Welcome Coach Curt Cignetti and his Associated Press seventh-ranked Indiana football team.
“I’ve never been to the state of Nebraska, and I’m looking forward to it; heard great things about the stadium, the fans,” Cignetti said during his Monday news conference.
He’s also seen what awaits his team. What the Huskers have “put on tape this year is extremely impressive,” he said. They represent a “tremendous challenge.”
Nebraska football, like the Hoosiers, is 5-0, its first 5-0 start since Mike Riley’s second team started 7-0 in 2016. Indiana, the reigning national champion, has 21 consecutive wins.
Cignetti isn’t personally familiar with Memorial Stadium and Husker fans, but he is with Anthony Colandrea. When he was coaching at James Madison, the Dukes played Virginia and Colandrea, who saw action as a freshman. “I know him well,” Cignetti said of Nebraska’s quarterback.
He was asked how Colandrea had improved since then. Cignetti said, “repetition is the mother of learning,” so Colandrea’s experience, practicing as well as playing, led to improvement.
Colandrea is a threat with his legs as well as his arm, according to Cignetti.
“If there’s nothing there, he has the ability to create plays with his arm and his legs,” Cignetti said.
Indiana’s successor to Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza at quarterback, TCU transfer Josh Hoover, has been equally impressive passing, completing 71% of his passes for 1,101 yards and 15 touchdowns, without an interception. And the Hoosiers have lost only one fumble, tying for first in the nation in turnovers. Nebraska is fourth, with just two turnovers.
Indiana has gained only three turnovers, however, to Nebraska’s eight.
The teams both rank in the top 15 nationally in scoring offense and scoring defense. Indiana ranks first in the Big Ten in total defense, rushing defense and scoring defense. The Hoosiers are seventh, fourth and fifth nationally in those respective categories.
Linebackers Isaiah Jones and Rolijah Hardy are the Hoosiers’ leading tacklers with 38 and 33 respectively. Three of Hardy’s tackles have been for losses. Defensive lineman Tobi Osunsanmi, a first-year transfer from Kansas State, has eight tackles for loss, including four sacks.
Indiana has 15 sacks (one short of Nebraska) for 115 yards in losses.
Despite their success, the Huskers haven’t been voted into the national Top 25, though they’ve received votes in both the AP and Coaches’ polls — Indiana is fifth according to the coaches. Hoosier fans are upset with the AP poll, as Alabama moved to sixth, dropping Indiana to seventh this week.
In any case, the Hoosiers are in the top 10, representing a significant enough challenge.
Matt Rhule talked about one aspect of that challenge offensively Monday in discussing the importance of practice and preparation. “They’re going to throw an RPO out there to Nick Marsh or Charlie Becker, and we’re going to have to tackle right,” Rhule said. “So you have to practice those things. But to me, it’s also just the deliberate nature of, ‘Hey, this is what they do.’”
Becker has caught 27 passes for 477 yards and eight touchdowns, Marsh 23 passes for 341 yards and four touchdowns. Davion Chandler has also caught four touchdown passes.
Indiana ranks second in the Big Ten and ninth nationally in rushing offense, averaging 252.4 yards per game. Turbo Richard and Lee Beebe Jr. are far and away the Hoosiers’ busiest ball carriers. Richard, a first-year transfer from Boston College, has 63 carries for 587 yards (9.3 per carry) and five touchdowns. Beebe has carried 89 times for 520 yards (5.8 per carry) and four touchdowns.
Cignetti, being appropriately respectful, repeated the point during his Monday news conference. Nebraska is a “very impressive team on tape,” he said. So are his Hoosiers.
Again, welcome to Memorial Stadium on FOX Big Noon Saturday, Curt.
“It’s going to be loud,” Husker tight end Luke Lindenmeyer said Tuesday. “And “fun.”
