Curt Cignetti’s Indiana Hoosiers absolutely crushed Illinois, 63-10, last weekend. QB  was the star of the night, with a 5 touchdown performance. The team will now make a trip to the Kinnick Stadium to face the Hawkeyes. The head coach is aware of the atmosphere. “Iowa. It’s tough place to play.” But despite the momentum from the win, Cignetti is vocally expressing unhappiness around sloppy play from one position group.

Cignetti’s criticisms relate to the defense. The Hoosiers’ safety net has spread thin. But Defensive coordinator Bryant Haines is quick in his play calling, and LB Aiden Fisher is too agile to intercept those signals. So, where’s the hiccup? It is further back. The secondary defensive line is not holding up strong, and that’s a pressing concern when the roster lands in Iowa City.

“We have some egregious mistakes in the back end, particularly at safety,” Cignetti said to the media. Two key depth pieces, Bryson Bonds and Louis Moore, face future uncertainty, and the roster is already facing the consequences. Bonds had a season ending injury during the season opener against Old Dominion. And Moore? His eligibility woes have added another layer of tension. Moore is trying to get a sixth year of eligibility after he spent 2019-21 in junior college before heading to Mississippi for the last couple of seasons. He transferred to Indiana this year after believing he could play one more year. Already, his restraining order has been extended thrice.

So, it’s Amare Ferrell and Moore on the back line. And Devan Boykin on the rover position. Moore chipped in two interceptions and 14 tackles in his stat sheet, and junior Amare Ferrell has one interception and a pair of passes blocked. Whereas Devin Boykin has allowed only five receptions for 34 yards.

Although the Hoosiers’ defense recorded seven sacks. The secondary line had its shortcomings. “We had about five of them in that game, and we only got exposed once because of them. And if we don’t clean those up, we’re going to get fractured. And you can’t put that stuff on tape,“ Cignetti said. On Saturday, the defense failed to block a 59-yard TD pass from Luke Altmyer to Collin Dixon, and that’s the crux of Cignetti’s frustration.

D’Angelo Ponds guarded Dixon when the ball was snapped. However, internal communication issues proved costly. Post-game, Ponds said that they were in a cover 3 defense, where he had to pass the post to the midfield safety. That is Ferrell. But Ferrell was playing was busy covering his WR, and didn’t switch. The frustration is also stemming from the alignment issue. “The guys in the back end got to get lined up faster, and that’s the safety position primarily,” Cignetti had said a couple of days back. “Safeties were out of position quite a few times. Got to get lined up quicker. Communication has got to be cleaner. There needs to be a little bit more attention to detail in our preparation in the back end.“

On the safety unit, freshman Byron Baldwin is also out, owing to an undisclosed injury. Freshman Jah Jah Boyd played five snaps on Saturday, and redshirt Anthony Chung made his debut against Kennesaw State. Two more true freshman safeties are present. Seaonta Stewart Jr. (hasn’t made his debut) and Garrett Reese (15 snaps on kickoff coverage). So, the safety net is not the most robust element presently

The Hawkeyes might be an uphill battle, given Iowa’s explosiveness and the blaring noise booming around at Kinnick Stadium. However, Cignetti’s answer to that would be his QB Fernando Mendoza.

Fernando Mendoza’s improvement

Fernando Mendoza completed 21 of 23 passes for 267 yards and five touchdown passes in Saturday’s crushing victory against the Fighting Illini. His response? “Just had to go back to the fundamentals and like coach Cignetti preaches, one game at a time, 0-0,” he said on Saturday post-game. But the QB1 wasn’t born an accurate passer. He did it all through the reps, drills, and Cignetti’s coaching.  The offseason saw Mendoza buckle under pressure, struggling with pocket patience.

“Mendoza is going to be a really tough evaluation because Cignetti didn’t let him go to the Manning Passing Academy,” Todd McShay said to Steve Muench on his show. “You want to know why? He wanted every single second he could get with him.” Bottom line? Total commitment to the roster. He continued. “It’s almost like cultish, like this is how we do it.” 

The result? Mendoza’s completion rate was a whopping 95% by week 3 as compared to the mere 58% in week 1. The head coach molded Mendoza’s ability to a QB-friendly offense loaded with spread concepts and RPOs. Now, the Hoosiers are averaging 50 points per game. Mendoza wasn’t even on the radar of the NFL scouts until recently. A transfer from the California Golden Bears, his switch to the Hoosiers may have been the best decision Mendoza has made in his career.