Peegs Postgame LIVE: Iowa -- Sept. 27, 2025

The Hoosiers weren't great, but they turned in a gritty performance in a 20-15 win over Iowa at Kinnick Stadium. We took your calls and hear from head coach Curt Cignetti about Indiana's victory.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
Hi, you doing, everybody. I'm Ken Bikoff and welcome to
the Pigs postgame Live. Indiana wo ooh doctor twenty to
fifteen winners at Iowa in a game that Indiana did
not play its best game. In fact, I will go
so far as to say that that was maybe the

(00:30):
worst game that I've seen of the Kurt Signetti era
in terms of coaching staff, in terms of just everything
that goes along with what was going on. But Indiana
got the win. They made the plays when they needed to.
Indiana's defense was good for the most part on all day.
I can't say enough about the gritty job that the

(00:54):
Hoosiers did today. Just the second time and the first
time I'm in IU history that the Hoosiers have opened
a season five and zero on back to back seasons.
Coming off of that win over Illinois, it was absolutely
huge that Indiana could come out and get the win.

(01:16):
It wasn't pretty. I really felt that Indiana's offense really
really struggled in a big way. I got a lot
of questions about the decisions that were made in terms
of run versus pass ratio because that seemed a little
bit crazy to me. But the result is a W,
and I say all the time, it isn't how, it's
how many, and the Hoosiers pick up the W they

(01:37):
find a way to do it. Twenty to fifteen, so
much to go over in this game. Eight one, two, three,
nine three, twenty six hundred is the number. Indiana picking
up just its fourth win at Iowa since the nineteen
eighty season, so that's forty five years. Indiana has won

(01:57):
in Iowa just four times, first time since two and seven.
And you might remember that game, the two thousand and
seven game that included Kellen Lewis scoring a touchdown on
a long touchdown run. Josiah Sears fumbled and the Hoosiers
and Lewis picked up the fumble, ran the distance, got
flipped into the end zone and had the score. And

(02:20):
that's that's how was the highlight of that game. This one,
it's obviously going to be Elijah Sarrat and the forty
nine yard touchdown reception with just a minute twenty eight
left in the game. Sarat had a nice game, had
a really nice game. Six catches, one hundred and thirty

(02:41):
two yards and that touchdown. Fernando Mendoza finishes thirteen of
twenty three for two hundred and thirty three yards and
two touchdowns. He had his first interception, It was a
real bad one at that got clocked in the face
as they went and Indiana overcame all of that, made

(03:03):
plays when they needed to, got a couple of key interceptions,
bounced back even though they fell behind. But this was
a gritty, gritty win for this ball club. Eight one, two, three, nine, three,
twenty six hundred is the number of the lines are open.
I want to hear from you here on this Saturday night.

(03:24):
Just a massive win, Just a massive win Indiana three
hundred and thirty seven yards of total offense, two thirty
three through the air, one hundred and four on the ground.
That includes, though the forty yard loss on the final
play of the game, which was a safety, which was
exactly the right move for Indiana to do. We'll hear

(03:47):
from Kurtzignetti. I don't doubt here in just a little bit.
But it was a outing that I ain't gonna lie
to you, folks. I thought Indiana was in a lot
of trouble through most of that second half. Iowa was
sticking around, and I know Iowa likes to make it dirty,
but that was something I was really really concerned about
as the day went on, and I just felt that

(04:11):
it looked like they were going to be able to
Iowa was going to come out with the win on
the winning on the road's tough. It was ugly. Indiana
got it. We got our first callar color practicy, name
where you're from and what you got?

Speaker 2 (04:24):
Hey, this is Ryan from Blooington Ken. How you doing.

Speaker 1 (04:26):
I'm doing great, Ryan. How are you doing?

Speaker 2 (04:30):
I'm all right, man. Heart was racing there for a
long time. You know, I don't think I could say
I was fully calm until really when there were zeros
on the clock. There a lot of confusion with the
refs and that victory formation stuff. But you know, like
you said, super goody win. I think this has got

(04:51):
to be considered signety's best road win, not necessarily for
style points, but hey, at the end of the day,
like you were saying, they pulled it out and a wins.
But I had a question for you, Like I was
saying there with those rests, just thought they didn't have
a great control of the game, and there's a lot
of confusion there, not only not only at the end,

(05:12):
but there's also that scuffle there, right, and just your
thoughts on that.

Speaker 1 (05:18):
Well, I mean, I'm not quiet about how I don't
think the Big ten officials do a very good job.
And let's start with the scuffle at the end of
the third quarter. You had a flag on the play
and it was an offside and then the officials, after
huddling for a long time, decide they're only going to
call this offside penalty, and then he announces it wrong

(05:39):
by saying that it's offside. On the defense, it'll be
fourth down, but it was third down. If the penalty
was accepted, it had to be third down. But he
missed the word of declined. So that was a problem
in and of itself. The scuffle and all of that
that was I I was happy they didn't throw any
flags there because nobody got out of hand with that

(06:00):
wasn't a late hit. I wasn't worried about that, so
at least cooler heads prevailed with that. But when they
explained the off side, that didn't make any sense. The
officials missed several holding calls. I felt on Iowa they
missed a targeting call on a play as well. They
just I believe it was Cooper I think got popped

(06:20):
and the kid lowered his head, hit him with the
crown on the head, right in the face. No call
with that, and then the end of the game that
to me, they were blowing the whistle without Mendoza taking
a knee. You can't anticipate that. And I don't want
to hear about well he gave himself up or anything
like that until he hits the ground. He could pull

(06:41):
up and throw the ball. He could go ahead and run.
So whatever they want to argue on that one, I
think is garbage because the Indiana was doing exactly what
they were supposed to do and the officials were essentially
giving Iowa some extra time. So I'm going to need
a huge explanation on that because what I saw, uh,

(07:01):
there was not. It was the officials whistling with anticipation
instead of calling what they saw.

Speaker 2 (07:09):
Couldn't agree more, man, I mean even Signetti said as
he was walking off the field on on the uh
on Peacock, he was saying, hey, I need some clarity
on what was going on there too. So but I
always appreciate the show. Ken, have a good night, man.

