Indiana’s offense heads into Minnesota with a question mark attached to Josh Hoover, but Curt Cignetti sounded confident Monday that the quarterback will be ready.
Hoover was dealing with an injury he picked up against Ohio State, and Indiana’s passing game never looked fully settled in the lead-up to the Michigan game. Cignetti didn’t hide that. The week of practice, he said, wasn’t sharp through the air.
“In practice last week the pass game wasn’t very good,” IU coach Curt Cignetti said Monday. “I expect it to be better this week.”
Cignetti added that he expects Hoover to “be fine and better this week” when the Hoosiers face Minnesota at 3:30 p.m. ET on CBS. Indiana has not said exactly what the injury is, though Hoover could be seen favoring his shoulder area at times Saturday.
The challenge only gets tougher against a Minnesota defense that has been stout against the pass. The Gophers are No. 11 nationally in pass defense, giving up just 165.1 yards per game through the air. They’ve forced seven interceptions, allowed eight touchdown passes and registered 15 sacks.
Cignetti also pointed the finger at the receivers, saying the group has to create more space for the quarterback.
“We didn’t separate at receiver in this (Michigan) game, and, you know, we obviously didn’t throw the ball very well or very often, and a lot of that was because of type of game it became,” he said.
For all the concern around the offense, Indiana’s health situation remains unusual for this stage of the season. The Big Ten availability report last week drew attention because the Hoosiers, seven games into the year and coming off bruising matchups with Nebraska and Ohio State, had nobody listed as questionable.
Cignetti credited both the way his team practices and some plain old good fortune, even knocking on the wood lectern as he talked about it.
“You try to control what you can control, and there are some things outside of your control, like losing those two corners in the first quarter of the opener, and Khobie Martin,” Cignetti said.
“But we try to keep them healthy in practice and still prepare them, which I think we do a good job of. We’ve just had some good fortune.
“Look, this is our ninth game in a row, is it? So everybody that has played significant snaps is hurting somewhere, but they’re all able to play.”
Indiana’s defense has helped cover for some of those offensive struggles, especially in the red zone. Over the last three games, opponents have had 10 trips inside the IU red zone and came away with only two touchdowns. On three of those drives, the Hoosiers didn’t let the other team score at all.
That bend-but-don’t-break work has mattered when the offense hasn’t been piling up points. It helped Indiana survive two tough road games and stay close against Ohio State.
“Timely plays and getting 11 guys to do their job,” Cignetti said of the defense. “We got good players.
We are good up front. Our front seven, eight, we’re hard to run against.
“We got all 11 doing their job it’s pretty tough. The goal is always to hold them to a field goal which our defense did a tremendous job of.”
Special teams also came through in a game where every possession mattered. Billy Gowers punted seven times for 316 yards at Michigan, posting a season-best 45.1-yard average. Nico Radicic answered after missing two field goals against Ohio State - 40% of his career misses in one game - by making kicks from 22 and 34 yards.
“Billy Gowers I thought was tremendous,” Cignetti said. “Nico was too with two field goals.”
In Other News...
Indiana Faces A New Kind Of Pressure In Huge Minnesota Matchup
Memorial Stadium is set for a bigger spotlight than usual when Indiana hosts Minnesota, with ESPNs College GameDay on hand for a matchup that suddenly carries the feel of a showcase game. The Hoosiers enter at 7-1 and, on paper, have the edge against a Golden Gophers team coached by P.J. Fleck that arrives with a 5-2 record of its own.
For Indiana, the noise around the game is part of the challenge now. The Hoosiers have earned the kind of attention that comes with being favored by odds and predictive models, but the stakes are no longer just about staying in the win column. With the weather also in the mix on game day, this one has the ingredients of a test that goes beyond the standings and into how Indiana handles the pressure of being the featured team. [Read more 🡒]
Indiana Starters Leave Hoosiers With A Real Debate Before Opening Night
Indianas exhibition win over Western Kentucky offered a useful first look at a team still sorting itself out before opening night. The Hoosiers trailed in the second half at the Ford Center, then leaned on a strong bench rally to flip the game and come away with a 79-74 victory. Three freshmen played a major role in the closing stretch, giving Indiana a glimpse of the kind of depth it may need as the real games begin.
The bigger takeaway may have been how much the result seemed to tilt once the reserves got involved. Western Kentucky got a huge night from Teagan Moore, who scored 30 points, but Indianas defense still managed to keep the Hilltoppers to 36.9% shooting overall. With the starters leaving the exhibition with some real questions still hanging, the Hoosiers now have a decision to make about how they want to line up when the season opens. [Read more 🡒]
Indiana Showed Fans Something They Needed To See Late
Indiana wrapped up its preseason with a 79-74 win over Western Kentucky, a result that offered a little more than just another exhibition victory. After building a 3-0 record in the preseason, the Hoosiers got the kind of late push that can matter once games start counting, with a second-half run driven by strong minutes off the bench and noticeably better ball protection.
For a team still ironing out its identity before the opener against Eastern Illinois, that stretch was useful in ways the final score only hints at. Indiana had to work through a deficit late, then found enough composure and depth to turn the game back in its favor, a sign the roster can respond when the night gets tight. [Read more 🡒]