‘Church of Cignetti.’ Indiana football coach ‘as close to Saban as I’ve seen.’

BLOOMINGTON – Last season, as he watched Nick Saban navigate a lackluster start, a quarterback benching and a withering schedule en route to winning the SEC, Rick Neuheisel — believing this was some of Saban’s best work — began saying he “worshipped at the church of Saban.”

When the legendary Alabama coach retired last offseason, Neuheisel needed a new parish. Watching Indiana demolish UCLA, his alma mater, in Week 3, Neuheisel knew he’d found his congregation.

“I said, ‘I’m going to be at the church of Cignetti,’ given the way they boat-raced UCLA,” Neuheisel told IndyStar this week. “I thought I saw a lot of Saban in Cignetti, not because of the way he said, ‘I win. Google me,’ but in terms of the no-nonsense approach, the adherence to the process.”

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Cignetti has converts all over the country now: fans, analysts, former players, current and former coaches. College football has looked on with astounded fascination as Cignetti ruthlessly turned a Big Ten also ran into one of the most intimidating football teams in the country.

The Hoosiers lead the nation in average margin of victory. They’re second in points per game and seventh in points per game allowed, seventh in tackles for loss and tied for fourth in sacks. Among qualified passers, only Ole Miss’ Jaxson Dart has a higher quarterback rating or averages more yards per attempt than Kurtis Rourke, and only Army, which runs the option, has more rushing touchdowns (33) than IU (32).

Those numbers run on, but they all tell the same story of a team so efficient, so unrelenting, so meticulous, it is resetting all kinds of program records and expectations on its way to a potential College Football…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/church-cignetti-indiana-football-coach-205718549.html

Author : IndyStar | The Indianapolis Star

Publish date : 2024-11-08 20:57:18

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