Indiana Hoosiers Hardly Practice At All

[BigBalls]

No full speed tacking. Kinda blows up a few myths.

https://www.wsj.com/sports/football/indiana-curt-cignetti-fernando-mendoza-510bc45a?mod=wknd_pos1

In case you hit a paywall:

“ Curt Cignetti has turned the Hoosiers into the best team in the country by basically not practicing. While the NCAA allows up to 20 hours per week, Indiana only uses about six of those for actual on-field work. Walk-throughs are short, practices rarely hit two hours, and there’s almost no full-speed tackling. It’s all about mental prep, situational work, and keeping players healthy. Transfers say it’s the opposite of the “grind you into dust” programs they came from.

The surprising twist is that Cignetti comes from Nick Saban’s system, where every detail is drilled endlessly. He tried that early in his career, but found it led to unnecessary injuries and tired players. His adjusted philosophy: practice to the point of proficiency, then stop. When they finally faced a close game for the Big Ten title, their heavy emphasis on mental reps and late-game scenarios paid off.

 

I’m not sure how much of Indiana’s success is tied to Cignetti’s light-practice philosophy versus the fact that their roster is loaded with older, more experienced players who already have a lot of reps under their belt. That probably makes it easier to lean on mental prep instead of physical grind.

Still, it’s interesting that such an unconventional approach has worked at the highest level. Hard to argue with the results they’ve put up.

 

[LA Duck]

Read that article too.  Pretty eye-opening, and completely counter to my understanding of Lanning’s POV on practice – Lanning is definitely a Saban disciple.

Curious to see how well Indiana does in the playoffs this time.  I predict they may win 1 game, likely flame out after that.  Tremendous coaching, but probably not enough to make it to the national championship game alone.

I trust in the Blue Chip Ratio school of thought – ESPECIALLY now in the extended playoffs where you have to win 3-4 games straight.  That kind of attrition will undoubtedly have those schools with the higher BCR rise to the top (as they almost always do).

A few ratios from August 2025 included below per link:

#1 Georgia 74%

#2 Alabama 73%

#3 tOSU 73%

#4 LSU 71%

#5 Oregon 67%

#18 USC 40%

#26 Texas Tech 20%

#27 Washington 19%

#37 UCLA 12%

#45 Indiana 8%

https://www.puntandrally.com/viewpowerratings.php?whichyear=2025&whatstat=bluechip

[GTrojan]

Have to disagree LA.  Indiana went 13 and 0 this season, so they had plenty of week-to-week football.  Your assessment is more hope than fact based IMO.  Your approach should work against JMU.  LOL!

[LA Duck]

Ummmm….I beg to differ, GT.

It’s one thing to play 13 games spread across 3+ months with only 3 of those games coming against teams in the top 15 of the blue chip ratio.

It’s a whole other thing to play 3 games in a row against teams in the top 15 of the blue chip ratio:  First Oklahoma or Alabama, then Texas Tech or Oregon, then likely tOSU or Georgia (Texas Tech being the only outlier here at #26).

Fun part is we’ll get to see exactly what Indiana is made of soon enough!

[GTrojan]

LA, you’re saying that IU, should they win, will be facing nothing but BCR teams from here on out and by that fact alone they are not built for such a path.  Total nonsense IMO.  What you apparently have not considered is the fact that IU, like every other winner, will have a week to prepare for their next opponent.  How will IU prepare for their next opponent?  The same way they prepared to meet Oregon at Autzen Stadium, and the same way they prepared for the OSU game, and the same way they prepared to play Iowa at Iowa, by not banging their heads together in grueling practices, but by limiting contact and focusing on nailing down their assignment responsibilities.  IU will be physically fresh for every opponent and thoroughly prepared for whatever their opponent throws at them.  IU has had no trouble handling the high BCR teams this past season and they will be healthy, fresh, and well prepared for them in the CFP.  Will they win it all? Maybe and maybe not, but the BCR formula will not be a big factor in the outcome either way.  The high BCR teams using high contact practices may, however, suffer injuries and exhaustion problems through the month-long process of one BCR team after another.

Oregon will at least be exempted a little from that grind as you get to play the only FCS quality team in the opener.  LOL!

[Java]

Oh wait but the same people who praise Cignetti as the second coming are the same ones who said usc is soft and never hits in practice and real coaches bash each other all week?

 

fraud.  Pasabeta. Grocery stick?   Does Cignetti suck?

[Author]

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