Curt Cignetti doesn’t sound interested in getting pulled into the swirling buildup around Indiana’s matchup with Ohio State. For him, it all comes down to execution, and he made that point clear Monday ahead of Saturday’s home showdown with the No. 4 Buckeyes.
“Noise and clutter.”
That was Cignetti’s description of the many storylines circling the game, even with plenty on the line for an Indiana team that remains unbeaten. The Hoosiers are one of nine unbeaten teams left in the FBS, and they need one more win to match Ohio State’s College Football Playoff era record for consecutive victories at 23, a streak set under Urban Meyer and finished in 2015.
“This is all about giving our team the best chance to be successful and doing a great job as coaches,” Cignetti said Monday. “You know, both teams are going in, in my mind 0-0, and I'm sure that's how they're approaching it, too.”
The setting figures to be a major part of the story at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, where Indiana has beaten Ohio State only twice in 32 meetings. The last Hoosiers win in the series came in 1988, and Cignetti made it clear he expects the crowd to matter.
“Ohio State [is] a great football team with a lot of great players. Extremely well coached,” Cignetti said.
“Ryan Day does a good job. Both coordinators, all the position coaches, I mean, they're really, really good.
And not only do they have a lot of excellent players, they have a wow player.
“That's the only really word to describe (Jeremiah Smith) that I can think of. We're going to need our fans. Ought to be a great environment.”
Smith is exactly the kind of player Indiana will have to keep in front of them. The Heisman frontrunner has 48 catches for 916 yards and 11 touchdowns, and he’s found the end zone eight times over three lopsided wins against Big Ten opponents. He also had eight receptions for 144 yards against Indiana last season in the Big Ten Championship, when the Buckeyes fell 13-10 to the eventual national champions.
Cignetti said Smith presents a problem because of everything Ohio State asks him to do.
“They move Jeremiah around quite a bit. He's taken it up a notch without question,” Cignetti said.
“I think he has nine touchdown catches in the last three, four games. You know, there is no one like him right now playing at this level.
We got two really good ones. He's a freak.
We're going to have to do a great job on him.”
Indiana’s own standing has drawn attention as well. The Hoosiers are one of three Big Ten teams included in this week’s updated playoff projections, but narrow wins over Northwestern and Nebraska in the last three games have led to questions about how this version of Indiana stacks up against the group that rolled through the conference last fall.
Ohio State enters after a 45-16 win over Maryland, though Ryan Day was not pleased with the performance. The Buckeyes were flagged for a rash of penalties and committed two turnovers, and Day’s frustration showed during the game.
“We've got to get this stuff fixed, and some of these penalties don't also come up in practice,” Day said Sunday. “The late hits on quarterbacks. They have to be addressed, and they have to understand how important those are.”
There’s also a health angle to watch on both sides. Indiana got A.J.
Harris back last week against Nebraska after the defensive back had been out since Week 1, leaving the Hoosiers as healthy as they have been this season. Ohio State, meanwhile, held out five starters against Maryland.
Day said over the weekend that he expects “a good portion of them back” for Indiana, with Brandon Inniss, Devin McCuin, Austin Siereveld, Jay Timmons and Christian Alliegro among the regulars who sat out.
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