and they got better,
you know, they improved from that. They brought in some players,
they upgraded in some spots, and now they beat Illinois.
They beat Illinois in a way that no one has beaten.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Illinois this year.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
And there was a bunch of stuff that had to
go wrong for Illinois in that game and then ended
up sixty three to ten, I think, But they won
at Iowa. They wanted Oregon and they also you look
at I think it was the three highest run differential,
rush yardage differential games in the Big Ten this year.
It is Indiana at Illinois, Indiana against Maryland, and there
(21:17):
was one other. But they were like plus three hundred
yards in all three of those games. Rushing the ball
like that is that is not normal. And you know,
Illinois is not a bad team. We just we went
and watched Ohio State play at Illinois, and you know,
Illinois is not amazing, but they're they're not a bad
team Illinois. This year's Illinois team would probably have been
the best team that Indiana beat on their schedule last year,
(21:39):
and Indiana beat them sixty three to ten. I mean,
so it is this is an Indiana team that is
continuing to grow and evolve, and there's no you know,
this is not going to be a linear growth thing
where they just get a little better every year and
eventually they're winning the NFC North like it's it's not
gonna be that. But this is, this is a better
(22:00):
Indiana team than it was last year. And you notice
you don't hear the SEC people chirping about Indiana this year.
This is you all. Last year you heard you know, well,
they're frauds, they're you know, they they would have.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
You know, I don't.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
I think there's a lot of teams in the SEC
that don't want that smoke this year. That's kind of
what I think about the playoff.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
I would agree with that. And last thing for me,
we talked about how confident and bordering on cocky that
signetic kurse Signetti is when you listen to him talk
about Ohio State, nothing but respect for for the challenge
that is upcoming, talks about how well they're going to
have to play. He mentioned that Jeremiah Smith is maybe
(22:44):
the most dominant player in college football, and then he's like,
if it's not Caleb Downs or Carnell Tate, and so
he's like expressing the knowledge that these guys are all
Ohio State's very very talented, very very disciplined, and they
can do any number of things to beat you. And
so Indiana is gonna be very very ready. They've had
their QC guys working on Ohio State for a little while,
(23:07):
so they're gonna they're gonna have it broken down. It
was interesting hearing him talk about how he wants all
of these things, all of the cutups broken down and
information broken down fro him. So he's already catching up
on Ohio State. And I am very much looking forward
to this game on Saturday.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
Yeah, for sure. I think that's I think it's gonna
be a really really entertaining game. I think this is
this has a very good chance to be the first
sixty minute game that Ohio State has to play all season,
and it should be a phenomenal atmosphere, and we should
probably do a show just on what we're expecting, because
I have expectations for what this crowd might be like,
(23:43):
and I think this might not be your typical Ohio
State Big Ten Championship game crowd. So we will probably
talk about that at some point this week. But yeah,
I think that atmosphere in Indianapolis is going to be insane,
insane on Saturday. I can't wait. I think the atmosphere
is gonna be incredible. I think the game itself is
(24:04):
going to be a great game. I am really legitimately excited.
And this is these are two teams that very very
easily could play twice this season.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Yeah, you're gonna see. This is the old boxing analogy
about two heavyweights that to me are they're gonna They're
gonna fight like lightweights. They're just gonna keep throwing punches
all game long, and you may wear down, you may not.
I just this is gonna be the biggest test for
either team, certainly the biggest test by far for Ohio
State in terms of the running and the passing. So
(24:35):
I'm fascinated to learn more about Ohio State in this game,
and certainly we will learn more about Indiana as well,
so that will do it from here. Looking forward to
seeing more Kurtz Signati this week and the Indiana Hoosiers.
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(24:57):
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(25:18):
Would love to talk to you there about this game
and every other game that will be happening in the
next oh month or two. So thank you all for
tuning in and we will talk to you all later.
Hello, everybody, Welcome to the Buckeye Weekly Podcast. I'm Tony
Gerdaman here as always with Tom or Tom. How's it going, Tony?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
We're here to talk about a one versus two matchup
involving Ohio State football. Sure, absolutely, these things happen quite
often and Indiana football. Tony, what is going on?
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Why?
Speaker 2 (00:30):
What is happening? I don't understand what is happening?
