September 4, 2025 • 24 mins
The Hoosiers are 1-0, but they left a lot of opportunties on the field last week vs. Old Dominion. This week's opponent, Kennesaw State, provides a chance for IU to dominate and show consistency for 60 minutes. We break down the expectations and hear from head coach Curt Cignetti.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Hi, you doing, everybody. I'm Ken Bikoff and welcome to
the Peaks Podcast. Indiana one to zero on the season.
Following last week's victory over Old Dominions, this week's opponent
Kansas State. So it's a step down from Old Dominion.
Might ask yourself, why in the hell is Indiana playing
Kansas State in football? Mighty mighty owls Pam Witten's old school,
(00:36):
isn't it? So what we got here is I you
president Pam Witten used to be president over at Kansas State.
She became president IU. Let's go ahead and get kanessas
State on the football schedule. Kannesaw State gets a payout
from it. Now. I'm not accusing anybody of anything untoward
(00:56):
it at all. I really am not. That's just kind
of how it works. But that's the reason behind why
Kansas State is on the old schedule. So what are
we looking at. Let's look back first off at last week.
We've had several days to digest what we saw with
the Monarchs on Indiana's win. Obviously, I think most people
(01:21):
walked away from that game not feeling good about it.
And the biggest reason why is you expected IU to
dominate more than they did. I you let a lot
of opportunities, easy opportunities kind of slip away. That is
a reflex of years of struggles for IU football, because
(01:45):
there's a lot of teams that lost in the first
week or really played poorly and lost Indiana. Their defense
played well for the most part, say for a couple
of busts. Did not allow Old Dominion to run a
play in Indiana territory the entire day save for two
long touchdown runs by a quarterback. Doesn't make it okay,
(02:11):
but those are the only two plays really where Indiana struggled.
Everything else they were fantastic offensively, struggles in the red zone,
guys not doing what they were supposed to do, Indiana
honestly looking rusty. That was all part of it. So
the beautiful thing about a game like Old Dominion is
(02:34):
you win, and you win comfortably. It could have been
a blowout, a true blowout win had Indiana done a
couple of things different, still a w but you do
have to clean those things up. If you go into
the first game of the season and you dominate, sometimes
players could let their guard down a little bit. That
(02:55):
isn't going to be the case with this and you'll
hear Kurt Signetti in just a few minutes. But a
game like what Indiana had last Saturday, gorgeous day, gorgeous atmosphere,
comfortable win, and so much left on the field means
that nobody's head got big, nobody's over confident, everybody's focused
(03:17):
on what it is that they have to do next,
and if they're not, they're not going to be seeing
playing time. It's that simple. So I'll let you go
ahead and hear Kurt Signetti here for a few minutes,
because he was exactly as expected during his weekly press
conference and what you want to hear from him at
(03:37):
that and just kind of that attitude. So, without any
further ado, here is head coach Kurt Signetti during his
meeting with the media last Monday in the team room
at Memorial Stadium.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
All right, yep, well tell a little bit like Groundhog Day,
to be honest with you, Like FIU dominate the game,
not reflective in the scoreboard, not happy with the way
the offense played in the second half, FIU and in
the red area in this game, and the fans left
at halftime. It all felt like Groundholm Day to me.
(04:13):
Never going to apologize for a win. They're too hard
to get. Same team that should have beat South Carolina
last year in the opener, really dominated the game, not
reflected in the score. I mean we probably left thirty
five points out there on offense, with six possessions inside
(04:36):
the ten, primarily the goal line offense at five in
dropped a touchdown pass over, threw a touchdown pass, fumbled
going in, and had the game in total control.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
It was just matter what the score.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Would be, and you know, really expected a forty five
fifty two to seven type game at that point.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
We didn't do it on offense.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
I mean won the time of possession forty one and
a half to eighteen and a half, first down thirty
to ten, had three hundred and ten yards rushing, won
the turnover battle three to one.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
End of the half.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Beginning of the third one fourteen to nothing. Good on
third down returned for touchdown. Two bad plays on defense.
First play the game was thirty read.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
For our linebacker.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
It was a outside zone reading we're not going to
block the weak side defensive tackle. The guard blocked them,
which meant it looked like outside zone.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
Then came off late and quarterbeck.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
So the linebacker went Quebec pulled the baller as nobody left.
But the last third down and one should never have
that's just an egregious mister signmon by the field in
who's got the quarterback and took the dive. So got
to make the plays on offense.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Got to get better, period, all the way around. Got
to get better and we should get much better this
week now.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Team we're gonna play Kennesaw State lost by one point
to Power four opponent last week, brand new coach, High
tempo offense. They can go at warp speed and they
can slow it down defense. Guys run around good held
wake force nine points. I mean they missed the next
(06:30):
point in the field goal. Lost ten to nine. So
we gotta be ready to go. They beat Liberty last
year when Liberty was undefeated. Their first team beat Liberty
the old staff, So.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Looking for improvement.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
Questions, Kurt, you talk about just sort of like you
compared a little bit to Florida International last year. Maybe
this is almost a philosophical question, not just specific ODU,
but as a coach, how do you approach sort of
digesting with your team a game where you know maybe
the underlying numbers, say the score should have been different.
