Five total games and two Big Ten contests into the season and we’re finally starting to get an idea of what the 2026 Indiana football team is. Curt Cignetti has another good group on his hands
But this is a nitpicking column and, well, there’s a few nitpicks.
One of the big question marks coming into the year was how Indiana would replace D’Angelo Ponds, one of many Hoosiers departing for the NFL last season. Cignetti also had to replace his Heisman-winning quarterback, which drew more attention than
any of the other position battles unfolding in camp.
We’ve had our eyes on the defensive secondary for some time now, highlighting it especially in the pre and postgame coverage of the Rutgers game. KJ Duff is one of the best receivers Indiana will see all year, so he was a good first test for an Indiana team that gave up some deep passes against Northwestern.
As far as the Duff assignment went, Indiana did as well as you could have hoped. Duff was held scoreless for the first time this season and kept to season-lows in both receptions and yards. The Hoosiers usually covered him by committee, but it was a good showing from that unit nonetheless.
Outside of Duff though, things were a little shakier. With the game well out of reach in the second half, Indiana gave up some chunk plays through the air, including passes for 35 and 53 yards. Rutgers scored on both of those drives.
I’m willing to entertain the possibility that they were momentary lapses with the game being a blowout and the disproportionate amount of attention that Duff commands. Indiana also appeared vulnerable to big plays early in last season before coming together by the end of the year.
My concern isn’t about the individual big plays, but the fact that this group hasn’t fully come together yet.
Last year’s defensive backfield featured a lot more new faces: Ryland Gandy, Jaylen Bell, and Devan Boykin were all in their first year with the program trying to fit in alongside familiar faces like Louis Moore, Ponds, and Jamari Sharpe. Moore was in his first year under Cignetti and Bryant Haines but had familiarity with other names and the program from his past.
Indiana added A.J. Harris, Preston Zachman, and Quan Sanks this offseason, but the core of Indiana’s defensive backfield this year – Bell, Sharpe, Gandy, and Amare Ferrell – were on the team last year. They know Bryant Haines’ playbook well by this point, and should have an idea of each other’s relative strengths and weaknesses.
Injuries have forced Haines to mix up the lineups and snap counts for this core of players, but the thought that the struggles might be attributable to depth issues is not comforting either.
Ultimately, this is nitpicking. Indiana is undefeated in the midst of a 21-game win streak. As a whole, the defensive secondary has played well enough that Indiana’s perfect record has not been in serious jeopardy this year.
It’s been a relative weakness, though, and something opponents are likely to test as the level of competition ramps up these next couple of weeks. We should have a much better idea of how big of an issue this is very soon.
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