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Is you should google things. Tom. If you I don't know,
you're probably more of a bang guy.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
But if you google a name to google rather than
just sings.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
You can google Kurt Signetti, who took part in the
Big Ten Championship Game teleconference on Sunday. He and Ryan
Day both spoke for a kurtse Signetti went for the
first thirty minutes. Friday went for those second thirty minutes.
So we're going to recap some of the things that
they've said and just es the sheer fact that this
is Indiana's first Big Ten Championship Game appearance never never
(01:06):
really aspire. I'm sure they aspired. We never expected to
see them here until last year. Talking with Kurt Signetti
at Big Ten media Days, and you just get the
feeling like I don't. I don't know if this is real,
but I believe he believes this. I believe that he
(01:28):
believes everything that he's saying. And I don't know if
he's living in a world of make believe. But what
I do know is he believes he's living like he
believes he's living in this world that he's talking about.
So maybe we're all tom As it turns out, now
we're all living in Kurt Signetti's world of make believe
because his Indiana Hoosiers are number two in the nation.
(01:50):
They are playing in the Big Ten championship game. And
this is not a one off This is at the
very least a two off for them.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
Yeah, it is, it is. I don't it's it's kind
of the point where the most surprising thing is that
it's not surprising that they're here. That last year it
was twenty twenty four, it was Indiana football. Son of
a gun. Look at these guys. Look at these little rascals.
They are winning football games. Are they beating anyone?
Speaker 1 (02:18):
Good?
Speaker 2 (02:19):
No, But like you just want to like mess up
their hair and go, look at you, champ. That's great,
Good for you, you all eleven and one wow, And look,
you get to go play Notre Dame. How's it gonna go?
Not great? Doesn't matter. Listen, champ, you you are living
your dream. It is never gonna get better than this.
(02:39):
Then it's better than that. It's like way better than this.
They are no longer like oh look at you. This
is like oh look at you, like oh this is
this is a This is an Indiana team that belongs
in the Big Ten Championship Game. This is an India
team that has earned its spot in the Big Ten
Championship Game. They beat Indiana or they beat they beat Produce, well,
(03:00):
they beat Purdue that didn't really impress me. But they
beat Enn State, they beat Oregon on the road, they
beat Iowa on the road. Those are those were you know,
those are tough teams to beat. Those are not easy teams.
And they beat them, and they beat them with in
games where it wasn't all going their way. They beat
them in games where you know, oh, you know Indiana
(03:23):
football bands, I'm sure have a long history of watching
you know, Bill Lynch throw his gum and it's like
something goes wrong. It's like, oh, here we go, and
you had kind of oh here we go moments in
all those games and then Indiana kind of went yeah,
all right, fine and then just won the games anyway.
So it is it is very very It is as
(03:43):
different from any any previous Indiana football experiences you could
possibly imagine. I was just pulling up earlier. So Tony,
let's say the year is twenty two thousand and two. Okay, okay,
I'm going to tell you over the next twenty three years, Tony,
(04:06):
that the Indiana football team is going to make the
Big Ten championship game in football more often than the
Indiana men's basketball team is going to make the Big
Ten men's basketball tournament championship. Now, Tony, I know what
you're going to say, and you're going to say, you idiot,
there isn't a Big Ten championship game in football. And
it's like, aha, just wait eight years and then wait
(04:29):
another fourteen years, but it's going to happen. And you're
going to say, well, certainly the basketball team will have
made the title game, but then no, in fact, they
will not.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Indiana is two things. It's a soccer school. It's football
school that is known and is now known that they're
a football school. And they were that Oregon game and
we were at Illinois watching. At least I was watching
the end of it. I don't know where you were.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
You were also after a postgame showing up in the
press box watching.
Speaker 1 (04:59):
Yeah, and it's like, you know, we do need to
go home, but also let's watch this because I think
I expected Indiana to lose. I expect most people going
to Oregon to lose. So this is no slight of Indiana.