(07:11):
But you can point to some good things in the performances.
You can also some point point to some some learning experiences,
some things that need to improve, especially in week one
when you know things are gonna.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Be like a team in the locker room that wins
are hard. Uh, enjoy it, but not please with the
way we play.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Uh with you guys, I put the game in perspective
with the team. The focus will be on what we
put on tape and what we got to do to improve.
So not pleased. I can't imagine anybody on the team
is pleased. Uh, And we got to get better.
Speaker 5 (07:49):
Well, yeah, with the you mentioned some of the red
zone struggles, and Fernando talked about kind of a couple
of throesy miss But when you watch the tape, what
were your kind of biggest takeaways?
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Maybe especially in the run game when you know you got.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
To you know first, when you get down there, you
got first and one at the one they jumped into
a different front than they had shown.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
The previous year. But still you gotta be able to
gain a yard, you know.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Uh, you know we had a running back take the
wrong footwork and the wrong course one time we had
a you know, a missed assignment up front one time,
and then up two poor blocks, and then on the
fourth down pass, uh didn't make the right read, you know,
and then got down there again and had two more
missed assignments in the run game, had to settle for
a field goal, and we scored two touchdowns. Then we're
(08:33):
really running the ball really well. We're up twenty seven
to seven, and I mean they look they were running
the clock in the second quarter. End of the second quarter,
they're milking the clock. I mean they were tired, they
were gassed on defense. And uh, you know, we threw
a pass on second and six and it was incomplete
pushing the third and six. Didn't make a great call
(08:55):
on third and six, and then the last series, you know,
I thought that was passing it for it's on serat
they didn't call it. Sometimes the officials, you know, feel
like the game's over.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
I just want to get home.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Uh you got to call still got to calm, you know,
So drop a touchdown pass overthrow a touchdown pass wide.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Open and fumble going in. So I mean, really you
could build a case that there's fifty five points minimum.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
I guess the difference between FIU and that game was
we were much more consistent, uh for ninety yards or
ninety three yards than.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
We were last year.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
We just last year we led the country in red
area touchdown percentage. So but we got to get better.
It doesn't matter what you did in the past. Got
to get better now.
Speaker 6 (09:45):
So that's that, Yeah, right, exactly, go back and watch
would you like most about what Fernando did on Saturday?
And then I know you can't talk about the processing,
but anything else you noticed that maybe you.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Know he needs to work, Yeah, did some good things,
left some things out there. You know, the emphasis with
him has been on his processing and decision making. And
you know you grade the quarterback based on his decision making,
uh and accuracy. You know, is he going through the
right reads, throwing the ball the right guy in accurately?
(10:19):
So he's made progress since he's been here, but you
know he's still got to get better.
Speaker 6 (10:26):
Coach, you talked about the fact that you guys aren't
happy with how you played it. Why don't you Why
don't you think that you guys played to your standard?
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Missed assignments, missed assignments and guy's not doing their job
and every you know, every once in a while they
line up in a different defense than you thought they would.
So got to make the place.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Coach with Drew Evans, you know him coming back, how
would you assess the way he played solid.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
You know, he's gonna give you a great effort, he's
gonna finish, give you everything. These guy he's a really
smart player, and uh, you know having him.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
Back is a real plus. I thought our.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Offensive line and tight ends did a nice job by
running backs. Our receivers most of the day blocked well.
It was a game where you know they were called
on to block safeties and and really overall, I thought
we did a great job. Penalty wise, I think we
had three. Uh the one calling the interception was not
a good call on our number twelve, Uh boakeing Uh,
(11:33):
and so we had a false start and uh then
we got a running into the punter, which you know,
Isaiah Jones says he got his hand on the ball.
So from that stand, you know, turnover ratio penalties two
things you talk a lot about in an opener. We
did a great job and all of our special teams
(11:53):
goals we accomplished. I mean, this game really came down
to what happened inside the six yard line and two
plays on defense, I mean, other than two plays on
defense you hold him one hundred and sixty yards. But
it's look, it's a win. It's a you know, it's
a two score win. But we left a lot out there,
(12:17):
and it's good that we've gotten to the point where
people's expectations are such that they're not happy with just wins.
But at the end of the day, they all kind
of won win.
Speaker 5 (12:29):
A coach which with special teams, you had the big
punt return up punt, it was blocked, it looked like
on TV. But Brendan Frankie is the long field goal guy.