Speaker 1 (07:23):
I appreciate it. Thanks for the call. Ryan eight one
two three nine three, twenty six hundred is the number.
Uh we have. Just it's the officiating. When you're talking
about that kind of thing, people are going to miss calls.
And that's fine. Uh And this game, if it had
been won or loss, wouldn't have been one or lost

(07:46):
on officiating. But when you have things like that where yes,
you know they're going to take a knee, but you
have to wait until they actually take the knee. I
don't understand uh uh that sequence. It just didn't make
sense to me at all. On the chat, Troyka says
for that sideline hit, I know Mendoza was going for

(08:06):
that first down, but he's got to be aware he's
a target when he's until he's actually out of bounds. Yeah,
that's a tough one because you want to be a
football player. You want to pick up that extra yard.
But he got popped and he ran into an equipment box.
And I know that the walls at Kinnick Stadium are
really close to really really close to the sideline wall,

(08:31):
so it's tight over there. JM says. On the radio call,
Buck said that Mendoza can only take one step back,
not multiple steps. Said this was changed a few seasons ago. Well,
that's fine, but who's to say that they're going to
take a knee there. I believe buck Buck knows his stuff.

(08:53):
But if you have a situation like that, you could
have a guy pick it up and run. It's a
regular play. So I think that that one is kind
of an odd thing, an odd thing, and I was
very happy to see that they went ahead and on
the final play, ran the forty yards backwards, got to

(09:16):
the end zone, took the safety. Was absolutely the correct
call in that situation because you didn't want to punt
it to Iowa's kick returner, who has been awfully good
this year. Eight one, two, three, nine three, twenty six
hundred is the number want to hear from you. Mendoza

(09:41):
thirteen to twenty three, two thirty three, two touchdowns in
an interception. I think part of the thing with him
today was his decision making wasn't great. He got the
w we can't discount that at all, but I thought
his decision making wasn't always great some on some read

(10:01):
option plays that he had. Signetti said in the post
game that a lot of those short yardage on fourth
down were called from the sideline. I am baffled, just
baffled at the fact that Indiana on the day ran
the ball thirty nine times thirty nine times in this one,

(10:25):
and that's a lot against an Iowa team that is
pretty damn good at stopping the run, and that decision
right there to run the ball as much as they did,
especially because the offensive line wasn't exactly killing it when

(10:46):
it came to just blowing open holes. E were out right,
but it just it was not something that I just
don't understand how it is that they ran the ball
or why that decision was made to run the ball
as much as they did. I'm trying real quick to

(11:10):
figure out what exactly their ranking was against the run
in the Big Ten. So as I'm talking, I'm pulling
up stats and I can't find it. That's okay, hey,
win two, three, nine three, twenty six hundred is the

(11:30):
number Indiana thirty nine rushes for basically one hundred and
forty four yards or is it thirty eight carries for
one hundred and forty four yards lost forty yards on
the team thing. Travis on Twitter says worst bad beat
I've ever had in gambling had IU minus six and
a half. Very strange by the officials and in fact, Mendoz,

(11:50):
according to Zach Osterman from the Indianapolis Star, says, I
know I shouldn't be saying this, but I probably cooked
people's spreads, and I apologize for that. But my jab
job is to win the game. I understand that completely.
On that lines are wide open. Join us. I hope
that here on the Saturday night, we can celebrate this

(12:13):
victory as I want to hear from you, because this
was an IU team that showed me a lot today.
It showed me a lot again. I was very concerned,
but this defense did a great job picked up the
slack for the offense. Then the Hoosiers made the plays
down the stretch that they needed to to win. Obviously

(12:33):
got a boost from the Iowa kicker going wide left
on his shot, but sometimes you need that and then
you have to capitalize on it. We have another color color.
Have your name, where you're from and what you got?

Speaker 3 (12:47):
Hey, Ken, this is t Bone Todd Plumber Browns down, Indiana.

Speaker 4 (12:50):
How you doing.

Speaker 1 (12:51):
I'm doing good? T Bone? What's up?

Speaker 3 (12:53):
Hey, buddy? You know I watching that game. It was
the rough one to watch, but a win to win,
I tell you if anything, that I will back up
quarterback that poor kid. You know, he had that incomplete
on third down to give you the ball back with
what like two minutes left, and then Iowa fans had
to have zero confidence heading into that last drive with

(13:13):
that kid. I mean, he you know, God love him.
He looked bad though, he almost looked as bad as
my neighbor's lawn. But anyway, that ending, the ending there
is weird. You know, it's unusual for him to take
a safety, but it seals the w and I'm not
quite sure.

Speaker 4 (13:33):
What the change in rules have been. So the question for.

Speaker 3 (13:36):
You is how does Mendoza's performance today impact the discussion
about him as a leader for the Heisman.

Speaker 1 (13:44):
I'll say that the fact that he was able to
come back and lead him to the win I think
makes a difference with that. I also say that discussion
about who's the leader in the Heisman race on September
twenty seventh is kind of not silly. But there's a
lot of football left to be played. I mean, we're

(14:04):
talking two thirds of the season left, so you know
he's still going to be in the discussion with that.
And but he did not have a good day there's
no question, and if we get to the end of
the season, people are going to be able to point
to this game as being something that he really struggled with.
But the thirteen to twenty three he still threw the

(14:25):
winning touchdown pass when his team needed it the most.
And to me, he did show a ton of toughness
today against an Iowa defense that really, uh, you know,
was putting the pop on him. They were hard, and
they were blitzing the hell out of him, and he
didn't always see that blitz And that's a little bit
of Eyebarrow razor for me, because you guarantee other teams

(14:47):
saw that as well.

Speaker 3 (14:49):
Well, you know, he took a lot of hits, and
he's been prone to taking some hits this season so
far too. And hey, I'm thankful that it was I
was backup quarterback that had to go.

Speaker 5 (14:59):
In, not ours.

