New head coach Curt Cignetti will do everything possible to answer that.
The Hoosier football program has never won ten games in a season. The one outright Big Ten championship was in 1945, there was a co-championship in 1967, and there have been a mere three winning seasons in the last 30 years.
Cignetti doesn’t care.
The guy who helped bring James Madison up into the FBS and rocked right away is trying to take over the impossible job.
Can Cignetti channel 1989 vibes and be Barry Alvarez at Wisconsin or Bill Snyder at Kansas State? That’s asking for something historical and miraculous, but for now, just having the right attitude is a start.
It starts by not assuming IU will be a speed bump for the rest of the Big Ten.
Cignetti might be coming in all brash and bold, and why not? He’s 119-35 overall at his three spots, he’s never had a losing season, and he has done nothing but win, win, win.
Yeah, blah, blah, blah - every new Indiana coach says it’s possible to turn the program into a thing, but it might not be that hard to just be decent.
Come up with more takeaways, generate more of a pass rush, get more from the offensive line, do all the little things right.
Indiana lost to bad Illinois, Michigan State and Purdue teams by a total of ten points, and lost to a good Louisville team by seven. Win three of those four and IU would’ve been 6-6 last season and off to a bowl.
Every team has that “If we just did this …” type of thing with each season, but in this case, if Indiana could just have the right attitude, the right intangibles, and a little more talent, it just might work.
Indiana Football Preview 2024: Offense
- Mike Shanahan - no, not that one - is one of the better transfers coming in as Curt Cignetti’s offensive coordinator. Last year’s Duke offense didn’t do enough on the ground, but it was good overall helped by a cranked up passing game.
Leading JMU receiver Elijah Surratt is coming over after making 82 catches for 1,191 yards and eight scores. He’s joined by former teammate Zach Horton at tight end, who’s coming off 26-catch, eight-touchdown season.
Surratt is for the outside, Texas Tech’s Myles Price is coming in for the inside, and leading IU receiver Donaven McCulley is still around after dabbling in the portal. And getting them the ball is …
- The Hoosiers got a really, really good one in QB Kurtis Rourke. Tayven Jackson is still around after struggling a bit, but leading Hoosier passer Brendan Sorsby is gone to Cincinnati.
More on Rourke in the Top Transfer section, but he was one of the best MAC quarterbacks over the last three seasons with size, passing skills, and the upside to be an even bigger star in this attack.
- Again, here comes the transfer portal from James Madison for the line. There should be at least three new starters for the front five around C Mike Katic and OT Carter Smith.
JMU’s Tyler Stephens and Nick Kidwell are terrific guards, and pulling Trey Wedig from Wisconsin at one tackle is a plus. The depth is IU home grown, but it’s very, very young.
Leading rusher Trent Howland is gone to Oklahoma State, but Wake Forest’s Justice Ellison and JMU leading rusher Kaelon Black will form a good 1-2 rushing punch.
Indiana Football Preview 2024: Defense
- James Madison was fifth in the nation against the run last season. It was No. 1 in the country in tackles for loss with 114, sixth in sacks, and the pressure will be coming from the Hoosiers right away.
Lanell Carr was one of IU’s best pass rushers last season with five sacks. He’s back at one outside linebacker spot, and coming aboard are two James Madison tackling machines. Aiden Fisher made 108 stops, Jalin Walker was second on the Dukes with 61, and now those two will eat up everything in the IU corps.
- More James Madison players will take over up front. James Carpenter was one of the Sun Belt’s best tackles, and end Mikail Kamara was a top pass rusher with 7.5 sacks and 18.5 tackles for loss. Combine them with 315-pound CJ West on the nose, and look out.
- Just one James Madison transfer should make noise in the Indiana secondary, but he’s a good one. Corner D’Angelo Ponds is a big-time baller for his 5-9, 165-pound size with 51 tackles last year and two picks with 13 broken up passes.
Ponds will be solid on one side, Old Dominion transfer Shawn Asbury will take over a safety gig after making 93 stops last season, and the remaining Hoosiers will fill in the gaps.
Top Hoosier safety Phillip Dunnam is off to Florida Atlantic, but there’s decent young talent in Jamari Sharpe at corner and safety Amare Ferrell able to fill in.