This is just an acknowledgement of Oregon's place in college
football at home and for Indiana to go and win
(05:23):
that game, and it's like, well, okay, this is happening again,
and it's happening in a larger, better way than it
did the year before. So you're thinking, like Kurt Signetty,
what can you do? What can you do for an
encore to year one, which is the greatest year of
football in Indiana history. I believe he's also said that
it was the greatest year of Indiana football in history? Well,
(05:45):
what can I do? How about do you want twelve
and oh would you like it? Would you like a
twelve and oh? Would you like an appearance in the
Big Ten championship game? Perhaps a Big Ten Championship Rose
Bowl number one seed in the College Football Playoff because
the one game away and so credible credit. He credits
the fact that you look at the staff that he
(06:07):
brought to Indiana from JMU. Same offensive coordinator, same defensive coordinator,
same special teams coordinator, same strength coach. They've been with
them all, you know, five to ten years, depending on
the guy. So that creates a level of continuity. You
trust all of your guys, and you know the kind
of players that you're looking for, the kind of players
that you're not looking for the best way that your
(06:31):
your system operates, and the best players to operate that system.
So they brought some guys from JMU. They've developed some
of the guys at Indiana. They've brought in Bernana Mendoza,
Curtis Rourke, They've supplemented well. I do wonder what happens
when Mendoza's gone. I know his brother is there. But
(06:51):
even even if you lose a Heisman front runner right now,
at some point, I can see Indiana staying as an
eight nine win team where you know, between six and
eleven wins depending on how the seniors line up and
how the transfer portal lines up. I don't see them
(07:12):
going back to four and eight, you know, things like that.
While he is at Indiana.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
I don't know that I see them going back to
being a six win team while he's there. I wonder
if you know seven or eight is the floor, and
you know that right now sounds like it would be
a disaster, Tony. Do you don't how many nine win
seasons Indiana had in their entire history, starting back in
eighteen eighty seven through the time Kurt Signetti walked in
the door in before the twenty twenty four season, how
(07:43):
many nine win seasons had they had ever in history?
Speaker 1 (07:47):
I'm I'm wondering if they won nine games in a
Copper Bawl year, but I think those way have even
been eight wins. They are the losing it. They were
the losing his program in college football history, at least
the FBS level. I will say, Tom, just as a guess,
two two.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Is exactly correct. Nineteen sixty seven John Pont got the
Rose Bowl at nine and two, and in nineteen forty
five Beau McMillan they went nine to zho to one,
finished fourth in the nation. That is that and the
nineteen sixty seven season, that's the highest they've ever finished
in the polls that is fourth. Those are and it's
not like wow, they have a bunch of sixth and
(08:28):
seventh place finishes. No, the entire chan the entire final
AP poll list for them is fourth in nineteen forty five,
twentieth in nineteen forty six, fourth in nineteen sixty seven,
nineteenth in nineteen seventy nine, twentieth in nineteen eighty eight,
twelfth in twenty twenty, and then last year and this year,
(08:52):
nine win Indiana. There's a T shirt company called the
home Field in that's based out of Indianapolis. It's run
by an Indiana graduate. And nine Indiana was like this
t shirt that they printed because that was a dream
Indiana winning nine games in a season. Indian won nine
games by like Halloween. This year, Indiana, they have this
is already last year set a program record for most
(09:13):
wins in a season. They have already broken the program record.
Now they could have four more games left this season.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
They're twelve to zero.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
They've never won twelve games before, they'd never won eleven
games before last year. They never won ten games before
last year. So yeah, I think understanding Kurt Signetti and
his you know, his place in Indiana football history, like
he hasn't finished his second season, like they should already
be like finding a sculptured sculptor to make the statue,
because it is like this is I mean, to say
(09:43):
this is unprecedented is to undersell it. They put up
a graphic on one of the broadcasts we watched, might
have been the Oregon game that we're rewatching for this week,
and the two people that they comped him to in
terms of basically resurrecting the dead are Bill Snyder and
Barry Alvarez, who are two like the two guys who
are like this guy. You know, to call it miraculous
(10:05):
might be to slightly undersell it, that you know, this
is just this is a place that you know, you'll
hear people UCLA is a sleeping giant, or you know
North Carolina is a sleeping giant or whatever. No one
has ever said Indiana football is a sleeping giant. And
then Chritzignetti shows up and then just like boom day
one that they're they're I mean, you mentioned it there,
but we at Big Ten Media Days in twenty twenty four,
(10:29):
we listened to him talk and I remember saying to you,
like man, I'm sold. I am sold on this guy.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
He he might get Tony, he might get them to
like the Pinstripe Bolt. No, I mean not now, someday,
Like I am sold on this guy, like I am
really impressed, and I mean, but I mean, at what
six wins, like man, that would be incredible, good for him.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
I'm I'm really think they were picked to finish seventeenth
in the Big Ten last year. I mean it was
it was league and then it was just all of
a sudden, Like I ate again, miraculous is like maybe
slightly overselling it, but only slightly.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
You know. I'm just looking through their history right now
to see they've won twenty three games these past two years.
