“We’re not satisfied just being here”: IU football focused on the moment

Photos from IU football's Big Ten championship win against Ohio State.

MIAMI – As Indiana wrapped up practice at Florida International University on Saturday night, the weight of the moment settled in. For some Hoosiers, it was the realization that the session marked their final practice in an Indiana uniform — and the emotion showed.

ESPN sideline reporter Holly Rowe posted a video on social media capturing players embracing as they walked off the practice field, describing the scene as “loving” and “emotional.”

Curt Cignetti, however, had little interest in letting those feelings linger with Monday’s game looming.

“I’ve witnessed quite a bit of sentimentalism throughout the week from some of our seniors,” Cignetti said during Sunday’s coaches press conference. “But I think it’s time to sharpen the saw now, throw those warm fuzzies out the door.

“It’s time to go play a game against a great opponent.”

The end of practice beneath a South Florida dusk marked the last moment Curt Cignetti’s team would allow itself to linger in the emotion of the season — at least until late Monday night, if the ending warrants it.

No matter the result, Indiana football’s Hollywood run concludes in Miami. A season full of twists, turns and stretches of utter domination has already secured its place in program history.

For decades, Indiana only flashed on the national stage during the Truman and Johnson administrations. What the program has accomplished over the last five months will leave a lasting mark. To outsiders, a victory could signal the Genesis of sustained dominance.

Inside the InterContinental Hotel overlooking Biscayne Bay, however, none of that is being discussed. Indiana isn’t here to reflect. It’s here to finish the job.

“It’s been fast progress, kind of surreal to some degree,” Cignetti said. “But that’s separate, sort of, from our team mindset right now, in terms of us physically being here and what our intentions are.”

There was little tension around the Indiana program at CFP media day Saturday. Players embraced the moment they had been thrust into with confidence. Well-equipped to answer questions about what a win would do for their legacy, each player followed the company line.

Center Pat Coogan is no stranger to the bright lights of the national championship stage. He stood in the same spot a year ago, answering many of the same questions.

Aware of the lasting impact this team has already had on the Indiana fan base and college football at large, Coogan avoided nostalgia. For the senior preparing for his final collegiate game, the focus remains firmly on the task at hand.

“We’re all grateful to be where we are, there’s no doubt about it,” Coogan said, “But at the same time, looking at that macro longevity of what we’ve done, not yet, per se.

“We’re just so uber-focused on the task at hand, and it’s hard to have perspective when you’re still boots on the ground, in the moment.”

A member of the 2023 team, Isaiah Jones, experienced the program at its lowest point. The Indiana he and his teammates, who had endured a coaching change, originally measured success by simply reaching a bowl game.

Now, with that once-modest benchmark long surpassed, Jones’s mindset on a goal that once seemed herculean — and now sits just one win away.

“We might not have committed to the team that everyone picked to be the national championship,” Jones said. “But when you have guys like that that maybe got overlooked and aren’t maybe the highest recruits or don’t have stars coming out of high school, we’re not satisfied just being here. We want to win the whole thing.”

Press conferences, availabilities and open practices concluded Sunday morning. All that is left is the 7:50 p.m. EST kick under the lights at Hard Rock Stadium.

Indiana football’s ideal ending is one 60-minute game away from becoming reality, a feat previously only realized in dreams and video games. There will come a time when players and coaches sit back and bask in the moment’s sunlight. But now is not that time.

Eager to get between the white lines, Cignetti, never shy with a turn of phrase, delivered another line destined for the highlight reel of his one-liners.

“Throw those warm fuzzies out the door,” Cignetti said. “You don’t go to war with warm milk & cookies.”

The embraces shared on Saturday will pale in comparison if Indiana is standing on the postgame stage Monday night.

That’s when the achievement Cignetti and the Hoosiers have chased for the past two years will finally become reality — glimpsing above college football’s highest mountaintop.

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