Toggle sidebar

After further review, seems that Indiana really just did things the old fashioned way.

Perd Hapley

Perd Hapley

All-American
Sep 30, 2022
5,874
6,925
113
The stats below have nothing to do with NIL budget, recruiting stars, talent, pace of play, style of offense, or anything else like that. What they do show quite clearly - extreme discipline and focus.

1) Turnovers

- I’ll start off with a stat that absolutely floored me as a football fan. The date is Saturday, August 30th, 2025. Indiana opened the season with Old Dominion. With 2:09 remaining in the 1st quarter, on IU’s second drive of the season, IU RB Roman Hemby lost a fumble after a 30 yard run. Well, it turns out that Coach Cignetti didn’t like that very much….because after that, Indiana did not lose another fumble for the rest of the season. 15 consecutive games and 3 quarters afterwards….947 minutes and 9 seconds of consecutive gametime with zero lost fumbles, for the whole team. Holy ****. Might be a record.

- Indiana went 16-0 against their schedule on the scoreboard, largely because they went 13-0-3 in the turnover battle. They never turned the ball over more than the opponent. In 2 of the 3 games where they had the same number of turnovers as the opponent, that same number was zero.

- They had just one game all season with multiple turnovers. They had 2 in week 8, still won TO battle.

- They had ZERO turnovers combined in three CFP games, and just one total turnover in 4 postseason games.

- For the entire 16 game season, IU had just 8 turnovers, compared to 30 for their opponents.

2) Penalties

- IU had fewer penalty yards than their opponents in 9 of 16 games. In 4 of the 7 games that they did not, they still had 30 yards or less in penalties.

- The highest number of penalty yards they had in a game all season was 49.

- For the season, IU averaged 27.6 penalty yards per game, compared to 34.9 for their opponents….over 21% less.

- In the CFP games, IU had a combined 37 fewer penalty yards than their opponents. In just the Miami and Oregon games, they averaged 21 fewer penalty yards per game.
 
  • Like
Reactions: LocalBeachBum, Darryl Steight, Corby.sixpack and 7 others
Choctaw Dawg

Choctaw Dawg

Junior
May 21, 2017
535
214
43
I noticed that outside of the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after the interception to seal the game, they did not do anything stupid on the field. No dancing around after they got a first down, pointing to move the chains or jawing with opposing players, they took the ball after catching it and gave it to the referee and went back to the huddle.
 
  • Like
Reactions: LocalBeachBum, jethreauxdawg, TheDawg-Pound and 6 others
D

dudehead

Senior
Jul 9, 2006
1,549
607
113
Choctaw Dawg said:
I noticed that outside of the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after the interception to seal the game, they did not do anything stupid on the field. No dancing around after they got a first down, pointing to move the chains or jawing with opposing players, they took the ball after catching it and gave it to the referee and went back to the huddle.
Click to expand...
In other words, they acted like men who belong there.
 
  • Like
Reactions: LocalBeachBum, jethreauxdawg, DawgInThe256 and 4 others
N

NukeDogg

All-Conference
Mar 15, 2022
971
1,239
93
Choctaw Dawg said:
I noticed that outside of the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after the interception to seal the game, they did not do anything stupid on the field. No dancing around after they got a first down, pointing to move the chains or jawing with opposing players, they took the ball after catching it and gave it to the referee and went back to the huddle.
Click to expand...
I rooted for them solely for this reason. They acted like they were on a mission. Well disciplined, well coached, no free plays or free yardage on dumb penalties.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TheDawg-Pound, Trojanbulldog19 and Corby.sixpack
H

HRMSU

All-Conference
Apr 26, 2022
1,428
1,279
113
Bagman.sixpack said:
Average age 23. Green Bay Packers average age 25. If the blurb I saw was correct. Large advantage.
Click to expand...
Look Cig is a unicorn but he also brought 13 players with him from JMU to Indiana. Seven were on the natty team. They brought a winning attitude and buy in to the way Cig works. Just the fact that 13 players followed him shows you how special he is. Using Indiana in this argument as an example of parity is disingenuous.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TheDawg-Pound, MSUDOG24 and patdog
Perd Hapley

Perd Hapley

All-American
Sep 30, 2022
5,874
6,925
113
All the stuff about average age of the players is well noted, but that still has nothing at all to do with the turnovers / penalties. I really doubt that you’ll find any NFL teams that go 15 straight games without losing a fumble.
 
  • Like
Reactions: LocalBeachBum
M

MSUDOG24

All-Conference
Mar 31, 2021
1,395
1,313
113
HRMSU said:
Look Cig is a unicorn but he also brought 13 players with him from JMU to Indiana. Seven were on the natty team. They brought a winning attitude and buy in to the way Cig works. Just the fact that 13 players followed him shows you how special he is. Using Indiana in this argument as an example of parity is disingenuous.
Click to expand...
I've seen you make the unicorn/outlier argument several times and couldn't agree more. Evolution of the narrative has been interesting this week (XM84, the Athletic, here) from it's Cuban, they have the largest alumni base, the players are old, he brought JMU players ("JMU players" mind you) and on and on . It's simply him. I guess people are searching for how could this have happened, what's the secret, etc. but it's him, a one of one that has "it".
"It's simple, I win. Google me." will forever be one of the greatest sports quotes of all time. SOB deadpan said it and turned around an did it .... at Indiana.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TheDawg-Pound and HRMSU
I

Irondawg

Senior
Dec 2, 2007
2,896
553
113
They were basically us with Dak in 2014. Lots of very good players with experience and an elite QB. It can be done, it's just hard to sustain b/c you have to hit on the QB and have everything else stacked up well around it.