Speaker 3 (15:00):
But I'm gonna let myself enjoy watching Oregon versus ten
State tonight. But this offense can't struggle on the road
like that if it wants to seriously contend for the CSP.
I know, like you said, it's just September, but it's
hard to not let yourself think about later on down
the road. Gritty defense though, I'll give the team that
gritty defense. I've really enjoyed watching Isaiah bones Jones. What

(15:25):
a game that kid had tonight. End of the day,
Indiana's five and zero, can't beat that. Heading into the by,
everybody looked like they stayed healthy.

Speaker 1 (15:35):
Absolutely, I appreciate the call, T Bone, Thank you so much.
Thanks can Eight one two, three, nine three, twenty six
hundred is the number he was mentioning. You know that
I use offense on the road, has to get going.
It was just it was an odd game. It was
an odd game because there were so many runs even

(15:55):
though Iowa was stacking the box, and they weren't dropping
out of those blitzes very often either, And so I mean,
with all of that, I think that that was an
odd thing. I'm looking forward to Monday when we talk
a little bit with the coaching staff about that that
run to pass ratio. It worked out you can't be
one dimensional, but normally they tried to be a little

(16:17):
bit more balanced, and it was thirty nine carries versus
twenty three passes. Eight one two, three, nine three, twenty
six hundred is the number.

Speaker 4 (16:25):
We got.

Speaker 1 (16:25):
Another caller caller if I could have your name, where
you're from and what you got?

Speaker 4 (16:31):
H Hey, Ken, It's Rob Thompson. How you doing, man?
I'm from Greenwood.

Speaker 1 (16:34):
Hey, how you doing? Rob?

Speaker 4 (16:36):
Hey?

Speaker 6 (16:36):
Man?

Speaker 5 (16:37):
Hey?

Speaker 4 (16:37):
I called last week? So this is going to be
our new tradition. I asked you last week after that drumming,
what what do you think the ceiling is for this team?
Like that was a tough road when wasn't pretty, right,
was not pretty? But what has it changed from last
week to this week? I'm just curious.

Speaker 1 (16:58):
Well, I know, I don't if anything. I think this
is a great lesson learned by the Hoosiers to go
on the road and be able to battle through an
ugly game where they've been rolling and improving week after
week after week, and in this one they didn't improve,
but they still managed to grid out the win. I
think being able to win a game like this is
really really important for this team as they continue to

(17:20):
go through the tough Big Ten schedule. Going to Iowa,
beating an Iowa team that you know isn't ranked, but
it's still you're You're winning on the road at Iowa.
It's not something that a lot of teams do and
so that that to me is something that it's a
great lesson learned for this team.

Speaker 4 (17:39):
Yeah, but still, I mean I think Iowa dictated right
the line of scrimmage most of the game, right, But
to be able to still do that, I mean, and
I guess still and not I mean been a fan
for years, right, but I you doesn't go in and
win these games?

Speaker 1 (17:54):
Yep.

Speaker 4 (17:54):
And it's just amazing what is happening with IU and
every week belief comes more and more. In my opinion, right,
it sounds like you, what do you think they're going
to do against Oregon? Do you think you're gonna be
able to go in and do this?

Speaker 1 (18:07):
I don't know, you know, and I'm right where you are.

Speaker 4 (18:11):
I think that I you know you that's that's a
bad place to be. Can you never want to be
in the same place. I'm ass you.

Speaker 1 (18:18):
Keep waiting for it to fall apart and not you.
I mean, I you fans no.

Speaker 4 (18:24):
No, me yeah, me no, me me me yes yeah no.
But I know what you're saying, yeah, because that's that's
just built into our bodies, right, I mean, it's football.

Speaker 1 (18:33):
We haven't been doing this long enough and being successful
long enough to where it's surprising that, oh my god,
Iowa was the one that missed the uh the field
goal and open the door for Indiana. Yeah, it's surprising.
So when you're talking about going to Oregon, I like
the fact that they have two weeks to prepare. I
think that's an important part. Everybody is healthy and for

(18:56):
the most part, obviously le Bb Junior is out for
the season. But I think that, you know, beating Oregon
is going to be a tough task, and Oregon also
learned a lot of lessons from watching Iowa. But Oregon's
defense and Iowa's defense, they play a different style. So
you know, I don't expect them to win as we

(19:18):
sit here two weeks from the game, but you know,
I at this point, you need to start winning some
of those level games, and that's where Indiana has come
up short, just against Ohio State and Notre Dame last year.
You gotta believe, you gotta believe in Sig a little
bit on this thing, because it just the sixteen and
two is sixteen and two.

Speaker 5 (19:39):
No.

Speaker 4 (19:40):
I wish I could cuss, because I would, but I won't. Hey,
and I will tell you that we're on.

Speaker 1 (19:44):
YouTube there nobody's getting fine tonight, baby.

Speaker 4 (19:48):
Big baddest shit, isn't he? Like? You have to believe
in what Sig is doing, don't you? I mean, it's
just unbelievable. Yeah, I will tell you this. He made
a great yeah. Hell yeah, Hey, you made a great point. Right.
We don't know like this has never happened. You know
what else has never happened. I've never called into a
show two weeks in a row, Ken today I did.
Thank you, brother, I appreciate you. Hey, this is going

(20:09):
to be a tradition. I'm calling next or two weeks
from now to see what the ceiling is. All Right,
this is Rob from Greenwood.

Speaker 1 (20:15):
All right, roight Man, thank you so much.

Speaker 4 (20:18):
All Right, buddy, we'll see you how far.

Speaker 1 (20:20):
Eight one, two, three, nine, three, twenty six hundred is
the number. I love that. I love a good new
tradition as a history guy. I love traditions just in general.
And it's a ton of fun. I bet you a
lot of you are like me and a lot of
the listeners to where this is still wonderland as far
as we're concerned, because that's just how it is. We
got another caller, caller, if you had your name, where

(20:42):
you're from and what you got?

Speaker 7 (20:44):
Hi, I'm Larry from Peru, Indiana. I was unable to
watch the game. I listened to it as best I
could on the radio, and Don and Buck did not
say much at all about screen passes, but they did
talk about all of the blitzeinged. Uh did did the

(21:06):
Hoosiers run many screen pass plays?