And then Quinn Warren stepped in a big spot and
hit one inside the three. Can you just talk about
where you're gonna use Frankie and with a punting situation.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
Yeah, you know, we feel like Quinn is a really
good prospect. And Quinn stepped in called punter had a
little issue and wasn't available at that time. And Frankie
is the long field goal guy. He's drilled him in practice.
He hadn't missed one in practice. Now he's only kicked.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
About four or five. Because we'll practice.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
You know, a long field goal fifty six fifty eight yards.
This one was fifty two but into the wind and
he hit the crossbar.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
So that's where that's at.
Speaker 7 (13:26):
You mentioned how you can't imagine anybody was really pleased
from this win when you had that talk with your
team in the locker room.
Speaker 5 (13:32):
What was kind of the immediate after effect, kind of
the reaction they had when.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
When they understood I mean, look, we had him where
we wanted him. We just had to put the fork
in him and we didn't. So I don't wait around
for their reaction. I'm the critiquer.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
You've been high on the Maori for a while.
Speaker 8 (13:56):
Where have you just kind of seen him, you know,
evolved the last year and a half and then and
you had him at rover for the first half last year.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Why did you move him back?
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Yeah, Well, first of all, that's a guy that has
not red shirted, so you know, he played as a
freshman and started the whole season as a true sophomore,
and we moved back to strong safety because he's a
really smart, instinctive player and there's a lot of communication
involved there, and.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
It gave us the ability to put our best five
on the field.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
So he's a really good football player that I think
the sky's a limit and you know he'll get out
what he puts in. Could he could be an outstanding
football player. I've seen him really mature and grow up.
Speaker 4 (14:43):
A couple of things.
Speaker 7 (14:44):
For your first quickly to injury updates, you mentioned McCarthy
got banged up, and also Bryson Bonds and Byron Baldwin.
Just where are all those guys at and if it
did anybody else come out of the game with anything.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Yeah, Bonds unfortunately has a knee injury and will miss
the rest of this season.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
Baldwin is more day to day and a little about it.
Speaker 7 (15:08):
In your opening statement about the crowd disregarding the second half,
what was your initial reaction to seeing the full crowd
and a parachuting Bison.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
Students were awesome.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
You know, they brought they bought extra tickets and you know,
they were loud.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
The place was rocking. We didn't see the Bison come in.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
I heard it was spectacular, big time and the crowd
was rocking, and we you know, we needed to give
more cheer.
Speaker 8 (15:32):
About turing the page to Kennesaw State, what are your
what are your early impressions of them, and what kind
of challenges can they give you on the offensive side
of the ball.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Well, you know, like I said at the beginning, at
the beginning, the offense can go really really fast at
warp speed. Uh, they'll change the Tempo's athletic quarterback that
spent some time here senior. They've got a lot of
older guys in general on their football team and starting
starting roles. Receiver number one is a really good player.
(16:04):
Running back is is really good player too. So uh,
you know they're going to use the field and uh,
the biggest biggest adjustment will be, uh, you know, when
they do go warp speed, getting the calls in, getting
lined up, that kind of thing, and keeping quarterback contained.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
And defensively, I'm impressed.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
I mean, they're fundamental, they're well coached, they're in the
right place, they run around.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Good, they tackle, they're tough.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
So guy's done, nice job there, All right, thank you, Thanks.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
So their sig zig Is was not happy with his
team and shouldn't be happy with his team. Uh, they won,
and they won comfortably, and and that's that's what I
keep coming back to. And I just want to talk
about the reasons why maybe you watch that game, and
we're like, oh uh oh, Indiana fans are not used
(17:05):
to winning, they're not used to having nice things and
things go well and any kind of consistency. Twenty twenty,
Indiana twenty hell. Twenty nineteen, Indiana is solid. Twenty twenty,
they're very good. Twenty twenty one, IU fell apart right
at the start of the season, and that was the
beginning of the end of Tom Allen. So now we
(17:27):
get to this last season, first year of Kurt Signetti.
It is the best season in IU history, and now
here it is. It's the first game of the year
against an opponent that everybody's expecting you to dominate, and honestly,
you do dominate them in every way, but on the scoreboard,
(17:50):
including a couple of glaring mistakes on defense that's going
to give anybody pause. I get it. Getting comfortable with
winning is difficult, you know. It's why I said over
and over and over and over again last year that
last year was as good as it would ever get
because there were no expectations, nothing to be disappointed about.
(18:12):
As you're rolling through the season, my god, this is
just amazing week in week out. So here it is.
You have expectations. Indiana's ranked to start the season. They
go out against ODU, they play very you know, very
good defensively, have a couple of busts, but you could
start to nitpick a little bit to where I want
(18:33):
to see the defensive line get a little bit more disruptive.
