Indiana football head coach Curt Cignetti addressed the media on Monday afternoon following the bye week and ahead of this weekend’s matchup against USC.
Cignetti fielded questions on the team’s health, offered some thoughts and questions of his own on special teams, gave a glimpse into the tape grinding process over the past week and, yes, shared some initial thoughts on USC ahead of the Trojans’ trip to Bloomington.
Here’s a few observations from his media availability:
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Health updates
Cignetti was asked about two major injuries, those to quarterback Josh Hoover and starting cornerback AJ Harris. Hoover has been dealing with an injury to his throwing arm since the second half against Ohio State while Harris suffered a lower leg injury against Minnesota.
On Hoover, and his status to play against USC, Cignetti was mum:
“We’ll see how the week plays out and we’ll see who we trot out there”
On Harris, Cignetti was much more direct.
“He’s day-to-day.”
That’s usual Cignetti-speak in each instance. If he can give a brief, minimally revealing answer, particularly in regard to injury updates, he will. Nothing wrong with that at all, that’s coaching, but Indiana doesn’t have a clear starter at quarterback and may be down a man in the defensive secondary.
Special teams answers, and questions!
Indiana’s special teams have been… interesting in 2026 after being a major strength of Cignetti’s first two teams. The 2024 and 2025 groups had strong kicking and return games. Now, suddenly, the Hoosiers are missing those same kicks and focusing just about entirely on catching kicks to begin with rather than looking to return.
Special teams errors piled up against Minnesota to the point that it almost proved to be the deciding factor against the Hoosiers in what was looking a lot like a loss in the fourth quarter. Asked about this, Cignetti responded by asking some questions of his own, inquiring what the asker saw in the special teams. The answer? Lots of fair catches.
Then Cignetti went long.
“Charlie, foreign to the position, has done a good job. I can see the progress every week, and the big thing there is catch the ball first, because nothing can turn a game around like put one on the ground. So our special teams in general have really been a winning edge for us over the past two years, especially last season. We were sloppy to say the least against Minnesota. We’ve had some down moments throughout the course of the year. We got field goal kicker that never missed and we’ve had a few misses there. Some of that is, you know, there is a lot of people involved in that, the snap, the hold, et cetera. At the end of the day it’s on the kicker. So we have got to get better there if we want to be the best we can be.”
I’ll be interested, more than anything that can be done right now, to see how Cignetti and the rest of the staff approaches the unit this offseason.
Thoughts on USC
And, of course, Cignetti was asked about USC. Namely, Cignetti was asked about Trojans quarterback Jayden Maiava and how the defense has changed under new coordinator Gary Patterson.
On Maiava:
“Quick release. Very accurate. You can tell he’s really smart, heady. He can have his eyes over here and get them over there and get rid of the ball real quick and accurate. Probably see him playing for a few years at least after his college days are done. Just very impressive at that position. Has a natural feel.”
That’s the kind of thing Cignetti loves, evaluating talent, and you can see him going down the list of mental notes when he answers questions like this. Maiava is performing like one of the best passers in the Big Ten this season, completing 66.9% of his attempts for 2,524 yards, 20 touchdowns and five interceptions.
On Patterson’s defense:
“I think you see game to game improvement, and certainly the last three to four weeks. It shows up in their production numbers and third down efficiency. It always grins up front with disruption up front, but really impressive what they do.”
Defense has been part of what’s held Lincoln Riley’s USC back from true national relevance since he arrived in Los Angeles and he’s spent several years trying to fix it. The Trojans held Ohio State to just 18 points two weeks ago, which is just a bit more than what Indiana managed against a Sayin-led Buckeye offense.
The defense is going to be massive this week, especially with Indiana’s offense looking lackluster for several weeks now.
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