Speaker 1 (21:10):
If they did it, it was a handful. I'm just
trying to think back down and I'm you know about
a screen pass. I'm sure that I saw one. I
know Iowa did a number of times. But yeah, that's
what I thought, too, is go ahead and run a
little screen pass and uh and break that up, which
is something Illinois was trying to blitz a lot last
week and it ended up being a touchdown play. So yeah,

(21:32):
I mean that that is part of it. And again
we didn't see a ton of that, And to me,
that's what you can do to kind of let the
pressure off when when they're going all out blitz on you.

Speaker 7 (21:43):
Well, I just wanted to see what someone who saw
the game thought because I kept thinking to myself, why
aren't they running screen passes? And I know those those
coaches have forgotten more about ball than I will ever know.
But I couldn't help but think that so well.

Speaker 1 (22:00):
But coach coaches do that a lot because you think
about the fourth and two play. I think it was
you had Iowa had nine guys in the box, and
Sig said that after the game that it was a
run call. That was was a call to play from
the sidelines. It wasn't an r PO. And if it
wasn't an r PO, then that's that makes me feel

(22:23):
a little bit better. But still Iowa was packing the
box and Indiana was was, you know, busting into him.
It was like watching Jerry DeNardo going to the line
four times against Penn State back in two thousand and two,
which is a deep cut there for for a lot
of a lot of fans. But it was also a
little frustrating for me to watch what.

Speaker 7 (22:43):
Happened on the touchdown play there at the end with
the reatt. I did not get a good call on
that on the radio. Yeah, of course, my internet was
blanking out.

Speaker 1 (22:54):
Yeah, So so rot was one on one on what
when if you're watching on the far side of the field,
they brought the blitz It was one on one. He
ran a slant, made the catch, the defender missed the tackle,
so Rot went the distance. It was pretty simple. He
didn't have to beat a lot of people because they

(23:15):
had brought a lot of pressure on that one.

Speaker 7 (23:17):
Okay, all right, well thanks a lot and go Hoosiers.

Speaker 1 (23:21):
I appreciate the call, Larry, take care by now. Eight one, two, three,
nine three, twenty six hundred is the number. Jim on
the chat says, we didn't deserve to win, but I'm
not giving it back. And I'll tell you what. As
I was watching, I thought, yeah, Indiana's gonna escape with
this one. I don't know if they deserve to win it.

(23:43):
But by that same token, it's not like Iowa bayed
themselves in glory in this one. So what you had
was two teams that didn't seem to want to take it,
and Indiana got it. And again that's the important part.
They got the w And it's also a thing to
where Indiana made some plays, I mean on defense, they

(24:04):
eventually did. They got some turnovers, got some tip balls
that turned into interceptions, and it made a difference. It
made a difference other people wins that. Aaron says, wins
at Kinnick are hard to come by. I'm pumped up
about that, Kyle says, great, gritty win. Any update on Ponds,
I haven't heard anything updated on Ponds. I came on

(24:26):
the air. I did not see if if Sig addressed
it in the post game that I don't know, So
I'm sorry I don't have an update on that. And
you know, in terms of Aaron again says, I've seen

(24:47):
many highly rated teams in the Big Ten go into
Kinnick and struggle and that's the key to me, that's
the key is this was an IU team that it
just continues to find way to win five and zero
for back to back seasons, first time in program history.
Saeg is now sixteen and two as a head coach

(25:10):
at Indiana, and that's extraordinary in and of itself. You
got a bye week coming up, and look, Iowa is
not does not have a good offensive football team in
any way, shape or form. That is, you know, one
of the constants for college football. But the Hoosiers found

(25:32):
a way to win despite you know, the Iowa builds
everything on running and defense and wearing teams down, and
Indiana made the plays late when they needed to. Again,
missing the field goal gave Indiana a huge boost, lowered
the pressure on that final drive, but you still had
to perform and then they get the touchdown to Serrat.

(25:56):
You kick the ball off. Now you got to keep
Iowa out of the Endzel and Indiana made the plays
that they needed to to walk away with the win.
The last weird kneel down sequence notwithstanding to me, it
was it was really This is an important game to me,
a really important game because it teaches this team a

(26:18):
lot about what it is that they can do. And
you could win games in different ways. Indiana put up
sixty three last week, seventy three the week before. Today,
they score twenty points, they don't score in the third quarter,
and yet they walk out with the twenty to fifteen
victory on the road in the Big Ten against an

(26:39):
Iowa team that's tough to beat every day. I think
that's incredibly important. Eight one, two, three, nine three, twenty
six hundred is the number. Lines are open, So please
pick up that phone, give me a call, throw me
something in the chat. Andy says, this game reminds me
of Michigan last year. Both games, it took a little
extra effort to get it done. Good teams find a

(26:59):
way to and the ball bounced our way tonight. Didn't
feel like it for a long time, didn't feel like
it at all, but they ended up getting the victory.
And I give you know, Indiana runs for one hundred
and four yards, really one hundred and forty four if
you take off that safety Roman Hemby fifteen carries for

(27:22):
eighty six yards. He averages five point seven yards a carry.
That is really important because I've wanted to see more
from Hemby than what we've seen, and we saw some
really tough running tonight. That kid deserves a ton of
credit because he slipped a lot of tackles. He did
a great job. Kaylon Black eleven carries for thirty eight yards.

(27:43):
It's three and a half yards of pop. It's solid.
He didn't always have a lot of room to run.
I felt Iowa kind of controlled that line of scrimmage
from a defensive standpoint. Mendoza eight carries for twenty six yards. Meanwhile,
Iowa's bread and Butter is kind of running the ball.

