Curt Cignetti came into Indiana’s game against Nebraska with a pretty clean résumé in the loss column. His only two defeats with the Hoosiers had come against Ohio State and Notre Dame in 2024, both teams that reached the College Football Playoff National Championship Game.
That changed with a rough afternoon in Lincoln against an unranked Nebraska team. Indiana was favored by 7.5 points on the road, but the Hoosiers’ offense never found its rhythm early and couldn’t get past six points until the fourth quarter.
The first half was especially ugly. ESPN Insights noted that Indiana’s three points and three first downs were both the lowest of Cignetti’s tenure. The Hoosiers also managed only 111 total yards and finished the half with a -101 yardage differential, which was the second-worst first-half mark since Cignetti arrived.
Nebraska’s defense had Indiana bottled up in a way the Hoosiers hadn’t experienced under Cignetti before. The offense was completely stifled, and fans immediately let the criticism fly online.
“Curt Cignetti has been awful today man,” one user wrote on X.
“Who (expletive) abducted Curt Cignetti and put Tom Allen back as the Indiana’s head coach,” wrote another.
“What is Cignetti doing today wasting his timeouts on 4th downs??” a third asked.
“My name is Curt Cignetti and I elect to kick an extra point when down 5 instead of going for 2,” another mocked.
Indiana’s defense at least kept the game from turning into a complete runaway, holding Nebraska to 10 points through the first three quarters. Then, midway through the fourth quarter, the Hoosiers finally moved ahead.
Still, regardless of how this one ends, Cignetti is likely headed for a wave of criticism on Sunday and Monday, with ESPN’s Paul Finebaum expected to be part of that conversation. And if there’s any silver lining for Indiana, it’s the familiar one coaches cling to after a bad game: even great teams and great coaches have one of these from time to time. If Nebraska somehow finishes the comeback, it might also say something about the Cornhuskers’ national title hopes.
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Indiana's Ohio State Showdown Just Got An Extra Reason To Sting
Indianas Week 7 meeting with Ohio State already had the feel of a national spotlight game, with two top-ranked teams and recent champions set to collide in Bloomington. It is the kind of matchup that usually draws every possible camera, bus and broadcast personality, especially when a program like Indiana has a chance to host one of the sports biggest brands on its own field.
Instead, the pregame stage will be elsewhere. ESPNs College GameDay is headed to Provo for Notre Dames trip to BYU, leaving Memorial Stadium without the show that so often signals college footballs biggest Saturday. For Indiana, it adds a little more edge to an already massive showdown, with the Hoosiers still left to prove their place in a game plenty of people expected to be impossible to ignore. [Read more 🡒]
Curt Cignetti Saw One Indiana Problem That Nearly Cost Them
Indianas perfect start survived a tense road test at Nebraska, where the Hoosiers dug out of a double-digit fourth-quarter hole and left Lincoln with a 20-17 win to move to 6-0. Curt Cignetti did not hide from how close it came, acknowledging that his team spent too much of the night battling itself before finding enough answers to pull it out.
The encouraging part for Indiana is that the resilience showed up when it mattered, with key plays helping flip the game late and keep the unbeaten run intact. Still, Cignetti pointed to one area that needs work, saying the rushing attack has to get better as the staff goes back through the film and sorts out what nearly cost the Hoosiers a victory. [Read more 🡒]
Indiana Stayed Unbeaten With A Nebraska Rally Fans Wont Forget
Indiana kept its perfect start intact with a tense 20-17 win over Nebraska at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, leaning on a late surge from Josh Hoover and Nick Marsh to flip a game that had the feel of a grind for long stretches. Hoover found Marsh twice for touchdowns in the closing stretch, and Marsh finished with six catches for 187 yards, giving Indiana the kind of explosive answer it needed on a night when every possession felt bigger than the last.
The Hoosiers also got the kind of fourth-quarter defense that usually shows up in November, not early-season road tests, as they came through with crucial stops when Nebraska was pressing to even things up. For Indiana, the win was another reminder that this team can survive different kinds of games, even the ones that tighten late and demand clean execution on both sides of the ball. [Read more 🡒]