With enough money it's easier to solidify most of the surrounding cast....but QB are still mostly a crapshoot.

Indiana struck gold with Mendoza, Ole Miss found a diamond in Chambliss- meanwhile Georgia, Alabama, Oklahoma and A&M had spotty QB play. Miami did too but he was good when it mattered vs OM
 
L

L4Dawg

All-American
Oct 27, 2016
10,375
7,221
113
Perd Hapley said:
All the stuff about average age of the players is well noted, but that still has nothing at all to do with the turnovers / penalties. I really doubt that you’ll find any NFL teams that go 15 straight games without losing a fumble.
Click to expand...
It has a lot to do with it. Mature men generally make better decision than boys. NOTICE he word "generally", that does NOT mean universally.
 
  • Like
Reactions: HRMSU
onewoof

onewoof

Heisman
Mar 4, 2008
15,215
13,417
113
folks may be shocked to hear that Indiana dropped an estimated $21M on NIL in 2025 and Miami spent $24.4M

Cignetti told CBS Sports. "I think our little pot of gold is pretty nice, but we're not at $40 million. Or $30 million. Or even $25 million."

Some estimate that Miami spent about $30M.

Is this "doing it the old fashioned way?" I will hang up and listen.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: HRMSU
Perd Hapley

Perd Hapley

All-American
Sep 30, 2022
5,874
6,925
113
L4Dawg said:
It has a lot to do with it. Mature men generally make better decision than boys. NOTICE he word "generally", that does NOT mean universally.
Click to expand...
Mature men like the ones playing in the NFL who are way older than IU’s players, have no NCAA mandated practice time limits, and STILL don’t go 15 straight games - as a team - without losing a fumble?
 
  • Like
Reactions: TheDawg-Pound and Trojanbulldog19
J

johnson86-1

All-Conference
Aug 22, 2012
14,373
4,875
113
Perd Hapley said:
Mature men like the ones playing in the NFL who are way older than IU’s players, have no NCAA mandated practice time limits, and STILL don’t go 15 straight games - as a team - without losing a fumble?
Click to expand...
If you had those mature men playing in the NCAA, they would.

IU is obviously very well coached and all the stats you mentioned are evidence of that. But it's also really good evidence that they were talented. If they had typical IU talent with the same coaching, they would have turned the ball over a lot.

As is usually the case, dominant teams have strong talent and strong coaching. The only thing that's unique is that it's the first time a traditional have not has used it's access to money to put together a championship team. It's basically Oregon when they started to get serious about winning, but instead of just having good coaching, they had great coaching and won the championship.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TheDawg-Pound
Trojanbulldog19

Trojanbulldog19

All-American
Aug 25, 2014
10,010
5,791
113
denzel washington smiling GIF

I imagine cignetti being a lot like this guy. You drop a pass or fumble you run a mile. Not interested in being cool or their friend
 
  • Like
Reactions: TheDawg-Pound
Perd Hapley

Perd Hapley

All-American
Sep 30, 2022
5,874
6,925
113
johnson86-1 said:
If you had those mature men playing in the NCAA, they would
Click to expand...
Completely disagree. Talent and age has literally nothing to do with whether or not you’ll put the ball on the ground. You could take a 155 lb RB from Delta State and put him out on an SEC field. He might average 0.2 yards per carry, but if he has proper fundamentals and focus of his assignment every snap, he’s not going to cough it up.
 
A

Allday.sixpack

Sophomore
Aug 24, 2012
562
159
43
As State supporters, we can’t agree on where our biggest deficiency lies in our football program.

We can’t even agree that the program is sinking, therefore we have little hope in improving something that some people think is trending upward.

My assertion is that NIL money is not our primary problem, but Keenum’s decision to hire an unproven AD Selmon, who then hires an unproven rookie coach Lebby, who then hires unproven defensive coordinator, Hutzler who brings no players with him and hire Corey Bell to coach The secondary. Etc….

This entire sequence of convenient hiring shows a lack of commitment and vision.

In addition, the Athletic Department has the audacity to demand we continue to strongly commit to Football support with raised ticket and parking pricing while administration has one foot on the gas and the other on the brake approach.

The solution? Start over with a proven winner as head coach, as Indiana did.
Give them the resources to bring the staff and player talent together.

We’ve done it to our baseball model.

We can’t start with a slow horse and expect to win race .
 
