IU football is off to a record start in many ways. Yet, Curt Cignetti stressing ‘not taking the rat poison’ and avoiding the ‘warm fuzzies’ with arrival of Big Ten play

Curt Cignetti is the first IU football head coach to begin his coaching career with four straight wins and he’s done so in dominant fashion. Wins are wins, but when you’re able to string together dominant performances in four straight games, people will talk. And that’s exactly what people are doing — both nationally and locally.

Letdowns have been few and far between for this new, yet veteran group of Hoosiers. The maturity of this group has fully taken on the personality of its head coach. What was made known during the offseason has come to fruition through the first few weeks of the season — Curt Cignetti is doing everything he can to change the narrative around the IU football program.

With the early success comes a lot of outside noise, however. There’s also a chance to become stagnant — a point of emphasis for Cignetti heading into the remainder of the season; all Big Ten play.

“You get better (or), you get worse,” Cignetti said. “We don’t want to maintain the level. We want to improve the level in everything we’re doing. We want to improve because we’re not — nobody is in a position in college football where they afford to go backwards. So you’ve got to keep striving.”

The emphasis around growth and improvement has led to Curt Cignetti’s resume, one that has very few shortcomings.

13 winning seasons — every year he’s been on the sideline — is enough to allow him a long runway to jumpstart the IU football program. But, it wasn’t — and isn’t — needed.

Why? Because this type of success isn’t new to him, even if it is to the fans and players around the program.

“Well, we are used to being successful, this staff that I brought in, the players that are here,” Cignetti said. “When you win, it’s about maintaining your edge and avoiding complacency and not having the warm fuzzies and not taking the rat poison, right? Eliminating the noise and the clutter, focusing on what’s going to help you get to the point where you can perform to the best of your ability on Saturday, the preparation part, the physical and mental preparation.”

With each win, however, the belief within the program grows.

While Curt Cignetti isn’t ready to crown this team winners of anything quite yet, consistently noting that they’ll ‘enjoy this win for 24 hours’, the confidence from inside the program is sky high.

“We know we can battle against anybody,” Indiana safety Shawn Asbury II said last week. “The real test is coming up these next few weeks. But so far we know if we play our game we can beat anybody in the country.”

And that mentality is exactly how it should be — says Cignetti.

“Success leads to confidence, which leads to success,” Cignetti said. “And so they go hand in hand. But you still have to put the work in during the week because everything we do isn’t fun. You’ve got to pay the price in terms of your commitment level, make some choices and decisions, good ones, and sacrifices. But we should be a confident football team right now, but we’ve got to put the work in.”

SEE ALSO: 3 Storylines to watch for in Week 5 when Indiana football plays Maryland

Make sure to follow Hoosier Illustrated, part of the Full Ride Network, on Twitter @Indiana_FRN, Facebook and YouTube to stay up to date on all of the news, updates and coverage of Indiana University athletics. You can also listen to the Talking’ Bout the Hoosiers podcast on Spotify.

Looking for a place to get more Indiana content? Hoosier Illustrated has partnered with Tom Brady’s company ‘Autograph’ to streamline our coverage, so you can continue to do what you do best – follow IU sports. Use the CODE: Indianafr to get started today. For more info, you can start here.