How many times in their history have they won twenty
three games over a three year timeframe? And I've found
a couple of twenty two's, No twenty threes, and that
twenty two includes the Copper Bowl, the Bill Mallory Heyday
back in the late eighties. They've never done what they've
(11:35):
done this year or these two years over three years.
So I think it's you can say, yes, we believed
in Kurt Signetti, but I don't think we expected I know,
I didn't expect this and to see it and see
it happen. We don't get to see this in college
(11:59):
football and in sports really too. Like again, this is
the losing his program in college football history, and now
they're no longer a joke. And Chris Signetti was asked
in the teleconference, do you think you know you're taking
more seriously now? It's like, yeah, we're taken more seriously now.
And I'm gonna be interested to watch that become a
(12:22):
recruiting thing, a transfer portal thing where you know, we've
seen what Lane Kiffin did for Ole Miss. Now I'm
not this is a very different type of coach, although
he had different both very confident in each other and
in themselves, and so yeah, it'll be interesting to see
(12:44):
how they do with recruiting. Clearly they can and Ryan
dasaid this is well they taken spot talent and we'll
see how well he develops it over time. Eventually his JM,
you guys are going to be gone, and Fernando Mendozo
will be gone. And still they're still running the ball
extremely well, they're still doing things well on defense, and
(13:08):
at some point the foundation that he brought in will
be gone. And the foundation that remains is the one
that has always remained. It's him and his staff, and
it's their philosophy and it's how they build things and
it's how they maintain things. And so to think that
that's going away, I'm with you. I'm only saying six
to eleven wins, you know, I'm just trying to give
them a wide range, and knowing that six wins is
(13:34):
Indiana's supposed to be pretty good. I don't think he
would like it, but yeah, I'm just I'm trying not
to put too much on him, even though he's like, again, google.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
Me, this is not someone who lacks for confidence. I
don't feel like we always when we talk about not
when he puts something on someone, it's like, well, this
freshman running back. We don't want to say he's going
to rush for one thousand yards because he's, you know,
eighteen years old and there's a lot going on and
you don't want to you don't want to put too
much on him. Kurtz Signetti like kurtz Signetti will tell you,
(14:07):
Kurt Signetti will tell you that kurtz Signetti is gonna
win a crapload of football games. Kurt Signetti came in
and in his introductory like he's at the basketball basketball arena,
and he's calling out Purdue, he's calling out Michigan, he's
calling out Ohio State, and it's like, who the heck
is this guy? This he's at the basketball He's always
(14:28):
talking about ohiostiate football right in contact as the football coach,
You're talking about Ohiostate football, right And it took him
two years to get Indiana in the conversation, not just
in the conversation but basically at the level of Ohio
State football.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Like it, it would not be have.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Been completely crazy for Indiana to enter this game as
the number one team in the number one versus number
two matchup. It is. It is remarkable to Speed that
it has all happened with h for him, but he
is he continues to work, he continues to you know,
he continues to be able to build on his early success,
(15:04):
and I think he's already probably hit the point where
investment has always been one of the issues with Indiana football,
and they started investing in, you know, with stadium construction
seven years ago, eight years ago. I think we were
there in two thousand and seventeen. I think and they
were in the middle of that India that stadium construction
project and then it was done, you know, nineteen ish
(15:27):
or so. But they're now investing in coaches, they're now
investing in players, and they've kind of hit that tipping
point now where you can sometimes get some real someone
real charismatic to walk in the door, get people just
you know, to write a check. But then if you
get people to write a check and then they don't
get anything back on their money, it's hard to get
(15:47):
him to write a check again. Indiana football is now
a winner. Indiana football. Signetti mentioned in the conference call
that they have the biggest alumni base in America. It's
like eight hundred thousand alumni for Indiana. A lot of
those people are gonna write checks. Some of them are
not going to write big checks. But you know, Mark
Cuban went to Indiana. Mark Cuban probably has some money.
