Curt Cignetti has no interest in fixing what isn’t broken. That is the message coming out of Indiana as the defending national champions get ready for another season. The Hoosiers are ranked No. 6, and despite losing major pieces from last year’s 16-0 team, the 65-year-old head coach says the answer is not some grand new plan. It is the same one that got them here.

ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit recently asked Curt Cignetti what keeps producing wins even when QBs and other stars leave. His answer shows the winning formula lies within the program as a whole, not just individual players. 

“We have a blueprint, a plan, and a process,” he said. “We’re focused on improvement every day and trying to find the edge and high standards, how you do some things, how you do everything, and just stringing meetings and practices and days together.”

But those old rankings might need an adjustment. An Indiana circuit court judge has granted a temporary restraining order (TRO) on Friday afternoon, officially restoring the immediate eligibility of Hoosiers defensive linemen Stephen Daley and Kellan Wyatt.

The ruling by Judge Kara Krothe of the Monroe Circuit Court cleared both impact defenders to play in No. 6 Indiana’s season opener against North Texas.

A federal lawsuit in Colorado had initially opened the door for the 2022 class to receive a fifth year of eligibility. However, on August 21, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit granted the NCAA a stay, suddenly stripping Daley and Wyatt of their eligibility right in the middle of Indiana’s fall training camp.

To bypass the federal appellate block, Daley, Wyatt, and six other Indiana-based college athletes filed a localized suit. Judge Krothe agreed with the players, writing that she intended to “place Plaintiffs in the position they were in at the end of their last college sports season” and barring the NCAA or the Big Ten from restricting them.

While this case shares some roots with the chaos surrounding LSU, analysts note that there is one critical difference which made Indiana comfortable in playing them.

It was the fact that there was no NFL experience under their belt. Neither Daley nor Wyatt were drafted or signed NFL training camp contracts as undrafted free agents.

Immediate Impact

The Hoosiers have a lot to celebrate with these additions. Daley was a dominant pass rusher who led the Big Ten with 19 tackles for loss and logged 5.5 sacks last season. He missed the College Football Playoff after suffering a freak knee injury during the Big Ten Championship postgame celebration.

Meanwhile, Wyatt was a highly disruptive starter who racked up 28 tackles and 8 tackles for loss in just seven games before suffering a season-ending knee injury last October.

Their injuries hurt their NFL chances. Now they get another shot with Indiana. The Hoosiers start their title defense against North Texas on Saturday, with Daley and Wyatt back in the picture. For Curt Cignetti, though, the message stays the same. No easing up. No big changes. Just get back to work.

The Boring Work

For Curt Cignetti, it starts with the boring stuff that coaches talk about all the time but rarely manage to sustain. He wants his team to be “fast, physical, relentless, smart” and ready to play one snap at a time. Keep standards high and stay disciplined; do not get carried away by success, and do not panic after failure.

 “We’ve been a fairly disciplined team and offense, defense, kicking game,” he said. “They all feed off each other and that’s what we’re looking for again.”

That approach has already changed Indiana football. In 2024, Curt Cignetti took the Hoosiers to their first double-digit win season and their first playoff appearance. Then nobody could have imagined what they did last year. The once-overlooked team won all 16 games and captured the national championship. Now the challenge is much different. Can they do it again?

Curt Cignetti is attacking that question the same way he attacks everything else. His practices are short, intense, and built around movement. Players do not spend much time standing around. One drill ends and they are already moving to the next. A full practice, including stretching and the walkthrough, can take about 90 minutes.

There are similar messages sitting on Curt Cignetti’s desk. One notecard reads, “SOFTNESS WILL NOT BE TOLERATED HERE!” The other two read, “FIND THE EDGE—DAILY/HOURLY” and “COMMIT ALL AROUND.”

It is hard to miss the theme. Indiana is not changing the standard just because it won a championship.