I want to make sure that we don't have big
busts a couple of times a game. I get all
of that. Hey, Fernando Mendoza wasn't quite as accurate as
he would like to be. Omar Cooper dropped a touchdown pass.
(18:54):
Indiana wasn't great in the red zone. They had to
finish people off and step on their neck. The important
thing about everything I just said is that those are
things that are fixable, folks. There's plenty of talent on
this team. You have to go out and you have
to put it on the field. And that's what Kurt
Signetty was just talking about right there is It was
(19:17):
about him being his team, being able to take what
they do and have a standard and bring it to
the field and bring it play after play after play
after play. Mistakes will get made along the way. Getting
into a rhythm, getting building some confidence is going to
be really important. And that's why this Kansas State game
(19:39):
is important after what in how the mistakes Indiana made,
because let's face it, everybody's gonna focus on the mistakes,
and that's fine. That's fine to focus on that. You're
gonna want to see an Indiana team come out with
just seeing blood from from from opening kickoff to where
(20:01):
we won last week. It was comfortable, but we want
to show people what we're made of against an opponent
that we should absolutely overwhelm. And that's what I'm looking
to see. You need an offense that is clicking right
from the start. You need a defense that is disruptive,
particularly the defensive line. Indiana is far and away a
(20:23):
better team than Kenesau State, and they should be. They
have to act like it. Part of taking that next
step as a program to where you are consistently in
the top twenty five, consistently successful is you have to
have the swagger that goes along with it. If I'm
better than the other team, we can't even let them
(20:44):
hang around. And that's what Indiana did with ODU last week,
was they let them hang around. Didn't pay a price
for it, but they let them hang around, avoiding that
is going to be really, really important for this football team.
You cannot allow on Kennesaw State to get any kind
of foothold. You have to overwhelm them right from the start,
(21:07):
and then next week against any asy you do it again.
And that's how it has to go and how you build,
and that's how you build the tradition. Want to put
mention something here too that Kurt Signetti as football coach
here at IU, his record to this point is twelve
(21:29):
and two. That's extraordinary success. Let alone. First, this isn't
over the past two years. It's just it's extraordinary success
to have to come into EU and put up those
kind of numbers. And the way sig is going about things,
with how he's talking to his players, how he's coaching them,
(21:53):
everything that he's pushing. Kurt Signetti has sustained success at
every stop that he has been at. This is what
he does. So I understand that Indiana fans are skittish.
I get it. An I'm an iu aluone, I get it.
I feel skittish to first played from scrimmage, all of
a sudden, somebody's sprinting seventy five yards for a touchdown.
(22:15):
Your first your first thought has to be here we
go again. It's natural. We're a skiittish bunch. We've had
nice things before and had them taken from us. So
you need the energy at Memorial Stadium to be high
for Kennisau State going to be a gorgeous day from
(22:36):
what the forecast is showing. I want to see Indiana
dominate from the opening kickoff and just limit your mistakes.
Limit your mistakes played to your potential week over week
over week, especially against an opponent like Kanisas State, where
you don't have to play a perfect game to win,
but you damn well better do everything you can to
(22:58):
make it cleaner than you did last week. Otherwise your
head coach ain't going to be real happy with you.
Wanting to make an extra note here, the Peaks postgame
Live will happen just outside of the IU Tennis Center
on the north side of Assembly Hall. That is where
we are going to be. In previous years, parking was
(23:21):
over in Gate eleven. That's why I was saying that
it was going to be by the practice field. It's not.
It's going to be by the Tennis Center, and we'll
have a canopy. We got a flag, we have a speaker.
Going to be a great day. Stop by the tailgate
after the game, talk some MYU football microphone will be
available for people to stop by. Want to see you,
(23:44):
want to hear from you. Really looking forward to it.
Really excited noon kickoff, So we'll be out there probably
right about three point thirty four o'clock, going live on
YouTube as well. Be sure to get the link on Twitter,
peaks dot com. It's on the YouTube channel for Peaks,
(24:04):
so subscribe to that, get your alerts and all that
kind of stuff. Really looking forward to it. Had a
great show last week, looking forward to another great show
this week, and looking forward to Indiana hammering Kansas State
this Saturday. What's all the time we have on the
Peaks podcast this week? I want to thank you for listening,
and I want to remind you of visit peaks dot
com for the very best and a you football and
(24:25):
basketball coverage you're gonna find anywhere. Nobody covers who's you're
recruiting better than Jeff rab John's, Matt Weaver, Trevor Anderschach,
and Jared Kelly. So come be a part of a
thriving and exciting community at peaks dot com. Folks, you
are not going to be disappointed. Folks are out of time,
but for now and for Jeff, Matt, Trevor and Jared,
I'm ken Bikoff saying thanks for listening. Everybody,
Hi, you doing, everybody. I'm Ken Bikoff and welcome to
the Peaks Podcast. Indiana one to zero on the season.