(28:05):
Thirty one carries for ninety two yards. Today thought Indiana
did a good job for the most part. There were
a couple of times that they got gashed, but it
wasn't a ton It wasn't a ton. And let's see,
I'm looking at the chunk plays here. Let's see, Iowa
had four plays chunk plays that those are passes of

(28:26):
fifteen plus yards or run plays at ten plus yards.
They had four chunk plays offensively in the passing game,
three in the rushing game twenty two yards, ten yards,
and fourteen yards on that. So that's pretty solid. Hey,
let's talk about Indiana and their kind of a soft

(28:48):
zone defense. Iowa wasn't trying to stretch the field in
any way, shape or form. What they were doing was
just sending guys out into holes in the zone, turning around,
making the catch, getting hit and brought down. And yet
Indiana state in that very soft zone even on some
fourth down calls, they were still in that soft zone,

(29:08):
and Iowa just did what Iowa does. And so I
thought that that was a really really interesting choice by
Brian Haynes to stick with that zone even on fourth down.
That was a little bit odd to me. Jm's checking
with asking about Andy back also a twenty to fifteen

(29:30):
final against Michigan last year. I could checked that for you. Jam,
pull that up real quick. I'm pretty good with this
Internet Michigan, Michigan, Michigan, Yes, sir, twenty to fifteen last
year in Bloomington. So that was also an important win,
get that win over Michigan. Beating Iowa. Who is You

(29:54):
know there are years that Iowa's great years Iowa isn't,
and so this is isn't a great Iowa team, but
it's an important win. My water bottle, this looks brown.
This looks like I'm just chugging a pint of bourbon
and it's not not there yet, but some water with
some MEO in it. So my throat to dry out.

(30:18):
Want callers, I want to talk to you people. People
don't want to hear me. Talk lines are open. Eight
one to two, three nine three, twenty six hundred is
the number. UH going to try to pull up the
video of sig in his postgame press conference, which this

(30:40):
audio is always a little bit odd, but we'll see
what we can do here. So without any further ado,
here is Kurt Signetti during his postgame press conference at Iowa.

Speaker 5 (30:56):
I would like to credit there's the football team. They've
They've UH laid it on the line.

Speaker 6 (31:02):
I give our UH players and our coaches a ton
of credit for UH you know when you uh.

Speaker 5 (31:10):
We made the play when we needed to.

Speaker 6 (31:12):
Was back and forth. Game was a gut check game.
It a lot is good, bad and ugly, more bad
and ugly, except uh, you know, defense kept out of
the en zone, got a couple turnovers when we needed
to partially uh deflect the punt. A field goal kicker
was awesome under pressure, and when we needed to make

(31:32):
the play we did. Uh.

Speaker 5 (31:33):
We really struggled on third and short.

Speaker 6 (31:35):
They came after us with the glitz and uh, but
when we needed to make the play we did on
third down against the house blitz again to Surrat broke
the tackle.

Speaker 5 (31:46):
And it's a great really warm so very proud of.

Speaker 8 (31:49):
Team players exacting, is I guess, Kurt, you talked about
some of those third and short, fourth and short stops
on the run. Was the option for a pass there
for those was it? Was it a different call with
the Serrat touchdown or was that maybe Fernando shifting to
something else when he saw that zero blitz?

Speaker 6 (32:06):
Yes, Uh no, Fernando didn't do any audible in today
and the noise that wasn't the plan. There were not
our pos on those plays. Uh, yeah, they they came
after US and uh we couldn't get a York so
and on the last play the Serrat it was they

(32:27):
had house blitz to play before. Maybe they're bringing along
when you blow and uh so we went to our
uh seven man protection. Uh we called that m We'd
called that three or four times, uh maybe five or
six today. Uh and against Indiana State as well, and

(32:48):
house blitzed us. Uh and uh Rat ran the slant,
he went inside, broke a tackle that was where it
needed to.

Speaker 5 (32:56):
Be and uh he scored.

Speaker 6 (33:00):
And somebody's asked me after the game, and I think
the TV reporter what we remember from this game. I'll
remember SAP running toward d MS as well.

Speaker 7 (33:08):
I remember.

Speaker 5 (33:11):
I give our players a lot of credits.

Speaker 9 (33:13):
It was a great team, isn't it that I mean
you mentioned. I mean obviously maybe not everything went You're
away in the final two minutes, but she was a
gut check, you said, and and you got there for
a team that hasn't played a lot of those games.
I mean you lopside wins, a couple losses, haven't been
in kind of these moments. How it was important to
have that and come through, even if the execution wasn't I've.

Speaker 5 (33:34):
Been in a lot of those games.

Speaker 6 (33:35):
Uh, like a elong we won eight in a row,
and like almost all eight went down the.

Speaker 5 (33:40):
Last played game storybook, the story to rule.

Speaker 6 (33:44):
We haven't had many of those here, and we didn't
have many of those a game either. So I thought
our coaches did a great job our players Nmber when
it was game on the line, I is what I
could do to keep her by kind of loose asking.

Speaker 5 (34:03):
Theybody if they're having fun? You know?

Speaker 6 (34:06):
So it was working for me, be honest with you,
and when we needed to play to be made. And
then those who made the throw that's wrap made the
catch and defense stuff.

Speaker 5 (34:17):
Matt and Rabbi coach. The final play with Fernando running out.

Speaker 9 (34:21):
Into the end zone, was that way you designed or
were you were wanting him to go down before that?

Speaker 5 (34:26):
Its like he kind of slowed down and sped up
and slept down. Well that was Groundhog Day. Would you
beat that state? Or first some belt game of JMU.

Speaker 6 (34:34):
After they beating Nay and them, we have something called
victory delay. And I gotta get a clarification from the
Big ten. Okay, I would had all three timeouts left.
I think there were sixteen or seventeen seconds left in
the game. So in theory, like if you took a knee,
you can only run eight seconds off the clock because
they got three time outs left. So we have something

(34:56):
called victory delay where he goes back and he delays
delay the leg before he gets hit. And then it
takes me when you're trying to run four or five
seconds off the clock, well, I would didn't even rush
on the first one, and he went back, and you know,
and then the ref blew the whistle and one guy

(35:18):
on the sideline gave me one interpretation and the referee
gave me a completely different one. So last play of
the game, we had to take the snap from the
shotgun and run into the end zone.

Speaker 5 (35:33):
He's supposed to go through the en zone.

Speaker 6 (35:34):
But he got caught and our quarterback coach channel Woodmer's
and I can't understand why he said, no, he didn't
need to go all the way into the end zone
because the time it was only three seconds left of
the clock. I wasn't taking any chances. It was a
hard fought game.

Speaker 5 (35:53):
And get both team's love credit. Grabbing this out and
take us through Serrat's play if you will. There's sort
of Yeah, you know, we've been getting some houseplitz this season.

