Indiana and Nebraska

T

tmfr15

Starter
After watching Indiana play last Saturday at home against Illinois, it's hard not to think about the Hoosiers in comparison with Nebraska.

Obviously, Nebraska took it on the chin pretty hard last year at Bloomington. And that was tough to watch.

But I had reasoning for that as a Husker fan. We went into the game not taking them seriously. They got the jump on us and we just couldn't recover. They had an easy schedule so they made it to the playoff, but Ohio State and Notre Dame showed that Indiana was just a team blessed with an easy slate and was not actually playoff worthy.

At the same time, Nebraska had Illinois at home last year on a night built for us to win. There was the sell out celebration and all of that. It was a battle of ranked teams. We had a good quarterback warming up in Dylan. And we will found a way to lose.

Indiana and Illinois. Battle of rated teams. And Indiana didn't just win. They blasted Illinois. And this despite the potential sophomore slump of having to back up your 2024 performance with 2025 success and having to replace the quarterback after they had such a good one last year. Seems to not be a problem.

They got 11 wins in year one and seem on their way to making it to a bowl quite easily this year.

If Indiana blasts Iowa on Saturday, that will just add to the mystery.

What is going on in Indiana that Nebraska isn't doing?
 
tmfr15 said:
After watching Indiana play last Saturday at home against Illinois, it's hard not to think about the Hoosiers in comparison with Nebraska.

Obviously, Nebraska took it on the chin pretty hard last year at Bloomington. And that was tough to watch.

But I had reasoning for that as a Husker fan. We went into the game not taking them seriously. They got the jump on us and we just couldn't recover. They had an easy schedule so they made it to the playoff, but Ohio State and Notre Dame showed that Indiana was just a team blessed with an easy slate and was not actually playoff worthy.

At the same time, Nebraska had Illinois at home last year on a night built for us to win. There was the sell out celebration and all of that. It was a battle of ranked teams. We had a good quarterback warming up in Dylan. And we will found a way to lose.

Indiana and Illinois. Battle of rated teams. And Indiana didn't just win. They blasted Illinois. And this despite the potential sophomore slump of having to back up your 2024 performance with 2025 success and having to replace the quarterback after they had such a good one last year. Seems to not be a problem.

They got 11 wins in year one and seem on their way to making it to a bowl quite easily this year.

If Indiana blasts Iowa on Saturday, that will just add to the mystery.

What is going on in Indiana that Nebraska isn't doing?
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I think a huge difference is that IU's coach was able to bring his coaching staff from JMU with him. The staff cohesion and everyone heading in the right direction is a huge plus. Then you add that they had players transfer with them that knew the expectations and standard they demanded, and they had a schedule that allowed them to see success from the jump and expand on it. The whole situation was a recipe for success.

Rhule and NU did not have those same advantages, and it has caused the rebuild to take longer. It will be interesting to see if they can continue the success over time, and if they can keep the coach from jumping ship to a bigger more wealthy program.
 
tmfr15 said:
After watching Indiana play last Saturday at home against Illinois, it's hard not to think about the Hoosiers in comparison with Nebraska.

Obviously, Nebraska took it on the chin pretty hard last year at Bloomington. And that was tough to watch.

But I had reasoning for that as a Husker fan. We went into the game not taking them seriously. They got the jump on us and we just couldn't recover. They had an easy schedule so they made it to the playoff, but Ohio State and Notre Dame showed that Indiana was just a team blessed with an easy slate and was not actually playoff worthy.

At the same time, Nebraska had Illinois at home last year on a night built for us to win. There was the sell out celebration and all of that. It was a battle of ranked teams. We had a good quarterback warming up in Dylan. And we will found a way to lose.

Indiana and Illinois. Battle of rated teams. And Indiana didn't just win. They blasted Illinois. And this despite the potential sophomore slump of having to back up your 2024 performance with 2025 success and having to replace the quarterback after they had such a good one last year. Seems to not be a problem.

They got 11 wins in year one and seem on their way to making it to a bowl quite easily this year.

If Indiana blasts Iowa on Saturday, that will just add to the mystery.

What is going on in Indiana that Nebraska isn't doing?
Click to expand...
Indiana is doing something that hasn't been done before or at least not in recent history. There are dozens of programs trying to replicate it- all are falling short. Cig is a good coach who had the right timing going to Indiana. He is abrasive so many top programs ignored his success at other, more prominent programs. Indiana had nothing to lose so they gave him a shot. Against all odds, it worked and exceeded all expectations for the hire. Is it sustainable? Time will tell.

Nebraska is on an upward trajectory, unlike many of the teams who hired new coaches in the last 3 years. As I mentioned in another thread, I think most of us agree that our current team would likely beat any of the Riley or Frost coached teams. We are in a good place compared to the last 10 years. I think fans would do well to remember that and enjoy the climb back. We all want national championship teams but don't let that override the joy that comes from beating the average opponent- something we have struggled to do for the last 10 years. Will Rhule get us there? Who knows but I'm going to do my best to enjoy the climb, however high he can take us.
 
Gorillahawk said:
I think a huge difference is that IU's coach was able to bring his coaching staff from JMU with him. The staff cohesion and everyone heading in the right direction is a huge plus. Then you add that they had players transfer with them that knew the expectations and standard they demanded, and they had a schedule that allowed them to see success from the jump and expand on it. The whole situation was a recipe for success.

