Indiana Hoosiers coach Curt Cignetti listened last season as his team was criticized for a “soft” schedule ahead of its inclusion in the College Football Playoff over SEC teams such as Alabama and Ole Miss. Now, Cignetti and the Hoosiers are facing a new round of criticism after cancelling a 2027-28 home-and-home contract with Virginia.
Removing the Virginia series leaves future Indiana schedules with no Power Four opponents until a home-and-home series with Notre Dame that starts in 2030. This season, Indiana begins its campaign with a trio of home games against Old Dominion, Kennesaw State and Indiana State before Illinois comes to Memorial Stadium.
During Big Ten media days, Cignetti responded to a question about Indiana’s scheduling philosophy by taking a few shots at the same SEC teams who criticized Indiana’s playoff inclusion last season.
“Here’s the bottom line: we picked up an extra home game, and we play nine conference games,” Cignetti said. “The two best conferences in college football, any football guy that’s objective will tell you, are the Big Ten and the SEC. Twelve of the 16 SEC teams play three G5 or an FCS team. Twelve of those teams play 36 games, 29 G5 games and seven FCS games, and one less conference game [than Big Ten teams].
“So, we figured we would just adopt SEC scheduling philosophy. Some people don’t like it. I’m more focused in on those nine conference games.”
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Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/indianas-curt-cignetti-responds-to-scheduling-criticism-says-team-adopted-sec-scheduling-philosophy/
Author : Brent Brookhouse
Publish date : 2025-07-22 21:09:00
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