IU-UT Major Differences

[UTTUCK]

1) Discipline discipline discipline!!!  OL no  false starts, holding, illegal formations, etc.  UT, all the above!!!

2) Tackling.  Watch IU’s LB’s and DB’s.  No whiffing, no trying to knock WR’s and RB’s off their feet.  They get there, run through the ball carrier and most importantly wrap up!!!  UT, not so much.  Hope Muschamp makes tackling a priority.

 

[Steamboat Willie]

WR and TE Blocking 

[Tres Comas]

[ArizonaLonghorn]

The talent discrepancies between Indiana and the top rosters is amazing.  Here's the recruiting rankings for their rosters.

This is probably the best coaching job I've seen in college football

 

 

[Red Five]

Cignetti is an absolute witch. I was reading that they barely even practice... one he feels like they've mastered something they go study more film or something.

[LILP]

3 minutes ago, Red Five said:

Cignetti is an absolute witch. I was reading that they barely even practice... one he feels like they've mastered something they go study more film or something.

He’s putting on a damn clinic tonight. WOW!

[Califashorn75]

Their interior lineman are tough. They have broken the spirit of Bama's defensive line. We need big maulers like those dudes. They also don't commit a ton of penalties.  

[Longhorn]

Indiana has 2 OL starting + 1 key 2nd team OL from the portal in 2025

[NothinButDaHorns34]

It’s crazy because not many of their guys could start for us. I sure as hell wouldn’t pick mendoza over arch, Ever. 

[Sanka Decaf]

Indiana proving that a bye doesn’t have to create rust. Well-coached, disciplined, focused team.  Very impressive. 

[Red Five]

I want to see Indiana win the national championship just to watch Cignetti's postgame interview. "Well, yeah, we got a trophy. So that's ok I guess. We played alright. Only eight months before the next game, so we've got stuff to focus on.... (walks off)" 

[Red Five]

There is something about the way Mendoza talks that is very annoying to me. 

[Mark Futrell]

Agree with all the points above. But, I would like to add that IU roster are collectively a ton of 3 star players versus the 4 and 5 stars at Texas. Therefore, it comes down to Coaching and Development of the players you do have. I ask this: Why did it take a Fall Camp and 5 games with two losses before Flood and Sark to figure out the best O Line combination? Moving Hutson to guard and bringing in Robertson to be center. We constantly discuss players in high school for recruiting, portal, NIL, etc but rarely discuss the growth and maturity of Coaches: Decision making, situational awareness, communication and other traits to be successful. IU is doing it with less talent than other programs. Why? Overpaid Coaches that have figured out that if you win 8+ games and get to 10 from time to time you can ride that gravy train and not get fired…..so, why work hard to train and develop players when you can just recruit talent by using your name, brand and logo.

[Califashorn75]

I think Mendoza is just a good dude. He has had to see his mom deteriorate physically for the last eight years or so. He has had to step up and help her. Imagine being a teenager and having to do that. Faith is what keeps him going. He's a genuine guy, much like Tim Tebow. They are just good humans. 

[OTF12024]

1 hour ago, UTTUCK said:

1) Discipline discipline discipline!!!  OL no  false starts, holding, illegal formations, etc.  UT, all the above!!!

2) Tackling.  Watch IU’s LB’s and DB’s.  No whiffing, no trying to knock WR’s and RB’s off their feet.  They get there, run through the ball carrier and most importantly wrap up!!!  UT, not so much.  Hope Muschamp makes tackling a priority.

 

Indiana is showing the importance of experience and playing physical. Younger players make more mistakes and are not as developed as 4-5 year players. 

[Waxahorn]

When your coach looks at you like this, you do not commit penalties.

[UTTUCK]

Just now, Waxahorn said:

When your coach looks at you like this, you do not commit penalties.

And that was after a good play…lol

[Glass Joe]

2 hours ago, Mark Futrell said:

Agree with all the points above. But, I would like to add that IU roster are collectively a ton of 3 star players versus the 4 and 5 stars at Texas. Therefore, it comes down to Coaching and Development of the players you do have. I ask this: Why did it take a Fall Camp and 5 games with two losses before Flood and Sark to figure out the best O Line combination? Moving Hutson to guard and bringing in Robertson to be center. We constantly discuss players in high school for recruiting, portal, NIL, etc but rarely discuss the growth and maturity of Coaches: Decision making, situational awareness, communication and other traits to be successful. IU is doing it with less talent than other programs. Why? Overpaid Coaches that have figured out that if you win 8+ games and get to 10 from time to time you can ride that gravy train and not get fired…..so, why work hard to train and develop players when you can just recruit talent by using your name, brand and logo.

The majority of Indiana’s starters are transfers (13 of 22), and all but one of their starting 22 is an upperclassmen (3rd year or more in college football).  So, using high school recruiting rankings as a barometer of “talent” isn’t a particularly accurate measure of the talent Indiana is putting on the field.

They are specifically selecting players from the portal who have already proven their ability at the collegiate level, so high school recruiting rankings are relevant to Indiana when selecting collegiate transfers.

Further, Cignetti brought 11-12 upperclass players with him from JMU when he was hired 2 years ago, which means those players know the exact schemes and techniques that Cignetti coaches.  While many of those players are gone now and only a few from JMU are on this years Indiana roster, the current players benefitted from a season of learning their positions from teammates who were experts in the techniques.

As everyone could see this afternoon, Cignetti obsesses on every minute detail of his program, and roster construction is no different.  He realizes that competing with other programs for highly ranked high school recruits may not be best for Indiana, which emphasizes upperclass players with years of development at the collegiate level (even if elsewhere).  I don’t think Cignetti’s system would be optimized by bringing in 25 highly ranked high school players and expecting them to wait around for 2-3 years before getting on the field …. and particularly so in this Portal / NIL era when players will look around for better situations and paychecks every season.

Personally, I think Cignetti’s approach to roster construction and having upperclassmen across the 2-deep depth chart is both unique and provocative.  It reminds me of Bill Snyder at KSU back in the 1990s when he built that program from nothing to heights they’d never dreamed of.  Cignetti is said to have a particularly expertise is evaluating players with specific traits (that fit his system), so add it all up and you get what we saw today at the Rose Bowl.

[FaxMachine]

2 hours ago, Red Five said:

There is something about the way Mendoza talks that is very annoying to me. 

He talks like a chatGPT speech