Following last week's victory over Old Dominions, this week's opponent
Kansas State. So it's a step down from Old Dominion.
Might ask yourself, why in the hell is Indiana playing
Kansas State in football? Mighty mighty owls Pam Witten's old school,
(00:36):
isn't it? So what we got here is I you
president Pam Witten used to be president over at Kansas State.
She became president IU. Let's go ahead and get kanessas
State on the football schedule. Kannesaw State gets a payout
from it. Now. I'm not accusing anybody of anything untoward
(00:56):
it at all. I really am not. That's just kind
of how it works. But that's the reason behind why
Kansas State is on the old schedule. So what are
we looking at. Let's look back first off at last week.
We've had several days to digest what we saw with
the Monarchs on Indiana's win. Obviously, I think most people
(01:21):
walked away from that game not feeling good about it.
And the biggest reason why is you expected IU to
dominate more than they did. I you let a lot
of opportunities, easy opportunities kind of slip away. That is
a reflex of years of struggles for IU football, because
(01:45):
there's a lot of teams that lost in the first
week or really played poorly and lost Indiana. Their defense
played well for the most part, say for a couple
of busts. Did not allow Old Dominion to run a
play in Indiana territory the entire day save for two
long touchdown runs by a quarterback. Doesn't make it okay,
(02:11):
but those are the only two plays really where Indiana struggled.
Everything else they were fantastic offensively, struggles in the red zone,
guys not doing what they were supposed to do, Indiana
honestly looking rusty. That was all part of it. So
the beautiful thing about a game like Old Dominion is
(02:34):
you win, and you win comfortably. It could have been
a blowout, a true blowout win had Indiana done a
couple of things different, still a w but you do
have to clean those things up. If you go into
the first game of the season and you dominate, sometimes
players could let their guard down a little bit. That
(02:55):
isn't going to be the case with this and you'll
hear Kurt Signetti in just a few minutes. But a
game like what Indiana had last Saturday, gorgeous day, gorgeous atmosphere,
comfortable win, and so much left on the field means
that nobody's head got big, nobody's over confident, everybody's focused
(03:17):
on what it is that they have to do next,
and if they're not, they're not going to be seeing
playing time. It's that simple. So I'll let you go
ahead and hear Kurt Signetti here for a few minutes,
because he was exactly as expected during his weekly press
conference and what you want to hear from him at
(03:37):
that and just kind of that attitude. So, without any
further ado, here is head coach Kurt Signetti during his
meeting with the media last Monday in the team room
at Memorial Stadium.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
All right, yep, well tell a little bit like Groundhog Day,
to be honest with you, Like FIU dominate the game,
not reflective in the scoreboard, not happy with the way
the offense played in the second half, FIU and in
the red area in this game, and the fans left
at halftime. It all felt like Groundholm Day to me.
(04:13):
Never going to apologize for a win. They're too hard
to get. Same team that should have beat South Carolina
last year in the opener, really dominated the game, not
reflected in the score. I mean we probably left thirty
five points out there on offense, with six possessions inside
(04:36):
the ten, primarily the goal line offense at five in
dropped a touchdown pass over, threw a touchdown pass, fumbled
going in, and had the game in total control.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
It was just matter what the score.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Would be, and you know, really expected a forty five
fifty two to seven type game at that point.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
We didn't do it on offense.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
I mean won the time of possession forty one and
a half to eighteen and a half, first down thirty
to ten, had three hundred and ten yards rushing, won
the turnover battle three to one.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
End of the half.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Beginning of the third one fourteen to nothing. Good on
third down returned for touchdown. Two bad plays on defense.
First play the game was thirty read.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
For our linebacker.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
It was a outside zone reading we're not going to
block the weak side defensive tackle. The guard blocked them,
which meant it looked like outside zone.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
Then came off late and quarterbeck.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
So the linebacker went Quebec pulled the baller as nobody left.
But the last third down and one should never have
that's just an egregious mister signmon by the field in
who's got the quarterback and took the dive. So got
to make the plays on offense.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Got to get better, period, all the way around. Got
to get better and we should get much better this
week now.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Team we're gonna play Kennesaw State lost by one point
to Power four opponent last week, brand new coach, High
tempo offense. They can go at warp speed and they
can slow it down defense. Guys run around good held
wake force nine points. I mean they missed the next
(06:30):
point in the field goal. Lost ten to nine. So
we gotta be ready to go. They beat Liberty last
year when Liberty was undefeated. Their first team beat Liberty
the old staff, So.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Looking for improvement.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
Questions, Kurt, you talk about just sort of like you
compared a little bit to Florida International last year. Maybe
this is almost a philosophical question, not just specific ODU,
but as a coach, how do you approach sort of
digesting with your team a game where you know maybe
the underlying numbers, say the score should have been different.
