When you’re continuously attacked for technically no fault of your own, you would feel some pangs, right? Especially when these attackers think you’ve stolen what was due for them. That’s exactly how Curt Cignetti must’ve felt, advancing into the playoffs instead of programs like Alabama. To keep that from repeating this season, Cignetti pulled a controversial move, which has suddenly become the new hot topic in college football. The Indiana HC is just covering his bases in case he pulls off another surprise feat in the season.

Curt Cignetti and Indiana are now the headlines in college football. The program cancelled its 2027 and 2028 home series games against Virginia. Instead, the Hoosiers brought on Kennesaw State for 2027, Austin Peay for 2028, and Eastern Illinois in 2029–with the intention of quashing them in the schedule. “We figured we would just adopt SEC scheduling philosophy, you know? Some people don’t like it. I’m more focused on those nine conference games. Not only do we want to play nine conference games, okay, and have the playoff format [with auto bids], we want to have play-in games to decide who plays in those playoffs,” Cignetti told the press during the Big Ten Media Days.

This comes after the chaotic end of the regular season, when the playoff qualifiers were announced. Indiana keeping Alabama, South Carolina, and Ole Miss out of the 12-team playoff started a debate over the CFP’s partiality towards the SEC. Cignetti recently appeared on the Cover 3 Podcast. There, he was asked if he feared that the CFP Committee would pick a 9-3 team over his, just because they were from the SEC. “No, I wasn’t. Not after the Purdue game,” he said defiantly.

What is the fun of college football if the underdogs don’t make a splash? Indiana Hoosiers did exactly that, with an 11-1 record. When that happened, fans from down south were utterly disappointed that a nobody made it in and kept 3 SEC teams out of the playoffs. “I did get a little nervous after we lost to Ohio State. And then subsequently, the SEC teams went down later in the day. Because I could feel the tidal wave coming from the South, and major networks that cover the SEC. You know, where’d this come from? I thought we were a feel-good story. All of a sudden, we’re the hunted enemy,” Curt Cignetti added.

Indiana’s move to change the schedule is simply one that centers on caution. The Hoosiers want to guarantee bowl eligibility, if not make the playoffs. They want to do it without all that attack from SEC programs, or ‘more-deserving’ programs. However, the choice to replace a Power 4 program did not sit well with the community. On one hand, you’d agree that Curt Cignetti is just being strategic. But how much does it help the standard of Indiana football?

Is Curt Cignetti running away from competition?

Indiana’s strength of schedule this season is more or less the same. They will once again face UCLA, which will have a new look this time. OSU is a miss, but Penn State enters the chat. And they have Oregon, too. The remainder of the season should be the test for Cignetti, but Virginia being dropped for programs like Austin Peay and Kennesaw State says another thing about Indiana’s mindset at the moment. Nailing the conference games is one thing, but what about the standard of competition?

“If you’re really trying to build up a fan base that really has not had much reason to care about football until last year… you’re giving people Austin Peay instead of like a Virginia. I think it s–ks from that perspective,” Cover 3 Podcast‘s Tom Fornelli said in a July 16 episode. “Of all the ACC schools to be scared of, Virginia doesn’t strike me to be the one… I hate it, but I get it.” Fornelli even went on to call the decision “lame” and “soft.” There is a high chance that the magical run from last year doesn’t see a sequel this season. But Indiana fans would still have a chance of seeing some great competition.

Cignetti taking Indiana on par with SEC standards will not keep the tide at bay. But maybe Indiana football will be taking a hit in this measure to smooth out the season to the best possible limits. Will the Hoosiers be able to get the returns they planned for from this scheduling change?