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Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sport
Daniel Chavkin

Indiana HC Curt Cignetti Boldly Predicts Big Ten Championship Appearance in 2024

Indiana hired Curt Cignetti away from James Madison to lead their football team, a strong hire for a team competing in a tough Big Ten conference. While the Hoosiers finished last in the entire conference this season with a 3–9 record (1–8 in conference games), Cignetti believes that there will still be a quick turnaround.

During a Friday interview with Big Ten Network from Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, the site of Saturday’s Big Ten championship game, Cignetti made a bold prediction regarding where Indiana will finish in the Big Ten next season.

“I figured that I should make this trip up here since we'll be playing in this game next year,” he said while being interviewed on the Big Ten Network, via IndianaHQ.

The Big Ten first introduced its championship game in 2011, and Indiana has yet to appear in the game in its 13-year existence despite it being played in Indianapolis every season. The Hoosiers have just two winning seasons since 2007, and have a combined record of 9–27 over the past three seasons.

Cignetti, meanwhile, has not recorded a losing season as head coach of three different teams since ’11. While at James Madison, Cignetti led the Dukes to three double-digit win seasons since 2019 and never lost more than three games in a year.

New Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti, formerly of James Madison, made a bold proclamation while speaking to the Big Ten Network from Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Friday.

Jamie Rhodes/USA Today network

With the Big Ten adding four new teams in 2024, and getting rid of divisions in the process, making the championship game is a tall task. Indiana is set to play both Ohio State and Michigan next year, along with newcomers UCLA and Washington, so a Big Ten championship appearance would be one of the biggest stories of the year.

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