Curt Cignetti: Undefeated Indiana hasn't faced 'any adversity' through first seven weeks

Curt Cignetti has done unbelievable work to this point through his debut season at Indiana. It’s not his first rebuild in his coaching career, though.

Cignetti joined on during ‘The Pat McAfee Show’ in Bloomington on Friday. In that appearance, he discussed what he has done so far this fall with the Hoosiers. However, that required him to recall what he did in a similar spot for two years at Elon in the FCS.

“I’ve been through a turnaround like this, kind of, before – my second head-coaching job at Elon where they were worse historically than Indiana,” said Cignetti. “A lot of people there thought it was impossible, no chance. By then, I’d been a head coach for six years, kind of knew what I was doing a little bit, right. We won eight in a row.”

“I equated this back in the spring and winter to that,” Cignetti explained.

However, this has been even more successful than that. It’s obviously so with it being up a level with him now in the Big Ten. It’s also so with Indiana not just being one of the last undefeated teams of this season but by having the largest margin of victory of anyone in the country at 35 ppg..

“The difference between the two? All those wins, like, went down to the last play. Here? We haven’t trailed yet. We haven’t given up a point in the first quarter,” said Cignetti. “I mean, you know, you talk about handling adversity? We really haven’t had any adversity.”

With that said, Cignetti knows that that could still be on it’s way for IU.

“Now, it’s coming. It has to, right?” said Cignetti.

That starts this weekend in a prime game tomorrow in the midst of missing one of their most important pieces. After that, they’ll still have four more games with two against a pair of the conference’s most notable teams in Michigan and at Ohio State.

Still, with what they’ve already achieved and built there this season, it’s about staying centered on what they’re doing in the present to continue to make his latest revamp into another successful one.

“You know, I think they made a movie once – build it and they will come? You know, here we are,” said Cignetti. “This is a natural process. You know – win, belief, success, fan support. We’re sold out for the rest of the season.”

“You know, our guys in our organization have to stay focused on the things. They’re going to help prepare them to be the best they can be tomorrow to give themselves the best chance.”