Mark Cuban would probably not mind being part of a
(16:08):
winner and seeing Indiana football be a winner. So yeah,
I think I think you could see, uh, you could
see that become a you know that that could sort
of become a self fueling machine at this point where
you know, how are they going to how are they
going to find the next uh, you know, Curtis? How
are they going to find the next Fernando Mendoza? Well
(16:29):
this you know, this time last year we were wondering
how they're going to find the next Curtis Wark and
they found it.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
You know.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
It's the same thing with how's Ohio is going to
replace Jim Knowles well with someone better than Jim Noles.
So you know, I if you how can you find
the next Fernando Mendoza?
Speaker 1 (16:43):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
I mean, do you want to bet against him?
Speaker 1 (16:44):
I don't Well, how do you find the next Fernando Mendoza? Uh,
there's pretty good chance the next Fernando Mendoza will find
you or his agent will and there's always going to
be that ability to talk. And that's the other thing
that Indiana can now do under cursig Net is they
can get into the room. And that's the thank you
to Nil, thank you to the transfer portal. These are
(17:07):
things that didn't used to be able to happen for Indiana.
There's a there's a recruit out there right now who's
maybe twenty twenty six, twenty twenty seven, Jeremy Finch Junior Jr.
Finch and his dad was Jeremy Finch, a safety from
the state of Indiana. I think it was a two
thousand and seven class in Ohio state was involved, Florida
was involved, and Indiana was involved. This is a high
(17:29):
blue four star, blue chip and it's like, Wow, the
only reason Indiana is involved is because he's an in
state kid. But you know it's not Unfortunately, he's gonna
have to say goodbye to Indiana. He's gonna have to
go somewhere, and I think he ended up going to
Florida and then maybe he went back to Indiana or
what to Indiana and then left for Florida. But like,
these were extreme circumstances. You don't Indiana has not won
(17:50):
a lot of recruiting battles, but now they're going to
be able to do more, and you're gonna players are
gonna want to be part of a winner. And Fernando Mendoza,
if he leaves after this year and is you know,
a top five pick, that's something that Indiana can ta.
If he wins the Heisman, that's great for recruiting. All
of this is just it builds on each other and
(18:11):
it it becomes self fulfilling, but not because it's just
you know, it's not just momentum, it's they're putting into it.
And yes there is momentum, but it is being pushed
as well. So it's it's been fascinating to watch and
then you see that it's real because if Indiana beats
Ohio State, this is not some the greatest upset we've
(18:34):
you know, in Big Ten history. Ohio State's like a
four and a half to six point favorite depending on
where you're going, and you're gonna have plenty of people
picking Indiana in this game. So the idea, as you said,
they're on Ohio States level. It took two years. Do
you know what Michigan had to do to get on
Ohio States level? Yes, everybody does. Indiana has done it
(18:54):
with you know, James Madison coaches some players, and then
a culture and a foundation and good players, smart players, disciplined,
focused approach both on field off the field, and you know,
and they're here and they've and I was gonna say
(19:16):
they've made it, but I think one of the reasons
Chris Signetti is so good is no, we haven't.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
No, they they absolutely do not feel like they've made
it because you know, he was asked about, well, how
do you balance wanting to win this game with you know,
bigger picture, you got the College Football Playoff next. He's like,
you know, there's a balance. This is this is the
next game, and they want to win it. And now,
I think in terms of his program and what he's
done at Indiana, you look at last year and you know,
(19:45):
we are kind of saying, well, yeah, they're better this
year than they were last year, and they've got you know,
some better players in certain places, and they've won more
impressive games this year. But this time last year, you
went into that game with with Indiana and it was
kind of like, I mean, we all know Ohio State
has more talent than Ohio State's going to just be
able to out talent them. And you know, he said
(20:07):
last year's game against Ohio State was not a lot
of fun, but it was kind of a necessary piece
for them because they needed to sort of see, okay,
like it's great that you're stomping all these bad teams,
but this is what a good team looks like. And
they were in that game for a while and then
they you know, he said, may you've just been a
little bit too big for them, where they made some
kind of unfortunate mistakes on special teams where they had
(20:29):
the one where the punter just kind of dropped the
snap and then they made that they punted the Caleb
downs and all of a sudden they had functionally give
given up fourteen points basically off of two spad special
teams plays. But they learned from that and they got better,
you know, they improved from that. They brought in some players,
they upgraded in some spots, and now they beat Illinois.