Speaker 6 (36:03):
Started with Odu Kennesaw a little bit Indiana State quite
a bit early in the game. And you know, quarterback
coaches and offensive coordinators they hate like seven man slide protection,
three man routes, no running backs on checkdowns.

Speaker 5 (36:18):
It's just doesn't look real pretty on the blackboard, you
know what I'm saying.

Speaker 6 (36:23):
But when you get those kind of blitzes, and that's
what you got to be in and then freeze guys
up to work one on one and gives you time
to throw the football. So we actually had called that
play earlier in the game on third down and Surratt
didn't win on a slant against press, and we had
a quick out the field to go and then the

(36:46):
ex has quick slant this one because it was third
and seven and not third and two and it was
house instead of blit's one.

Speaker 5 (36:58):
They were off.

Speaker 6 (36:59):
They were off, uh, and we're at one inside and
spun and.

Speaker 5 (37:06):
Yeah, good play, huge player, think Seth Ryan Fenti, Scott.

Speaker 10 (37:11):
We talked a lot of in the beginning of the
season about how hard you coached your team, trying to
teach them how to win even when you guys were
up by a lot. How much did you see that
type of mentality payoff in a game like this?

Speaker 6 (37:21):
Yeah, it never goes according to script. Uh, you know,
there's a lot of variables involved, and there's gonna be
games like this, and you know, I think when I
was hard, I said, you know, mindset's really important. Everybody's
right to play the first game or two or three
after that's who's ready to play?

Speaker 4 (37:38):
And so.

Speaker 5 (37:43):
What was the question?

Speaker 10 (37:46):
How much did you see that mentality you know that
you were trying to instill about, you know how teaching.

Speaker 5 (37:50):
Your team at this point, then you're you're kind of like, as.

Speaker 6 (37:59):
You know, when Mendez go on the sideline, they didn't
call uh roughing the quarterback.

Speaker 5 (38:04):
That really kind of pulled our guys into there right there,
and uh, you know, we got a lot of new guys,
but we.

Speaker 6 (38:10):
Got a lot of good uh a lot of great
stuff on this team, and we were testing really hard and.

Speaker 11 (38:17):
Uh we fell on the way to put it through
it Scott and Jim, is it important to come on
the road and play a team like this and you're
gonna get this kind of struggle knowing what you will
face and the next week and then throughout the rest
of the season.

Speaker 5 (38:30):
Just well, Uh, I think you know, all wins are great.

Speaker 6 (38:33):
You know, we got a week off, coaches have a
day off tomorrow.

Speaker 5 (38:36):
We're five and zero. You would much rather.

Speaker 6 (38:39):
Win decisively that than put this on tape, cause, let
me tell you, we left a lot of players out
there in the past game. And there's some bad stuff
on that tape. But uh, the defense and and teams. HM.
But I give by Owe a lot of credit and uh,
but to go in a hosstile environment, this.

Speaker 5 (39:02):
Is a hard place to play.

Speaker 6 (39:04):
They got a great home record, they were they were
juiced up in this game and come out with a
win when when maybe you didn't play your best and
love it's because.

Speaker 5 (39:16):
Of that huge.

Speaker 11 (39:19):
Yeah, Jim, the exactly, Kurt, what what they are the
success they were having in the first half for preventing
the run when the pass games from getting going.

Speaker 5 (39:30):
Looking back quickly, is there some things that maybe could
have done? Play called why is the story? Well, the
first passway through, Uh, the right guard you got beat,
got smoked or man rushed sacked, third and two.

Speaker 12 (39:40):
And a half and that kind of spooked everybody a
little bit, I think, and Uh, you know, guy's gotta
trust this technique and not guess what the detach what
the three techniques can do.

Speaker 5 (39:52):
And you know you came in a half to.

Speaker 6 (39:53):
Unloved the stats with any thrown any tasks and the
Colt cut they had thrown the seventeenth that last drive
theyve and a half seventeen seconds or twenty seven and
we found a way to get three points out of
that was.

Speaker 5 (40:08):
Huge, huge, And then uh after that even I thought
things started while the first drive the third quarter, I thought, Okay,
here we go. But then nope, and you know became
what it was. Zach be angry left that one.

Speaker 1 (40:27):
When Fernando through that interception late in that fourth quarter,
what did you see from him on the sideline afterwards?

Speaker 5 (40:32):
How did he react to that?

Speaker 6 (40:33):
I didn't see him on the sideline? Uh afterwards, you
know it was another hosplitz and uh he did a
good job of escaping.

Speaker 5 (40:41):
I thought he was gonna run it, you know, throw
it and overthrow Cooper a little bit, got me a
nice place six good player. Uh, I'm just glad he
didn't score.

Speaker 6 (40:53):
And uh, you know he'd come off on the sideline
and uh, you know, maybe there was a fight left
on the field.

Speaker 5 (41:00):
He knew was left over too.

Speaker 6 (41:03):
There were a couple of times in the third quarter
where I noticed and talked that he had lowered his eyes.

Speaker 5 (41:08):
You know what, she hadn't done anything in a long time.

Speaker 6 (41:12):
But you know, I was putting some heat on the
quarter and then he was pulling the ball run into
you know, put a lot on the guy.

Speaker 5 (41:18):
But at the end of the day, passed the test
because he made the key playing. All right, thanks for plating.

Speaker 1 (41:28):
So they're sorry, guys. A one, two, three, nine, three,
twenty six hundred is the number. I was just saying
that SIG's attitude with a win. Yes, you're happy that
you got the win, but he also is not sugarcoating
the bad. And can you mentioned that there's a lot
of bad on that film, A lot of plays in

(41:49):
the passing game that were missed. Talking about Mendoza having
his eyes down uh in the pocket. Uh. And those
are all learning experiences, all learning experiences along the way
that make it make a huge difference.

Speaker 4 (42:04):
With that.

