Three key notes from Curt Cignetti’s press conference ahead of IU football’s Big Ten opener

Photos from IU football's 55-0 win against Howard at Memorial Stadium.

Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti spoke to the media on Monday at his weekly press conference.

Here are three key notes from Cignetti’s comments.

Cignetti urges IU fans to stay in their seats for the entirety of Friday’s game against Northwestern

In his opening statement, Cignetti acknowledged that the heat in Bloomington has made it difficult for fans to stay for the full first three games at Memorial Stadium.

The Hoosiers had their first three wins against North Texas, Howard and Western Kentucky well in hand in the second half and many fans left early from the non-conference games.

It’s an early-season trend IU’s third-year coach doesn’t want to continue as Big Ten play begins Friday against Northwestern in primetime.

Weather shouldn’t be an issue on Friday night – the current forecast shows temperatures in the mid-60s at kickoff – and Cignetti expects the fanbase to be in their seats for the entirety of the game.

“We need to have a great crowd that stays the whole game,” Cignetti said near the end of his opening statement on Monday. “We played our three sauna games in the afternoon. I can understand having to leave in the second half, particularly when the game is out of hand and it’s 152 on the turf. It’s hard to coach in these games, too.

“But this will be low 70 weather this week and it will be a nice cool football kind of night in Bloomington and we need to have a great crowd.”

Friday’s game is one of five remaining home games for the No. 5 Hoosiers and the stadium is sold out for the entire season.

Cignetti calls out scrutiny of quarterback Josh Hoover

It’s unavoidable that IU’s quarterback becomes a topic of conversation.

After Cignetti and his coaching staff’s success at the position over two seasons at IU, media and fans alike will evaluate Josh Hoover’s play.

Through three games, Hoover has thrown for 649 yards and 10 touchdowns with no interceptions.

In his postgame press conference following the win against Western Kentucky, Hoover discussed several missed throws against the Hilltoppers and vowed to be more accurate in future games.

Cignetti, however, in both a defense of his quarterback and a response to repeated questions about Hoover in the first couple of weeks of the season, defended his play through three games.

“I think there is too much scrutiny on Josh Hoover right now,” Cignetti said. “Unfair scrutiny. After watching the game tape, he missed one throw. The one he missed to (Charlie) Becker, we did a bad job picking up the blitz at running back and he had a guy in his face. One he overthrew early. Missed (Nick) Marsh.

“The one to the right, it was the third progression. Didn’t run a good route to the field. Should have been open but wasn’t because of the route. Came back to No. 3, who didn’t run a great route either and the ball got overthrown.

“And the only other one would’ve been the one to Marsh maybe down the sideline, but really that read there should’ve taken him to the field, which was open. So we had to kind of hash that one out as a staff to make sure we were on the same page about what was going on. So, you know, I’m glad he’s our quarterback.”

It was a continuation of Cignetti’s defense of Hoover from his on-field interview with Peacock sideline reporter Caroline Pineda, who asked the IU coach to assess his play in the 38-0 win.

“Josh is going to be fine. All people want to talk about is Josh,” he said. “You know what I mean? We have 21 other starters on the field and 104 other players. Josh, I think, has thrown for more yards and more touchdown passes than anyone currently playing, right? I’m glad we got him.”

Inevitably, everything Hoover does this season is going to be dissected because of IU’s stature in the sport and the fact that he’s replacing a Heisman Trophy winner in Fernando Mendoza.

Cignetti refuses to look beyond Northwestern

The Hoosiers wrapped up non-conference play with three comfortable wins, outscoring their opponents 145-16.

The focus now shifts to the Big Ten schedule and Northwestern on Friday night in primetime.

Cignetti, as always, refuses to look beyond that. Near the conclusion of Monday’s press conference, Cignetti was asked about the importance of Big Ten play in preparing his team for postseason play.

It was, predictably, not a question Cignetti wanted to entertain.

“We’re playing a really, really good football team,” Cignetti explained. “That’s my total focus. I think there is too much focus on ‘we are this’ or ‘we are that’ and, ‘oh, compared to last year’. Well, last year at this time, where were we really, okay?

“I’m not thinking about down the road. I know who the next game is after this one and so on and so forth, but like everything is going into this one because this is a good football team. We got to play really well. We got to have great balance on offense, between the run and the pass.”

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