Indiana football: Curt Cignetti asks fans to help create 'real football atmosphere'

BLOOMINGTON — Indiana football coaches and players were surprised to see how many fans flocked to the exits at Memorial Stadium during halftime of a 31-7 win over FIU.

New IU coach Curt Cignetti brought the topic up during his post game interview with Don Fischer and addressed it a second time when he met with reporters a few minutes later.

"There's a lot of things we're trying to change here," Cignetti said. "Another thing we're trying to change in tradition is we gotta keep the people in the seats after halftime. We need to create a power four environment in the stadium."

More: 3 things we learned from Indiana football’s 31-7 win over FIU

He's talked about trying to energize the fan base throughout the offseason — it's why he said he walked onto the court at Assembly Hall and took a direct shot at the team's rivals — and when he took the job he said the biggest challenge he faced was "changing the way people think."

According to the News Gazette, IU ranked last in the Big Ten in scanned attendance last year by a wide margin and was one of only four teams to average less than 30,000 fans a game.

Cignetti had no complaints about the crowd that saw IU's season kickoff at 3:40 p.m. The Hoosiers new student section in the north end zone was packed, but the energy in the stadium was non-existent when the offense sputtered in the second half.

"We got to learn to play with a lead, and we got to be a good enough ball club so that we can pack this stadium and keep these people in the stands in the second half and have a real football atmosphere," Cignetti said, during his post-game interview with Fischer.

The fans took notice of the fans leaving as well.

"It was good until halftime and everybody left," Indiana running back Ty Son Lawton said, of the atmosphere. "The walk here and everybody tailgating, never seen anything like that."

Lawton was one of 13 former JMU players that followed Cignetti to Bloomington. James Madison averaged above the stadium's announced capacity of 24,877 last season and set an attendance record during a 10-0 start by drawing 26,239 in a 30-27 win over Old Dominion.

Indiana linebacker Aiden Fisher, a fellow JMU transfer, echoed what Lawton said about the crowd.

"The games aren't going to get lopsided anymore, and if they do we are going to be on top, the biggest thing I would say is stay in these stands and we need the fans to get us going and keep us in these games," Fisher said. "They play a bigger role than they think."

Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here .

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Indiana football: Curt Cignetti asks fans to help create 'real football atmosphere'