Curt Cignetti goes full Grumpy Old Man before Indiana-Oregon game

Head Coach Curt Cignetti during the Indiana versus Illinois football game at Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025
Head Coach Curt Cignetti during the Indiana versus Illinois football game at Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025 | Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

He's tense, terse and to the point. Hoosiers coach Curt Cignetti never issues bulletin board material, calls them as he sees them and aims to get off the podium as quickly as possible.

Ahead of Indiana's 12:30 p.m. game at Oregon on Saturday, he was all-business and characteristically succinct in evaluating the matchup of the No. 7 Hoosiers against the No. 3 Ducks in Autzen Stadium.

Cignetti kept the word count down. You're never going to get a Mike Gundy-level inflammatory quote out of the 64-year-old (google him: he wins) former Division II head coach.

Talking about Dan Lanning he said, "Probably one of the most impressive young coaching phenoms to come around in a while I would say. I've been in this game a little bit."

"They're a great football team. Looking forward to the challenge, confidence in our team."

That's it for the weekly press conference for Indiana football, sponsored by Meijer, groceries, pharmacy, home goods and electronics.

Cignetti takes the nonsense out of the phrase no-nonsense. He's direct, meticulous and disciplined. His team ranks fourth in the Big Ten in penalties, tied-second in turnover margin, second in scoring defense, second in scoring offense.

They're playing with medium-sized hickory stump on their shoulders after being told repeatedly by Midwest media that last year's 11-2 playoff season was a fluke, an evaluation they obliterated forever by smacking No. 9 Illinois 63-10 in Week 4.

It's an efficient, take-no-prisoners outfit that demolished the Illini with 35 points in the first half and a shutout in the second, sacking senior quarterback Luke Altmyer seven times. They've limited opponents to 221 yards per game.

Like Cignetti said, he's been at this a long time. He's not giving anything away, and neither will his team. The Ducks are 7.5-point favorites, a line that's dropped a field goal in the last three days.