(07:11):
But you can point to some good things in the performances.
You can also some point point to some some learning experiences,
some things that need to improve, especially in week one
when you know things are gonna.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Be like a team in the locker room that wins
are hard. Uh, enjoy it, but not please with the
way we play.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Uh with you guys, I put the game in perspective
with the team. The focus will be on what we
put on tape and what we got to do to improve.
So not pleased. I can't imagine anybody on the team
is pleased. Uh, And we got to get better.
Speaker 5 (07:49):
Well, yeah, with the you mentioned some of the red
zone struggles, and Fernando talked about kind of a couple
of throesy miss But when you watch the tape, what
were your kind of biggest takeaways?
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Maybe especially in the run game when you know you got.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
To you know first, when you get down there, you
got first and one at the one they jumped into
a different front than they had shown.
Speaker 3 (08:05):
The previous year. But still you gotta be able to
gain a yard, you know.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Uh, you know we had a running back take the
wrong footwork and the wrong course one time we had
a you know, a missed assignment up front one time,
and then up two poor blocks, and then on the
fourth down pass, uh didn't make the right read, you know,
and then got down there again and had two more
missed assignments in the run game, had to settle for
a field goal, and we scored two touchdowns. Then we're
(08:33):
really running the ball really well. We're up twenty seven
to seven, and I mean they look they were running
the clock in the second quarter. End of the second quarter,
they're milking the clock. I mean they were tired, they
were gassed on defense. And uh, you know, we threw
a pass on second and six and it was incomplete
pushing the third and six. Didn't make a great call
(08:55):
on third and six, and then the last series, you know,
I thought that was passing it for it's on serat
they didn't call it. Sometimes the officials, you know, feel
like the game's over.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
I just want to get home.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Uh you got to call still got to calm, you know,
So drop a touchdown pass overthrow a touchdown pass wide.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Open and fumble going in. So I mean, really you
could build a case that there's fifty five points minimum.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
I guess the difference between FIU and that game was
we were much more consistent, uh for ninety yards or
ninety three yards than.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
We were last year.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
We just last year we led the country in red
area touchdown percentage. So but we got to get better.
It doesn't matter what you did in the past. Got
to get better now.
Speaker 6 (09:45):
So that's that, Yeah, right, exactly, go back and watch
would you like most about what Fernando did on Saturday?
And then I know you can't talk about the processing,
but anything else you noticed that maybe you.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
Know he needs to work, Yeah, did some good things,
left some things out there. You know, the emphasis with
him has been on his processing and decision making. And
you know you grade the quarterback based on his decision making,
uh and accuracy. You know, is he going through the
right reads, throwing the ball the right guy in accurately?
(10:19):
So he's made progress since he's been here, but you
know he's still got to get better.
Speaker 6 (10:26):
Coach, you talked about the fact that you guys aren't
happy with how you played it. Why don't you Why
don't you think that you guys played to your standard?
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Missed assignments, missed assignments and guy's not doing their job
and every you know, every once in a while they
line up in a different defense than you thought they would.
So got to make the place.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Coach with Drew Evans, you know him coming back, how
would you assess the way he played solid.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
You know, he's gonna give you a great effort, he's
gonna finish, give you everything. These guy he's a really
smart player, and uh, you know having him.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
Back is a real plus. I thought our.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Offensive line and tight ends did a nice job by
running backs. Our receivers most of the day blocked well.
It was a game where you know they were called
on to block safeties and and really overall, I thought
we did a great job. Penalty wise, I think we
had three. Uh the one calling the interception was not
a good call on our number twelve, Uh boakeing Uh,
(11:33):
and so we had a false start and uh then
we got a running into the punter, which you know,
Isaiah Jones says he got his hand on the ball.
So from that stand, you know, turnover ratio penalties two
things you talk a lot about in an opener. We
did a great job and all of our special teams
(11:53):
goals we accomplished. I mean, this game really came down
to what happened inside the six yard line and two
plays on defense, I mean, other than two plays on
defense you hold him one hundred and sixty yards. But
it's look, it's a win. It's a you know, it's
a two score win. But we left a lot out there,
(12:17):
and it's good that we've gotten to the point where
people's expectations are such that they're not happy with just wins.
But at the end of the day, they all kind
of won win.
Speaker 5 (12:29):
A coach which with special teams, you had the big
punt return up punt, it was blocked, it looked like
on TV. But Brendan Frankie is the long field goal guy.
And then Quinn Warren stepped in a big spot and
hit one inside the three. Can you just talk about
where you're gonna use Frankie and with a punting situation.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
Yeah, you know, we feel like Quinn is a really
good prospect. And Quinn stepped in called punter had a
little issue and wasn't available at that time. And Frankie
is the long field goal guy. He's drilled him in practice.
