Curt Cignetti talks like college football’s alpha, but Indiana’s schedule says otherwise

Curt Cignetti has never had a problem being the alpha. Confidence has been his calling card from the moment he arrived in Bloomington, and more often than not, he’s backed it up. Last week at Big Ten Media Days in Chicago, he mocked the SEC’s “hype machine,” insisting the Big Ten’s success is earned, not manufactured

Cignetti’s earned the right to puff out his chest. Twenty-seven wins in two seasons, a Big Ten title and a national championship transformed a program that carried the label of the losingest in major college football history before his arrival

So why won’t he schedule like an alpha?

If Indiana’s non-conference schedule holds as currently built, Cignetti will finish his sixth season as coach of the Hoosiers in 2029 without having faced a single Power Four opponent outside the Big Ten in the regular season

Not one

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While he inherited Indiana’s 2024 non-conference schedule, Cignetti has had a hand in shaping most of the Hoosiers’ other future non-conference opponents. Nine of the 15 non-conference games from 2025-29 were scheduled after he took over the program

Indiana was originally set to face Virginia in 2027 and 2028, but the school canceled that home-and-home series in July 2025, paying a $500,000 buyout and replacing the Cavaliers with Kennesaw State and FCS member Austin Peay

In September 2023, Indiana also canceled the final two games of a three-game series with Louisville, scheduled for 2024 and 2025. But that was before Cignetti arrived, so we won’t hold it against him

Indiana’s non-conference opponents

To be fair, Indiana does have a marquee series on the future schedule, but not until 2030 and 2031 against Notre Dame. That home-and-home series was finalized in 2021, when Cignetti was still coaching James Madison at the FCS level

Indiana could end up as the only Power Four program that doesn’t play another Power Four opponent (or Notre Dame) outside league play from 2024-29. Texas Tech also sits at zero for now, but the Red Raiders still have scheduling openings in 2027, 2028 and 2029. 

Indiana’s non-conference schedule is already full through 2029, with every opponent coming from the Group of Six or the FCS

Cignetti has been clear about his reasoning. When asked last year about Indiana’s decision to cancel the Virginia series, he again pointed to the SEC

“We figured we would just adopt SEC scheduling philosophy,” Cignetti said. “Some people don’t like it. I’m more focused in on those nine conference games.”

At the time, there was a reasonable argument behind it. It just didn’t age well

One month after Cignetti made those comments at Big Ten Media Days last July, the SEC announced it would move to a nine-game conference schedule

Now the SEC plays the same nine-game conference schedule as the Big Ten, yet it still requires every program to schedule at least one Power Four opponent (or Notre Dame) outside the conference. The Big Ten has no such mandate. Nothing requires Indiana, or anyone else in the conference, to schedule a Power Four opponent outside league play

None of this is to suggest Indiana isn’t one of the best teams in college football. A cupcake non-conference schedule doesn’t erase beating No. 1 Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship Game before handling No. 9 Alabama, No. 5 Oregon and No. 10 Miami en route to a national championship

But that’s also what makes the schedule so frustrating

The Hoosiers should remain a championship contender for years to come, yet they won’t face a meaningful test until they’re already a quarter of the way through the regular season. No disrespect to those teams, but watching Indiana hang 70 on Howard or UMass isn’t good TV

At some point, being an alpha isn’t just about what you say or how you coach. It’s also about who you’re willing to play. Cignetti has the roster, the rear, though, Cignetti’s scheduling philosophy hasn’t matched his swagger

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