Curt Cignetti spoke to the media on Monday at his weekly press conference.
Cignetti reviewed IU football’s 19-15 loss to Ohio State and previewed the upcoming matchup against Michigan in Ann Arbor.
Watch Cignetti’s full media availability below:
A full transcript of Cignetti’s comments is available below, via ASAP Sports:
CURT CIGNETTI: Get ready for Michigan, impressive team, especially on defense. But great effort on Saturday. Great football game. We fell short, plain and simple.
Gave great effort. Had our opportunities for sure. In in some ways we beat ourselves, which is uncharacteristic of this football team, but I think we certainly proved we’re capable. We just have to clean up a couple areas and use this setback to learn and grow and come back stronger and better.
So really tough opponent this week, Michigan. Made quarterback the second half at Penn State. Gave them a shot in the arm. Scored three second half touchdowns to win the game.
Really impressed with their defense. Their quickness, their tenacity, the way they played play in and play out, the way they run to the ball. It’s top flight defense.
Offensively they’ve got good running backs. Quarterback came in and played really well. The other quarterback, you know, has a cannon and can run; makes a lot of plays with his legs.
So they’ll be feeling pretty good about themselves after that victory. It will be a very physical football game again, our eighth game in a row, so looking forward, not backward, and this will be a very tough challenge.
Q. How did you assess Josh Hoover’s performance after watching the film and what did you see from him?
CURT CIGNETTI: I thought he made good plays. There are some he would like to have back, some overthrows for sure.
Q. When a quarterback is missing, overthrowing, does that tell you anything about maybe what’s kind of the challenge he’s facing, or what was going wrong with him?
CURT CIGNETTI: It’s just an accuracy issue. You know, there have been a couple other overthrows in games, so…
But they (indiscernible) plays, too, so…
Q. Nick and Charlie have been I think two of those most targeted receivers in the conference through whatever number of games this season. Both really talented players. What’s the balance for a quarterback to wanting to really feed guys that are that talented and also maybe not wanting to get overly locked in on one or two receivers?
CURT CIGNETTI: Well, it’s not like he goes shopping what I want to pick up at the store today. The play has a certain read progression attached to it versus defenses, and quarterback goes through his progressions. We try to get those guys the ball because they’re our best two playmakers.
Q. (No microphone.)
CURT CIGNETTI: Yeah, I mean, teams like Ohio State, Michigan, they don’t give up much rushing yardage. We did have some positive runs. We got into kind of a throw mode. I they we called 46 passes and 26 runs, which is very uncharacteristic of us.
So, you know, all starts up front. We all want more consistent production, explosive plays. Haven’t got any explosive plays the last two weeks in the run game.
Q. With special teams, the two missed field goals, what did you see from Nico? And in hindsight, do you wish you put Paddy McAteer out there for the long one, or did he show you something early in the season that made you think Nico was the choice there?
CURT CIGNETTI: No, you know, that first miss was an uncharacteristic miss. We should have been in the end zone the play before but weren’t. The 55 yarder would’ve been go for it and called the play and they came on defensively and didn’t like the look. So called timeout and decided to kick it. I did think about Paddy.
We went into the game 56, Paddy 55, Nico was 55. He hit it right down the middle that would’ve been good from 53, because he’s improved his range.
Q. (Regarding Michigan’s quarterbacks and preparing.)
CURT CIGNETTI: You can see what you need to see in the second half of Penn State in my opinion, which I watched. You know, I would assume it would be him. Could be two quarterbacks on the field at the same time. That would not surprise me. They did a lot of that at Utah.
And the other guy can make plays. So schematically they didn’t change a whole lot in the second half.
Q. You guys gave Ohio State a lot of problems with your defense. Is it just a matter of coming together with the reps and playing together this long that you guys have really — what has allowed that to happen?
CURT CIGNETTI: The defense rose to the occasion. Hey, let’s face it, it was a big contest and our defense played well, played really well. The entire team played with great effort.
We met a lot of our goals. They did spit a few runs, but we gave up a little bit schematically to double cover the receiver and we know that this guy might catch a few more, they may hit a few more runs, but put pressure on the quarterback, which we wanted to do.
Then forced catches, and the one big one was an underthrow which we just kind of one of those things. But, you know, we’re really good up front and the coverage was tight. Really proud of the way we played. Held them to field goals when they got down there. Created two turnovers. Set up our first score.
I thought it was an outstanding effort and we’re going to need another one this week.
Q. (No microphone.) (Regarding talking with Nick since Saturday.)
CURT CIGNETTI: Yeah, right. Well, we got a lot of guys hurting after this game, and that play wasn’t all on Nick. There are three, four things that happened on that play that lead to a break down in execution.
So I’ll see Nick tonight in the team meeting. Nick will be fine. He played well. He had one or two plays he would like to have back, but had some pressure on that play in Josh’s face, and Josh’s drop wasn’t exactly corrected and then he punt faked it, so he could have gotten it out a little quicker.
But it was definitely a layup.
Ann Arbor, no, have not played there.
Q. On the offensive line how have you seen them adjust to these Big10 defensive fronts and what improvements would you like to see them make?
CURT CIGNETTI: I thought we protected well. Be nice to get some explosive runs going again, but we did — we had a couple drives where we got some nice runs, and we’re starting to, you know what I mean, and then it became a throw game.
Basically we lost the game. Like before you win it you can’t lose it. You look at the second quarter. We had momentum; we’re taking control. We go down there and score, we’d be up 11. We don’t execute something that’s like day one in terms of level of execution required.
Have to kick the field goal. Hit the crossbar. Doesn’t happen very often. They go down and score. Big turn of events even first series second half. Completed pass. Strip and fumbles the ball. You know, next time went four for four. They gave us a certain look. We didn’t adjust. Sack, fumble.
So those are the kind of mistakes. And then the last play of the game that we normally don’t make that we make.
So, you know, I think we were all feeling pretty bad after the game that night I’m sure. I woke up, you know, with kind of a new perspective: That we proved that we’re capable. Just got clean up a couple things and get a little better in certain areas, so…
Q. Coach, how did you feel like you evaluated your players’ ability to mentally flip from Ohio State to Michigan? Do they need on influence from the coaching staff to get in the right mindset or do you think your leaders did a good enough job?
CURT CIGNETTI: I mean, look, this business and what we ask of players is not easy stuff; this is hard. It took a lot of effort. It was a physical game. A lot of guys, you know, felt a lot better ten days ago than they do right now, and we’re heading into another one and one more after that and then we finally get an open week after nine games.
But we got to suck it up and go. Got no choice.
Q. (On the status of Khobie Martin.)
CURT CIGNETTI: Yeah, I would say we’re optimistic on him.
Q. (On keeping guys healthy.)
CURT CIGNETTI: Yeah, we try to keep them healthy and fresh best we can the entire season. At this point in the year, there may be a slight tweak, but not major.
