Video, Quotes: Curt Cignetti reviews Northwestern win, previews Rutgers

IU football was outscored in the second half but held off Northwestern 29-23 on Friday night in its Big Ten opener at Memorial Stadium.

At his weekly press conference on Monday, Curt Cignetti reviewed the win against the Wildcats and looked ahead to Saturday’s Big Ten road contest against Rutgers in Piscataway.

Watch the full Q&A with Cignetti below:

A full transcript of Cignetti’s comments is available below, via ASAP Sports:

CURT CIGNETTI: All right, last game, positive is we were in a close game and prevailed. There is value in that.

Negative is we didn’t play well. We were very inconsistent. We got to play better. We’re not going to go very far playing the way we played Saturday night. Took the offense about 22 minutes to get going. First 25 plays there was 12 either penalties, critical missed assignments, or missed opportunities. We should have gone in there at halftime with a four-score lead and went in 12-nothing.

Defensively, third quarter, third and 13, about 11 minutes to go, they haven’t done anything on offense, not much at least, and we let the quarterback get out of the pocket. After that they made throws and catches, we couldn’t corral the quarterback in the pocket, and they scored their last four drives.

Offensively we scored five out of our last six drives. We were three and out the first drive of the second half. Didn’t attempt to score at the end of the half with hardly any time and iced the game, so picked it up there. Dropped the kickoff that we fair caught on the two. You just can’t play like that and expect to get a whole lot done.

So we got to get a lot better.

Rutgers this week is a team that it’s their homecoming. They’re expecting a sellout, blackout, 56,000 people. They’re capable of scoring points and they do score points.

KJ Duff is a premier receiver and their other receivers are developing. They got a good running back, Antwan Raymond. Kirk Ciarrocca, offensive coordinator does a nice job with that offense. Greg Schiano is obviously a great coach. Coached in the NFL.

They’re giving up some points but we got to do a much better job. We did out-gain this team, and I give Northwestern a lot of credit. I do think they’re a good football team. When you out-rush somebody 270 to 30 you don’t expect the game to go down to the wire the way it did.

But give them credit. They made plays. It was a hard-fought game. If you go back and re-watch that game it was physical and hard-fought. I give our guys credit for making the plays at the end, but we got to improve.

That’s all I got.

Q. Any update on Turbo? Do you anticipate him missing extended time? And then connected to that with Khobie Martin, any updated timeline where he is at on his recovery?

CURT CIGNETTI: No, we got really good news on Turbo and he’ll be day to day. I’m optimistic he can play Saturday as well as Rolijah Hardy.

Q. To follow up on the run game broadly you mentioned the total number there Friday. I think like 210 of those yards come on seven rushes. What’s the sort of positive/negative of a run game that can be very explosive but also needs to be a little bit more consistent down to down?

CURT CIGNETTI: You know, the run game sometimes tied into RPOs and sometimes RPOs not thrown that can be thrown that result in maybe a two or three yard gain.

I’m never going to walk a way from 270 yards rushing in a Big10 football game. That’s pretty darn good.

Q. Curt, Stephen Daley seems to be improving each week. How close is he to full impact?

CURT CIGNETTI: I think he’s getting closer. He was our defensive player of the game. Also he had a critical missed assignment on a critical play on their touchdown down near our locker room where he was supposed to rush and didn’t, but he played well. His presence in that game was felt.

Q. Coach, Davion Chandler doesn’t have a large volume of production. Seems like when he makes a catch it’s been pretty impactful.

CURT CIGNETTI: Yeah, no question.

Q. Your thoughts on his progress and development, and I guess how much can he be involved over the eight+ games?

CURT CIGNETTI: Well, he’s made big plays for us, and at that position you got to block, too, do other things. But I’m pleased with his progress. We’ve gotten him involved. And obviously got Becker, Nick, and Shazz Preston, older guy making plays and big, strong guy.

So I like our core, and Davion is an important part of it.