He hadn't missed one in practice. Now he's only kicked.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
About four or five. Because we'll practice.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
You know, a long field goal fifty six fifty eight yards.
This one was fifty two but into the wind and
he hit the crossbar.
Speaker 3 (13:21):
So that's where that's at.
Speaker 7 (13:26):
You mentioned how you can't imagine anybody was really pleased
from this win when you had that talk with your
team in the locker room.
Speaker 5 (13:32):
What was kind of the immediate after effect, kind of
the reaction they had when.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
When they understood I mean, look, we had him where
we wanted him. We just had to put the fork
in him and we didn't. So I don't wait around
for their reaction. I'm the critiquer.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
You've been high on the Maori for a while.
Speaker 8 (13:56):
Where have you just kind of seen him, you know,
evolved the last year and a half and then and
you had him at rover for the first half last year.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Why did you move him back?
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Yeah, Well, first of all, that's a guy that has
not red shirted, so you know, he played as a
freshman and started the whole season as a true sophomore,
and we moved back to strong safety because he's a
really smart, instinctive player and there's a lot of communication
involved there, and.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
It gave us the ability to put our best five
on the field.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
So he's a really good football player that I think
the sky's a limit and you know he'll get out
what he puts in. Could he could be an outstanding
football player. I've seen him really mature and grow up.
Speaker 4 (14:43):
A couple of things.
Speaker 7 (14:44):
For your first quickly to injury updates, you mentioned McCarthy
got banged up, and also Bryson Bonds and Byron Baldwin.
Just where are all those guys at and if it
did anybody else come out of the game with anything.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Yeah, Bonds unfortunately has a knee injury and will miss
the rest of this season.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
Baldwin is more day to day and a little about it.
Speaker 7 (15:08):
In your opening statement about the crowd disregarding the second half,
what was your initial reaction to seeing the full crowd
and a parachuting Bison.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
Students were awesome.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
You know, they brought they bought extra tickets and you know,
they were loud.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
The place was rocking. We didn't see the Bison come in.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
I heard it was spectacular, big time and the crowd
was rocking, and we you know, we needed to give
more cheer.
Speaker 8 (15:32):
About turing the page to Kennesaw State, what are your
what are your early impressions of them, and what kind
of challenges can they give you on the offensive side
of the ball.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Well, you know, like I said at the beginning, at
the beginning, the offense can go really really fast at
warp speed. Uh, they'll change the Tempo's athletic quarterback that
spent some time here senior. They've got a lot of
older guys in general on their football team and starting
starting roles. Receiver number one is a really good player.
(16:04):
Running back is is really good player too. So uh,
you know they're going to use the field and uh,
the biggest biggest adjustment will be, uh, you know, when
they do go warp speed, getting the calls in, getting
lined up, that kind of thing, and keeping quarterback contained.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
And defensively, I'm impressed.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
I mean, they're fundamental, they're well coached, they're in the
right place, they run around.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Good, they tackle, they're tough.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
So guy's done, nice job there, All right, thank you, Thanks.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
So their sig zig Is was not happy with his
team and shouldn't be happy with his team. Uh, they won,
and they won comfortably, and and that's that's what I
keep coming back to. And I just want to talk
about the reasons why maybe you watch that game, and
we're like, oh uh oh, Indiana fans are not used
(17:05):
to winning, they're not used to having nice things and
things go well and any kind of consistency. Twenty twenty,
Indiana twenty hell. Twenty nineteen, Indiana is solid. Twenty twenty,
they're very good. Twenty twenty one, IU fell apart right
at the start of the season, and that was the
beginning of the end of Tom Allen. So now we
(17:27):
get to this last season, first year of Kurt Signetti.
It is the best season in IU history, and now
here it is. It's the first game of the year
against an opponent that everybody's expecting you to dominate, and honestly,
you do dominate them in every way, but on the scoreboard,
(17:50):
including a couple of glaring mistakes on defense that's going
to give anybody pause. I get it. Getting comfortable with
winning is difficult, you know. It's why I said over
and over and over and over again last year that
last year was as good as it would ever get
because there were no expectations, nothing to be disappointed about.
(18:12):
As you're rolling through the season, my god, this is
just amazing week in week out. So here it is.
You have expectations. Indiana's ranked to start the season. They
go out against ODU, they play very you know, very
good defensively, have a couple of busts, but you could
start to nitpick a little bit to where I want
(18:33):
to see the defensive line get a little bit more disruptive.
I want to make sure that we don't have big
busts a couple of times a game. I get all
of that. Hey, Fernando Mendoza wasn't quite as accurate as
he would like to be. Omar Cooper dropped a touchdown pass.