Speaker 1 (42:05):
So again, all of these things, every one of these wins,
say for last week or you know, or maybe even
Indiana State. Uh, there wasn't a lot to maybe learn
off of this one. You're gonna learn off and it's
a lot easier to teach off of a win than
it is off of a loss. Eight one, two, three, nine,

(42:26):
six hundred is the number. JM says ken how many
reporters are in uh SIG's press conference compared to Tom
Allen's final season or two and let's see loss. Yeah, okay,
uh So the people who cover i U football, it's

(42:48):
the same crew.

Speaker 2 (42:51):
I have.

Speaker 1 (42:51):
Let's say there is for for me personally. We are
at Don Fisher obviously has been around for fifty plus years.
Pete ta Premio has been along for a long time.
This is my twenty first season doing this and I
am third in the list of tenure for people covering

(43:14):
this program and on a daily basis, the people who
do it do it every day. Zach Osterman, Seth twe
Jim Coyle, whoever is at the Herald Times. There's been
a number of people at the Herald Times, the IDs Kids,

(43:39):
Sammy Jacobs has been there for a while now. It
doesn't change too much. The interest doesn't change, so there
aren't more people now. That said, going out on the road,
you might get a few more people to come out.
I obviously wasn't there. I'm here in my home studio,
which I kicked on a light because otherwise it looked
like I was a serial killer sitting in the basement.

(44:02):
Just the fact that they were able to UH, you
will draw more attention when you're five and oh or
four and oh and ranked number eleven in the country.
When you go on the road, then it makes more
sense to send people out there. But the people who
cover I you, there's not a real difference in UH

(44:25):
in who's out there and who's not. Eight one, two, three, nine, three,
twenty six hundred is the number. Lines are open. We
want to hear from you. I want to hear from
you in particular. You know it is UH looking forward
at this year five and oh. Now, okay, once upon

(44:46):
a time, we spend a lot of time talking about
where would Indiana find six wins for the second straight year.
You start with five straight wins, h coming up here,
you have the bye week, and then at Oregon. Depending

(45:07):
on the time of that Oregon game, we may not
have a call in after that Oregon game because I
have a family commitment that's very important. God, somebody who's
getting married and want to be a part of that.
So we'll see depending on the time of that game.
But you go to Oregon, you come back, you have
Michigan State at home, you have UCLA at home, and

(45:31):
then you have back to back road games as we
get into November. But Indiana has set itself up very
nicely to have another special year and learning to win
in a game, an ugly, gritty game like this is
really important. That bad film that Sig was talking about,

(45:56):
that's going to be a positive for Fernando Mendoza. He's
had great days, he's had now a not so great
day and there's gonna be a lot to learn from it.
And Mendoza as improved as each week has gone on.
Today his accuracy wasn't where you wanted it to be. Also,

(46:16):
I thought it was interesting that Sig said that, you know,
they go in halftime in the look and they'd only
thrown the ball eight times and we were like wow.
And the third and two play that Mendoza was sacked
and the right guard just got toasted, just absolutely toasted. Yeah,
that'll make you raise an eyebrow, but you also have

(46:37):
to stick with what it is that you're going to do.
And that's why I said, I'm just really incredibly baffled
by how it is that a good defensive team like Iowa,
why you're busy trying to do what they were to
just run the ball. It doesn't make sense to me,

(46:59):
It doesn't make any sense at all. But Indy animated
work for him, and so that's really important. Some of
the highlights defensively are Isaiah Jones eight tackles, including four
solo Jones and Wyatt combined for Indiana and sack on

(47:22):
the day. The Hooshers six tackles for loss on the day,
and this against an Iowa team that I felt their
offensive line did a pretty damn good job today. With that,
Aidan Fisher was active, had a couple of quarterback hurries,
which we were talking in the press box last week
about the difference between a quarterback hurry and pressures and exactly,

(47:42):
and it seems pretty subjective. Seven tackles for more, five
solo stops for Fisher, seven tackles, five solo stops, more,
seven tackles for solo stops. You had the big interception
by Farrell more all So got an interception as well.
He is not credited with it. The stat crew gave

(48:06):
it to EJ. Williams, which obviously he didn't intercept anything.
He is a wide receiver, but they wear the same number,
so there was an issue with that that'll get cleaned up.
But more had a very important interception, and it's really
great that he was able to at the very least,
at very least got cleared for the rest of the season.

(48:32):
That's behind him now he doesn't have to worry about that.
That's a pressure off of him. Justin asks how are
you feeling against Oregon? We talked about this a little
bit earlier on the show with a caller, but you
can't count Indiana out of any of these things now.
I mean, we're at that point, guys. Sixteen and two

(48:54):
is sixteen and two. So do I expect them to
go on the road and knock off Oregon? H It'll
be a tough, tough thing to do, But do you
think sig can't pull something together. It's gonna be a
tough one. You're gonna have to play a really good
game with that. But they're gonna have every opportunity. They're

(49:15):
going to need to play like they did against Illinois
and not like they did against Iowa to get away
with that, but look, I don't put anything uh past this.
Matt asked, how does the Iowa O line and D
line stack up compared to Oregon and Penn States. I'm
gonna be real. I'm gonna be real with you, Matt.

(49:36):
I haven't looked at Oregon's uh D line and Penn
State's D line this year. That time will now come
with Oregon, but with Penn State, I haven't even seen
Penn State play this year. So that's that's, you know,
just being honest with you on that been focused on
Indiana's opponents. With all that, uh, Kurt's as, we definitely

(50:00):
got tested across all phases tonight came up strong. Two
weeks of work to do, Yeah, And that's exactly if
you're going into a bye you got plenty to work on.
It's easier to work on things coming off a win.
And the Hoosiers did just that. So I think that
that is a a huge positive because you could build

(50:20):
off of it two weeks to prepare for Oregon. Oregon
is a team that let's see here what I could
find out about Oregon. And at least they're they're rushing stats.
The Hoosiers, by the way, still lead the Big Ten

(50:45):
in rushing yards. Oregon is third with one yards. They
have obviously this Penn State game, uh to go. But
you know Oregon's going to be tough. There's a reason
that they're ranked as highly as they are. Eight one,
two three, nine, six hundred is the number. Lines are open.
I'll even give you a last call. I want to

(51:06):
hear from you, guys. It's Saturday night, it's a road game.
You guys are watching probably Oregon and Penn State. Now
I respect that, but want to hear from you if
you have anything otherwise, we'll we'll wrap this up pretty soon.
But Indiana, uh god, what an important game for the Hoosiers.
Just a hugely important game because they were able to

(51:31):
come out and and win the thing, win ugly, and
did it by playing a completely different game than they
have played to this point. It was a smash mouth game.
It was a matter of you know, putting people on
the ground, getting hits. I don't want to say Indiana benefited.