Rhule and NU did not have those same advantages, and it has caused the rebuild to take longer. It will be interesting to see if they can continue the success over time, and if they can keep the coach from jumping ship to a bigger more wealthy program.
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I think you're right, but it's also just proof that there's no magic bullet in coaching hires. Other problems obviously came up, but Frost also brought his cohesive, successful staff with him from UCF and that was a liability in his case. The players being able to transfer too was huge for Cignetti, and not something Frost had. He actively encouraged the UCF players to stay there, but I'm not sure he would have done so if they could've transferred freely like they do now.

Indiana has just been a perfect storm, and while I wish it was us I don't think anyone is going to replicate that kind of turnaround with the same reasons it worked for them. The coaches, the portal changes, the players, the lack of expectations, the schedule - not to minimize the coaching at all, but as Frost frequently lamented it's harder to get the players to buy in until they see results. I think Indiana would still be dramatically improved under Cignetti regardless of the schedule, but they weren't a playoff team last year if it weren't for the schedule.
 
XtraXtra said:
Indiana is indeed an intriguing story. I don't like Cignetti's personality but he's doing something right over there.
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I wonder how the Nebraska media would do dealing with cigs.

That would be interesting to see.

He gives some good quotes but he is not a huge talker. He also strikes me as the type that would not really care about the press.
 
And they didn't have a bunch of luck in their 11-1 campaign last year where they had last-second field goals and two minute drills to win close games...they were entirely flattening teams.

Really amazing, tbh.
 
Cig hasn’t had success just at Indiana. Dude has been a multi year winner at every stop over his long career at every level of college football. Coached under Saban at Bama as well. It’s not like he left a crappy JMU team and went to Indy. He was 52-9…. Over 5 years. Indy got a very experienced coach, who knew how to win, who brought his staff and 13 players (7 who started last year). He just wins. But credit Indy for risking it all.
 
It's pretty simple to me.

1. Coaching hires are a crapshoot. Outside of Urban and Saban, there's no such thing as a sure bet, and despite all the insight and smart decision-making in the world it's still a huge gamble.

2. Indiana is an anomaly, and it's still early. How many lame duck coaches have we seen start out strong? Helfrich, Hoke, Sumlin and plenty of others came out on fire with a perfect storm of variables only to quickly come crashing back down to earth.

3. Nebraska will never be able to hire anyone that's as much of a perceived gamble as Cignetti. The boosters, admin, fans and fishbowl nature of Lincoln make it a non-tenable scenario, so the 'best' possible hire for us is still a very risk averse one. Mike Riley was the closest we will ever get to that, and while it clearly didn't work, it's not proof that it couldn't, but it will have spooked everyone enough to never try that again.
 
Lorewarn said:
It's pretty simple to me.

1. Coaching hires are a crapshoot. Outside of Urban and Saban, there's no such thing as a sure bet, and despite all the insight and smart decision-making in the world it's still a huge gamble.

2. Indiana is an anomaly, and it's still early. How many lame duck coaches have we seen start out strong? Helfrich, Hoke, Sumlin and plenty of others came out on fire with a perfect storm of variables only to quickly come crashing back down to earth.

3. Nebraska will never be able to hire anyone that's as much of a perceived gamble as Cignetti. The boosters, admin, fans and fishbowl nature of Lincoln make it a non-tenable scenario, so the 'best' possible hire for us is still a very risk averse one. Mike Riley was the closest we will ever get to that, and while it clearly didn't work, it's not proof that it couldn't, but it will have spooked everyone enough to never try that again.
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Hmmm, #3 is interesting.

Bo was hired with basically no HC'ing experience BUT he did have a lot of backing.

Totally agree on Riley

Frost had little experience BUT of course was a Husker legend.
 
Lorewarn said:
It's pretty simple to me.

1. Coaching hires are a crapshoot. Outside of Urban and Saban, there's no such thing as a sure bet, and despite all the insight and smart decision-making in the world it's still a huge gamble.

2. Indiana is an anomaly, and it's still early. How many lame duck coaches have we seen start out strong? Helfrich, Hoke, Sumlin and plenty of others came out on fire with a perfect storm of variables only to quickly come crashing back down to earth.

3. Nebraska will never be able to hire anyone that's as much of a perceived gamble as Cignetti. The boosters, admin, fans and fishbowl nature of Lincoln make it a non-tenable scenario, so the 'best' possible hire for us is still a very risk averse one. Mike Riley was the closest we will ever get to that, and while it clearly didn't work, it's not proof that it couldn't, but it will have spooked everyone enough to never try that again.
Click to expand...

Agree with 1 and 2.

CFB is full of coaches that won at lower levels and couldn't cut it at power conference programs (especially power conference programs that don't have a history of football success).

QB transfers are a bit of a crapshoot as well, and he hit a home run there last year (which helped him get a top guy this year). No one outside of the coaching offices in Bloomington though that a guy who averaged 2,400 yards, 15 TDs, and a QBR of 61 in 3 years starting at Ohio would go for 3000 yards, 29 TDs and a QBR of 85 for Indiana.
 
Food for thought: if we don't have a receiver step out of bounds against Michigan and somehow win that game, this thread probably doesn't exist, and in fact it would probably be the opposite; you'd have threads about how amazing Rhule is and maybe how we're on the rise just like Indiana.

But also this thread can exist and get some good discussion irrespective of the Michigan game outcome.
 
Bottom line Cig is a winner period. 138-33 as a head college coach. Indiana is for real. They’ll blow out Iowa. This years Indiana team is the complete package all sides of the ball. I have them beating Oregon in Eugene. I won’t be shocked if they win the Big Ten.
 
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