They beat Illinois in a way that no one has beaten.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Illinois this year.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
And there was a bunch of stuff that had to
go wrong for Illinois in that game and then ended
up sixty three to ten, I think, But they won
at Iowa. They wanted Oregon and they also you look
at I think it was the three highest run differential,
rush yardage differential games in the Big Ten this year.
It is Indiana at Illinois, Indiana against Maryland, and there
(21:17):
was one other. But they were like plus three hundred
yards in all three of those games. Rushing the ball
like that is that is not normal. And you know,
Illinois is not a bad team. We just we went
and watched Ohio State play at Illinois, and you know,
Illinois is not amazing, but they're they're not a bad
team Illinois. This year's Illinois team would probably have been
the best team that Indiana beat on their schedule last year,
(21:39):
and Indiana beat them sixty three to ten. I mean,
so it is this is an Indiana team that is
continuing to grow and evolve, and there's no you know,
this is not going to be a linear growth thing
where they just get a little better every year and
eventually they're winning the NFC North like it's it's not
gonna be that. But this is, this is a better
(22:00):
Indiana team than it was last year. And you notice
you don't hear the SEC people chirping about Indiana this year.
This is you all. Last year you heard you know, well,
they're frauds, they're you know, they they would have.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
You know, I don't.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
I think there's a lot of teams in the SEC
that don't want that smoke this year. That's kind of
what I think about the playoff.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
I would agree with that. And last thing for me,
we talked about how confident and bordering on cocky that
signetic kurse Signetti is when you listen to him talk
about Ohio State, nothing but respect for for the challenge
that is upcoming, talks about how well they're going to
have to play. He mentioned that Jeremiah Smith is maybe
(22:44):
the most dominant player in college football, and then he's like,
if it's not Caleb Downs or Carnell Tate, and so
he's like expressing the knowledge that these guys are all
Ohio State's very very talented, very very disciplined, and they
can do any number of things to beat you. And
so Indiana is gonna be very very ready. They've had
their QC guys working on Ohio State for a little while,
(23:07):
so they're gonna they're gonna have it broken down. It
was interesting hearing him talk about how he wants all
of these things, all of the cutups broken down and
information broken down fro him. So he's already catching up
on Ohio State. And I am very much looking forward
to this game on Saturday.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
Yeah, for sure. I think that's I think it's gonna
be a really really entertaining game. I think this is
this has a very good chance to be the first
sixty minute game that Ohio State has to play all season,
and it should be a phenomenal atmosphere, and we should
probably do a show just on what we're expecting, because
I have expectations for what this crowd might be like,
(23:43):
and I think this might not be your typical Ohio
State Big Ten Championship game crowd. So we will probably
talk about that at some point this week. But yeah,
I think that atmosphere in Indianapolis is going to be insane,
insane on Saturday. I can't wait. I think the atmosphere
is gonna be incredible. I think the game itself is
(24:04):
going to be a great game. I am really legitimately excited.
And this is these are two teams that very very
easily could play twice this season.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Yeah, you're gonna see. This is the old boxing analogy
about two heavyweights that to me are they're gonna They're
gonna fight like lightweights. They're just gonna keep throwing punches
all game long, and you may wear down, you may not.
I just this is gonna be the biggest test for
either team, certainly the biggest test by far for Ohio
State in terms of the running and the passing. So
(24:35):
I'm fascinated to learn more about Ohio State in this game,
and certainly we will learn more about Indiana as well,
so that will do it from here. Looking forward to
seeing more Kurtz Signati this week and the Indiana Hoosiers.
Of course, if you're watching on YouTube, the thumbs up
is always appreciated. Subscribe to the channel hit the bell
to be notified because we will have a punch of
stuff for you this week. And of course, subscribe to
(24:57):
the Buckeye Weekly podcast. If you've not you hat done so,
subscribe to the Buckeye Tomorrow Morning podcast that's Tom's daily show.
If you have not yet done so, you can find
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at YouTube dot com, slash Buckeye Huddle and as far
as bucke Huddle go there sign up say hello to
us there and the Buckeyehuddle message board presented about Jeffrerby's Columbus.
(25:18):
Would love to talk to you there about this game
and every other game that will be happening in the
next oh month or two. So thank you all for
tuning in and we will talk to you all later.
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