Alabama fans may not have much reason to care about Indiana football on a normal year, but Curt Cignetti has changed that.
The Hoosiers knocked Alabama out of the CFB Playoff in Pasadena, and Tide fans could live with the loss because Indiana was clearly the better team. What they have not been able to shrug off is Cignetti himself. The Indiana coach has a reputation for being blunt to the point of abrasive, and his words have only given Alabama fans more incentive to keep one eye on the Hoosiers in 2026.
Cignetti reportedly made his feelings clear in the Rose Bowl locker room, saying he wanted a big win not just to lift Indiana, but to hurt Alabama’s program. He has also long carried a grudge around Tuscaloosa, where insiders once believed he felt slighted by Nick Saban after being passed over for Offensive Coordinator promotion multiple times.
Then came his latest shot at the SEC. At Big Ten Media Days, Cignetti said, "I mean, we don't run a hype machine here in the Midwest, we believe everything's earned, not given.
When we fall short we say 'we fell short, we don't cry a river, whine and complain, alright? And that's why we're the best."
That kind of talk would be easier to dismiss if Indiana’s 2026 slate looked like a brutal grind. Instead, ESPN Analytics projects seven games with a 92.9% or higher chance of victory, which makes the “earned, not given” line look a little shaky.
Those projected wins come against North Texas, FCS Howard, Western Kentucky, Northwestern, Rutgers, Minnesota and Purdue. North Texas went 12-2 last season, but both losses came against ranked teams, including a 63-36 defeat to USF.
Howard finished 5-7 and took bad losses to Sacred Heart, North Carolina Central and South Carolina State. Western Kentucky was 9-4 without a win over a ranked opponent.
Northwestern went 7-6. Rutgers finished 5-7.
Minnesota was 8-5 with no ranked wins. Purdue was 2-10.
That leaves five games that figure to draw the most interest from Alabama fans. ESPN projects Indiana as the favorite against Nebraska, Michigan, USC and Washington, while Ohio State is expected to be the underdog spot on the schedule.
For Tide fans, those are the matchups worth circling. Not because they suddenly care about Indiana’s season, but because they’d like to see a few of Cignetti’s words come back at him.
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