(51:54):
That's the wrong, wrong situation. I certainly hope the Iowa
quarterback Gronkowski Gronowski rather not Gronkowski. That's a whole different thing.
Mark Rodowski went out with the knee injury. Hopefully he's
going to be okay. You know you're being cautious in

(52:16):
that situation. That kid went nineteen to twenty five for
one hundred and forty four yards. The nineteen completions for
one hundred and forty four yards. Again, as a journalism
major at IU, not a math major. But let's see
when forty four divided by nineteen is seven and a

(52:37):
half yards per completion, So those were all just very
short passes. Indiana was right there to put guys on
the ground when they did that. In case you're wondering,
by comparison, Mendoza per completion was seventeen point nine yards,
so Iowa was peppering them with the short passes. At

(52:58):
least Indiana was there and making hits and getting guys
to the ground after they made those receptions. That is
a huge difference between this Indiana team now and the
Indiana team that we've seen in the past, because they
do a really good job of if somebody makes a catch,

(53:19):
they're brought down pretty quickly. Had a couple mistackles today,
but I thought Indiana's defensive backfield did a nice job
of getting guys to the ground after they made catches.
Wasn't wild about the scheme at all times, but they
did a very nice job with that. We need to

(53:42):
talk a little bit too about Elijah Surat, and we've
talked about his long touchdown pass touchdown reception on the day.
Six carries one hundred and thirty two yards touchdown ninety
two yards after the catch. Sarat's ability to shake loose
after he makes a catch changes this offense. It really does.

(54:04):
And what it does is it's gonna it forces defenses
to swarm toward him, especially if you're looking his way.
Now why is that important Because if you on your
scouting report, you know that Sarat can get those yards
after catch. So if Mendoza's looking his way as a defender,

(54:25):
naturally you're gonna start to cheat a little bit that way.
And so at times you could use Serat as a
decoy a little bit to where you're looking this way,
and then all of a sudden you could cut back
this way and might open things up for Cooper, for Williams,
for Henby, whoever's in the backfield. So that in and

(54:46):
of itself, sometimes you have a receiver who's good enough
with that, and the kid's gonna play Sundays in the
near future. I think Mendoza has has a great future
on Sundays as well, and his presence, Sarat's presence on
the field changes what the Hoosiers are able to do.

(55:09):
Justin on the chat says, I know Iowa's O line
was rated number one in the country and they did
a good job of controlling that line of scrimmage. The
Hoosiers didn't get a lot of pressure in the backfield,
but in the run game, Iowa averaged three yards of carry,

(55:30):
so the defense was was solid. Indiana's linebackers, I felt,
had a really nice game and that is something you
could continue to build on. Iowa did not reach one
hundred yards on the ground. Time of possession, especially in
the first half was a little bit shocking because Iowa

(55:52):
really held the ball. The Hoosiers defense did a poor
job of getting off the field. But for the game,
Iowa just six of sixteen on third down and Indiana
six of fifteen on third down, oh three on fourth
down for the Hoosiers, which isn't great, but Indiana five

(56:13):
and oh for the second straight season, first time in
IU history that that is something that has been accomplished.
A huge win for Indiana, gives them one win away
from being bull eligible. And to have this victory, Mendoza

(56:37):
still hasn't taken a knee. I'll just say that as
my voice cracks. Mendoza still hasn't taken a knee. That
pisses me off.

Speaker 8 (56:42):
And I know that.

Speaker 1 (56:43):
You know, there's there's explanations for the rules. Not wild
about that. On Twitter, THEO says, well, they they hot
to get rid of the hand signals because the defense
was timing it up every single play. We have to
come up with, like guys on to go on two
or three instead of hand signals. The thing with that

(57:05):
is it's a silent count, and so yeah, you could
time it up a little bit. That's the disadvantage of
being on the road. But that's just part of the equation.
Every team has to deal with it. Illinois had to
deal with it last week. So when you're in a
loud environment, it's difficult to have that delay and still

(57:27):
have everybody fire off the ball at the same time,
which is why you don't see quite as much of
fall starts and things like that in a loud situation.
When you're going silent like that, But twenty to fifteen
is your final. The Hoosiers five and zero, top of

(57:50):
the big ten. Let's see who's some of those top
twenty five scores for today. Some of these finals, what
we got. LSU lost, so it was they won't drop
far enough to let Indiana move off. Well, let's see

(58:12):
if there are any other upsets there in the top
twenty five. Florida State lost, so there's a chance for
Indiana to move up into the top ten. Winning on
the road at Iowa is impressive and being able to
do that, I think is something that the Hoosiers can
build off of. They got a tough road ahead of them,

(58:33):
there's no question. I mean, you're talking about Oregon and
then Michigan State and UCLA two out of the next
three at home. That's a positive. You have the break here,
but the toughest tests left for the Hoosiers on their
schedule Oregon in two weeks and then at Penn State
November eighth. Both of those games are situations where you're

(58:56):
going to have to play about as well as you
can to pull off wins on the road. We'll see
if the Hoosiers are able to do that. They did
not play their best game at Iowa, they still walked
away with the win and learned a lot and have
a lot of opportunities ahead of them. I appreciate all
the callers and I thank everybody on the chat, but

(59:19):
we're gonna go ahead and wrap it up for this victory.
So that's all the time we have on the Peaks
post game Live. I want to thank you for listening,
and I want to remind you to visit Peaks dot
com for the very best and IU football and basketball coverage.
You're going to find anywhere nobody covers who's you're recruiting
better than Jeff rab Johns, Matt Weaver, Trevor Andershock, and
Jared Kelly. So come be a part of a thriving
and exciting community at peaks dot com. Folks, you are

(59:41):
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,