(18:54):
Indiana wasn't great in the red zone. They had to
finish people off and step on their neck. The important
thing about everything I just said is that those are
things that are fixable, folks. There's plenty of talent on
this team. You have to go out and you have
to put it on the field. And that's what Kurt
Signetty was just talking about right there is It was
(19:17):
about him being his team, being able to take what
they do and have a standard and bring it to
the field and bring it play after play after play
after play. Mistakes will get made along the way. Getting
into a rhythm, getting building some confidence is going to
be really important. And that's why this Kansas State game
(19:39):
is important after what in how the mistakes Indiana made,
because let's face it, everybody's gonna focus on the mistakes,
and that's fine. That's fine to focus on that. You're
gonna want to see an Indiana team come out with
just seeing blood from from from opening kickoff to where
(20:01):
we won last week. It was comfortable, but we want
to show people what we're made of against an opponent
that we should absolutely overwhelm. And that's what I'm looking
to see. You need an offense that is clicking right
from the start. You need a defense that is disruptive,
particularly the defensive line. Indiana is far and away a
(20:23):
better team than Kenesau State, and they should be. They
have to act like it. Part of taking that next
step as a program to where you are consistently in
the top twenty five, consistently successful is you have to
have the swagger that goes along with it. If I'm
better than the other team, we can't even let them
(20:44):
hang around. And that's what Indiana did with ODU last week,
was they let them hang around. Didn't pay a price
for it, but they let them hang around, avoiding that
is going to be really, really important for this football team.
You cannot allow on Kennesaw State to get any kind
of foothold. You have to overwhelm them right from the start,
(21:07):
and then next week against any asy you do it again.
And that's how it has to go and how you build,
and that's how you build the tradition. Want to put
mention something here too that Kurt Signetti as football coach
here at IU, his record to this point is twelve
(21:29):
and two. That's extraordinary success. Let alone. First, this isn't
over the past two years. It's just it's extraordinary success
to have to come into EU and put up those
kind of numbers. And the way sig is going about things,
with how he's talking to his players, how he's coaching them,
(21:53):
everything that he's pushing. Kurt Signetti has sustained success at
every stop that he has been at. This is what
he does. So I understand that Indiana fans are skittish.
I get it. An I'm an iu aluone, I get it.
I feel skittish to first played from scrimmage, all of
a sudden, somebody's sprinting seventy five yards for a touchdown.
(22:15):
Your first your first thought has to be here we
go again. It's natural. We're a skiittish bunch. We've had
nice things before and had them taken from us. So
you need the energy at Memorial Stadium to be high
for Kennisau State going to be a gorgeous day from
(22:36):
what the forecast is showing. I want to see Indiana
dominate from the opening kickoff and just limit your mistakes.
Limit your mistakes played to your potential week over week
over week, especially against an opponent like Kanisas State, where
you don't have to play a perfect game to win,
but you damn well better do everything you can to
(22:58):
make it cleaner than you did last week. Otherwise your
head coach ain't going to be real happy with you.
Wanting to make an extra note here, the Peaks postgame
Live will happen just outside of the IU Tennis Center
on the north side of Assembly Hall. That is where
we are going to be. In previous years, parking was
(23:21):
over in Gate eleven. That's why I was saying that
it was going to be by the practice field. It's not.
It's going to be by the Tennis Center, and we'll
have a canopy. We got a flag, we have a speaker.
Going to be a great day. Stop by the tailgate
after the game, talk some MYU football microphone will be
available for people to stop by. Want to see you,
(23:44):
want to hear from you. Really looking forward to it.
Really excited noon kickoff, So we'll be out there probably
right about three point thirty four o'clock, going live on
YouTube as well. Be sure to get the link on Twitter,
peaks dot com. It's on the YouTube channel for Peaks,
(24:04):
so subscribe to that, get your alerts and all that
kind of stuff. Really looking forward to it. Had a
great show last week, looking forward to another great show
this week, and looking forward to Indiana hammering Kansas State
this Saturday. What's all the time we have on the
Peaks podcast this week? I want to thank you for listening,
and I want to remind you of visit peaks dot
com for the very best and a you football and
(24:25):
basketball coverage you're gonna find anywhere. Nobody covers who's you're
recruiting better than Jeff rab John's, Matt Weaver, Trevor Anderschach,
and Jared Kelly. So come be a part of a
thriving and exciting community at peaks dot com. Folks, you
are not going to be disappointed. Folks are out of time,
but for now and for Jeff, Matt, Trevor and Jared,
I'm ken Bikoff saying thanks for listening. Everybody,
Popular Podcasts
NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal
Gregg Rosenthal and a rotating crew of elite NFL Media co-hosts, including Patrick Claybon, Colleen Wolfe, Steve Wyche, Nick Shook and Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic get you caught up daily on all the NFL news and analysis you need to be smarter and funnier than your friends.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com