Indiana football won’t get caught up CFP Rankings reveal. Why? Curt Cignetti says it would be ‘kiss of death’

When Indiana football was picked 17th in the preseason Big Ten rankings, one person was extremely outspoken about the lack of respect that was given to the Hoosiers and that was head coach Curt Cignetti.

The Indiana head coach was coming off of his 13th-straight winning season and didn’t mince words about the disrespect he felt like was given.

“Normally at these things, I stand up here and we’re picked to win the league,” Cignetti said at Big Ten Media Day. “It’s just usually how it’s been. I’ve been picked next-to-last twice. We’re picked 17th out of an 18-team league, and I get it. The two times we were picked next-to-last, in 2022, we won the conference championship, and in 2017 we inherited an 8-45 team and won eight in a row and played JMU in the last game of the year for the conference championship.

“Now I’m not into making predictions, that’s just a historical fact.”

Now, Indiana football is on the verge of making program history in Cignetti’s first season in Bloomington. In already a season of ‘firsts’, Tuesday night will bring the program to even new heights. The first College Football Playoff rankings of the season will be unveiled and IU will be among the teams projected to make the College Football Playoff.

Entering Tuesday, IU is ranked No. 8 in the AP Poll and just one of five programs that remain unbeaten. IU’s next win would bring its total to 10, which would be a program record.

But none of that means anything to Cignetti.

“I’ll see the rankings, but the only thing that really matters is you get the result when you play,” Cignetti said. “And to do that you’ve got to keep the main thing the main thing and eliminate the noise and the clutter and stay focused on what’s going to help you play your best on Saturday to give you the best chance to get the result.”

Tuesday’s results won’t be the first time that ‘distractions’ and ‘noise’ have been tied to the program. IU hosted ESPN’s College GameDay two weeks ago for the first time in program history. It has had nationally televised games as well.

And on Saturday, IU will play on CBS against Michigan in a critical game to add to its playoff-resume.

“Today we’ve got to have a great meeting, a great walk-through and stack days, moments, hours, to put ourselves in a position to do that (get to the playoff) and not get sidetracked by all the other stuff,” Cignetti said. “Every week presents its own new set of circumstances and so there’s a lot of that going on this week.”

With new circumstances finding its way around the Indiana football program, Cignetti understands where the focus of he, and his team, needs to be.

“I’m aware of it,” Cignetti said. “But to get kind of caught up on that and lose your focus would be the kiss of death.”

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