O

Old Dawg

Sophomore
Jan 7, 2020
198
147
43
Indiana went to the weight room and won on strength and conditioning plus coaching. Seems MSU needs to look at S & C. We just don’t seem to have that fight like we did.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TheDawg-Pound
T

TheDawg-Pound

Senior
Dec 21, 2024
672
498
63
Perd Hapley said:
The stats below have nothing to do with NIL budget, recruiting stars, talent, pace of play, style of offense, or anything else like that. What they do show quite clearly - extreme discipline and focus.

1) Turnovers

- I’ll start off with a stat that absolutely floored me as a football fan. The date is Saturday, August 30th, 2025. Indiana opened the season with Old Dominion. With 2:09 remaining in the 1st quarter, on IU’s second drive of the season, IU RB Roman Hemby lost a fumble after a 30 yard run. Well, it turns out that Coach Cignetti didn’t like that very much….because after that, Indiana did not lose another fumble for the rest of the season. 15 consecutive games and 3 quarters afterwards….947 minutes and 9 seconds of consecutive gametime with zero lost fumbles, for the whole team. Holy ****. Might be a record.

- Indiana went 16-0 against their schedule on the scoreboard, largely because they went 13-0-3 in the turnover battle. They never turned the ball over more than the opponent. In 2 of the 3 games where they had the same number of turnovers as the opponent, that same number was zero.

- They had just one game all season with multiple turnovers. They had 2 in week 8, still won TO battle.

- They had ZERO turnovers combined in three CFP games, and just one total turnover in 4 postseason games.

- For the entire 16 game season, IU had just 8 turnovers, compared to 30 for their opponents.

2) Penalties

- IU had fewer penalty yards than their opponents in 9 of 16 games. In 4 of the 7 games that they did not, they still had 30 yards or less in penalties.

- The highest number of penalty yards they had in a game all season was 49.

- For the season, IU averaged 27.6 penalty yards per game, compared to 34.9 for their opponents….over 21% less.

- In the CFP games, IU had a combined 37 fewer penalty yards than their opponents. In just the Miami and Oregon games, they averaged 21 fewer penalty yards per game.
Click to expand...
The fumble they did have, their guy picked up because he was hustling to the ball. This is discipline and endurance. You need both.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Perd Hapley
T

TheDawg-Pound

Senior
Dec 21, 2024
672
498
63
HRMSU said:
Look Cig is a unicorn but he also brought 13 players with him from JMU to Indiana. Seven were on the natty team. They brought a winning attitude and buy in to the way Cig works. Just the fact that 13 players followed him shows you how special he is. Using Indiana in this argument as an example of parity is disingenuous.
Click to expand...
Msu baseball style
 
  • Like
Reactions: HRMSU
T

TheDawg-Pound

Senior
Dec 21, 2024
672
498
63
MSUDOG24 said:
I've seen you make the unicorn/outlier argument several times and couldn't agree more. Evolution of the narrative has been interesting this week (XM84, the Athletic, here) from it's Cuban, they have the largest alumni base, the players are old, he brought JMU players ("JMU players" mind you) and on and on . It's simply him. I guess people are searching for how could this have happened, what's the secret, etc. but it's him, a one of one that has "it".
"It's simple, I win. Google me." will forever be one of the greatest sports quotes of all time. SOB deadpan said it and turned around an did it .... at Indiana.
Click to expand...
Rick ray also said that he 'didn't lose. He didn't know how'. When he was hired
 
T

TilloDwg

Senior
Aug 25, 2012
410
441
53
Cignetti is a 15-16 year younger Saban who doesn't mind the NIL....good combo these days
 
85Bears

85Bears

All-Conference
Aug 31, 2019
4,728
4,717
108
Old Dawg said:
Indiana went to the weight room and won on strength and conditioning plus coaching. Seems MSU needs to look at S & C. We just don’t seem to have that fight like we did.
Click to expand...
Tyson Brown, who used to coach here but was fired
 
J

johnson86-1

All-Conference
Aug 22, 2012
14,373
4,875
113
Perd Hapley said:
Completely disagree. Talent and age has literally nothing to do with whether or not you’ll put the ball on the ground. You could take a 155 lb RB from Delta State and put him out on an SEC field. He might average 0.2 yards per carry, but if he has proper fundamentals and focus of his assignment every snap, he’s not going to cough it up.
Click to expand...
Nah. Weaker ball carriers are more likely to get stripped. Coaching definitely matters. But you watch levels where there is a disparity in size and strength, you’ll see the. Other stronger team force more fumbles and pit the ball on the ground less.
 
Perd Hapley

Perd Hapley

All-American
Sep 30, 2022
5,874
6,925
113
johnson86-1 said:
Nah. Weaker ball carriers are more likely to get stripped. Coaching definitely matters. But you watch levels where there is a disparity in size and strength, you’ll see the. Other stronger team force more fumbles and pit the ball on the ground less.
Click to expand...
So, if i went through all of Saban’s best Bama teams…..who ALL had far more NFL talent than this IU team as well as every other team they played, would I find a similar 15.75 game stretch of no lost fumbles, and only 7 turnovers, total? Yes or no?
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom