Curt Cignetti set to face Big Ten meetings buddy Lincoln Riley, USC

Los Angeles, - October 31: Head coach Lincoln Riley of the USC Trojans walks out with his team prior to an NCAA football game between the USC Trojans and the Ohio State Buckeyes at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles on Saturday, October 31, 2026. (Photo by Keith Birmingham/MediaNews Gr

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What is the story about?

Indiana football head coach Curt Cignetti has become a widely-known figure at the national level for a few reasons. All the winning is an obvious one, he turned the sport’s losingest program into its national champion in just two years.

Before that, Cignetti made a name for himself through all his quips and quotes, starting off his Indiana tenure by claiming Indiana would soon be playing in the Big Ten Championship Game, giving the infamous ‘I win, Google me’ response to a question about selling his vision

to recruits and all that followed at various media availabilities and radio show appearances.

He’s the same guy behind closed doors as he is at the lectern, at least as USC head coach Lincoln Riley tells it. The two are often seated next to one another during conference meetings, Riley says, and will trade comments on various topics throughout.

“He’s been a fun guy to interact with,” Riley said with a smile during a press conference on Thursday. “I had not met him before that, I was aware of him but that was the first time I met him, was those initial Big Ten meetings. Seems like a fantastic guy, we’ve had fun together there in the meetings.”

Riley went deeper into his thoughts on Cignetti, noting the way he’s performed for the duration of his coaching career before Indiana. He made particular note of being aware of Cignetti’s past with smaller programs, with Riley having worked as the offensive coordinator at East Carolina for five seasons with Cignetti making coaching stops at both Davidson and Elon in the Tar Heel State.

“Obviously a coach that I respect a lot, not just the job he’s done at Indiana. I mean, people that follow football know what he’s done, especially there in a part of the world that I was in for a while, so very aware of those programs and the quality of coach that he is.”

Indiana will face USC this Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium in Bloomington.