Key To The Indiana Football Season
Stop the run. This is more about James Madison than Indiana, because the new coaching staff and all the new players have to rise up around the system that worked in Harrisonburg. Everything started with stopping the run.
That was the toughness, the identity, and it created the attitude for everything else. The Dukes allowed more than 100 rushing yards just three times last seasons. They were ripped apart by Air Force in the bowl loss, but that was a different situation.
Indiana was 2-1 last season when allowing 101 rushing yards or fewer, and 1-8 when giving up more.
Indiana Key Player
Carter Smith, OT Soph. The IU offensive line wasn’t all that bad last season in pass protection, and that was with Smith starting every game at left tackle. Smith took his lumps, but he was good overall and should be a mainstay for the next few years. With the strong veterans coming in through the transfer portal, the line will be a strength if the 6-5, 308-pound sophomore can shine.
Indiana Football Top Transfer, Biggest Transfer Loss
Top Transfer In: Kurtis Rourke, QB Sr. The Ohio transfer threw for 7,651 yards and 50 touchdowns with most of the production coming over the last three seasons, to go along with 828 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns. He’s a big, mobile, talented all-around fringe pro prospect who wouldn’t be out of place at just about any school in the transfer portal discussion.
Top Transfer Out: Phillip Dunnam, S Jr. The Hoosiers came out way ahead in the transfer portal exchange, but losing Dunnam from the secondary still stings a bit. He made 53 tackles with three picks and six broken up passes, and now he’ll be one of the stars of the Florida Atlantic secondary.
Indiana Key Game
Maryland, Sept. 28 The Hoosiers will kickoff the Big Ten season at UCLA a few weeks before hosting Maryland, and the game after at Northwestern is manageable. It’s part of a nice run of not-leaving-Bloomington more than once from mid-September until November, and it’s the type of game a new-and-improved IU team should be able to win.
10 Best Indiana Football Players
1. Kurtis Rourke, QB Sr. 2. Elijah Sarratt, WR Jr. 3. James Carpenter, DT Sr. 4. Donaven McCulley, WR Sr. 5. Mikail Kamara, EDGE Sr. 6. CJ West, NT Sr. 7. D’Angelo Ponds, CB Soph. 8. Myles Price, WR Sr 9. Aiden Fisher, LB Jr. 10. Shawn Asbury, S Sr.
- 4th Down Conversions: Opponents 10-for-19 (53%), Indiana 10-for-27 (37%)
- 2 Point Conversions: Indiana 2-for-3 (67%), Opponents 0-for-6 (0%)
Indiana Football 2024 Win Total Prediction: What to Expect This Season
As mentioned before, can the different attitude, the energy change, and the tightening up of all the mistakes really make that much of a difference?
Yeah, absolutely.
The Hoosiers should start out with wins over FIU and Western Illinois, and taking out Charlotte shouldn’t be a problem. There’s a base of three wins, and the team needs just three more to go bowling.
It can and should beat Purdue, give Nebraska a hard time, and at least push Maryland. Forget about it against Ohio State in Columbus, but there should be a win somewhere away from Bloomington - UCLA, Northwestern, Michigan State; IU will win one of those.
There’s no Penn State, Oregon, USC, Iowa, or Wisconsin, and not playing Illinois, Minnesota, and Rutgers isn’t bad.
After winning just nine games over the last three years, IU will get to six and a bowl.
Set The Indiana Win Total At … 5.5
Likely Wins: Charlotte, FIU, Western Illinois
50/50 Games: Maryland, at Michigan State, Nebraska, at Northwestern, Purdue, at UCLA
Likely Losses: Michigan, at Ohio State, Washington
2024 Indiana Football Schedule
Aug 31 FIU Sept 7 Western Illinois Sept 14 at UCLA Sept 21 Charlotte Sept 28 Maryland Oct 5 at Northwestern Oct 12 OPEN DATE Oct 19 Nebraska Oct 26 Washington Nov 2 at Michigan State Nov 9 Michigan Nov 16 OPEN DATE Nov 23 at Ohio State Nov 30 Purdue
Missing: Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Oregon, Penn State, Rutgers, USC, Wisconsin
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