Q. Coach, what are some of the maybe mental hurdles to get players through a first road game atmosphere? And adding to that, how important is it to set the tone early to make sure that place doesn’t stay involved the entire game?

CURT CIGNETTI: We’re going on the road. Still playing on a 100 yard football field, 52 yards wide. Got a lot of veterans on this team that have been there.

It’s a business trip, so going there — we got prepare well this week and put it between the white lines.

Q. Postgame Saturday you pointed out the right tackle and tight ends needing improvement. What do they need to improve and how do you go about improving that?

CURT CIGNETTI: They’re young players and they’re developing. There are some things they do well and some things they’re still improving on.

So you know, Ajani has made nice progress. Every once in a while we have to get him some help on pass pro. Tight ends are young, but I see them making progress.

Q. What did Jaylen Bell in your assessment do to earn the start, and how do you think he performed?

CURT CIGNETTI: We stuck Jamari Sharpe in the bench, boundary corner. There are a few more nuances to the boundary corner position in the field, and Jaylen have been consistent in all his opportunities to the field. Be nice to see him come up with that interception there at the end the half. He had the ball in his hands. He’s got a good attitude. He works hard. Smart football player. It’s important to him.

Q. How did you seen Nick Marsh progress since he arrived on campus and especially with his blocking?

CURT CIGNETTI: Yeah, I think Nick is improving every week, and we’re using him in a lot of different ways. You know, he’s a threat in the pass game and he’s also an excellent blocker.

I think our receivers in general have done a pretty good job. Blocking can still improve. Shazz Preston, you saw a key block on that one long run.

So I’m really encouraged by the way Nick is trending.

Q. Coach, with that, with Nick Marsh and Shazz Preston on the field looks like they take as much pride in making good blocks down the field as they do in making catches. Is that something you’ve seen develop or is that something they came in with?

CURT CIGNETTI: No, no. That’s something we emphasize. Mike does and me being an ex-receiver coach at Alabama where all we do was block when I was there, you know, I kind of drive that point home hard to the receivers as we get close to game day. I give them credit, they’ve responded..

Q. Kind of a double-barrelled linebacker question. Is Rolijah Hardy, he kind of got banged up near the end Friday night. Is he okay?

CURT CIGNETTI: We expect him to be fine.

Q. Okay. No. 2, you kind of moved Kaiden Turner around a little bit. Freed maybe Isaiah Jones up. How have you seen that linebacker room develop with some experiences guys?

CURT CIGNETTI: Yeah, that’s not a three-linebacker package. Kaiden Turner has been the Mike up to this point and Bryant is always coming up with new packages to get guys involved. See how that ends up looking down the road.

Q. Coach, Rutgers had a lot of success running the ball against Howard last week. Antwan Raymond had 16 carries for 140 yards and three touchdowns. Just what have you seen from him and the run game as a whole?

CURT CIGNETTI: He’s a good player. He’s one of the premier backs in this conference. You know, they’re not really fancy in their run game. They do few things in the run game really well. He has great vision. Can stick his foot and get north and south and tremendous ball security.

They want to run the ball but they have been very explosive also now on the outside. So you’ve seen them open it up a little bit more maybe than two, three years ago.

Q. We’ve seen that jumbo package you use at the goal line. Particularly with the defensive linemen coming in and Daley coming in in the back field. I think you used that a couple times last year, too. What is the inspiration for that, and what do you like about that look?

CURT CIGNETTI: I like it when it works. We bring those defensive guys in because we are a little short at tight end, and it was successful last season and early this season now.

You know, Northwestern was fully committed to stopping the inside run which is why we had Josh pull the ball on the last touchdown. I don’t want him pointing like he did. I don’t condone that. We could have got called there for taunting and I was disappointed to see that.

Week to week, based on the opponent, we’re just trying to put ourselves in the best position. Some weeks you might see it and some weeks you won’t.

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