Illinois Gets Dogged By Indiana's Curt Cignetti After Week 4 Blowout

The Hoosiers steamrolled the Illini 63-10 on Saturday. And ahead of Indiana's game against Iowa, Cignetti apparently wasn't worried as much about the Illini.

Sep 12, 2025; Bloomington, Indiana, USA; Indiana Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti watches his team warm up prior to the game against the Indiana State Sycamores at Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Goddin-Imagn Images | Robert Goddin-Imagn Images

Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti is quite the polarizing figure. You either love him or you have, let’s just say, strong negative feelings towards him. Regardless of which side of the spectrum one falls on, everyone can agree on one thing: he’s a winner. 

All he has done is win. And since he came to Indiana in 2024, Cignetti hasn’t just won, he’s won big. 

Curt Cignetti's Comment On Illinois in Iowa Game Press Conference

Head Coach Curt Cignetti during the Indiana versus Illinois football game at Memorial Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025 | Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The critics have always said his massive triumphs came against low-level competition. And that was the key sticking point ahead of Indiana’s contest with then-No. 9 Illinois last week. 

Sure, the Hoosiers had dominated their first three opponents, but they’d yet to beat a high-major foe in 2025, and even in their unforgettable 2024 season, they failed to knock off a ranked opponent. 

And. then Indiana went and blasted Illinois 63-10. 

When Cignetti first got the job last year, he had four words for the country: “I win. Google me.” 
Whether you consider Cignetti cocky or confident, it’s quite impressive how often he backs up his statements. He doesn’t just talk the talk, but Cignetti, most importantly, walks the walk. 

That said, after routing a squad by 53 points, there really isn’t much that needs to be said. There’s no doubt about it: Indiana is a better football team than Illinois - at least it was on Saturday.

No need to rub in it. The point has been proven. Right? 

Well, perhaps not. In Cignetti’s press conference ahead of Indiana’s Week 5 outing against Iowa, he not-so-subtly shaded his Week 4 opponent: “This will be a challenge. A more difficult challenge than the last one, for sure,” said Cignetti during his opening statement on Monday. 

On one hand, is Cignetti exactly wrong? Heading into Illinois-Indiana, the expectation was a tight battle that would go down to the wire. But, obviously, that wasn’t the case. 

A road matchup at Kinnick Stadium against a once-again stellar defensive squad led by mastermind Kirk Ferentz won’t be a walk in the park. Surely it’ll be closer than 63-10. 

But was shading the Illini, after blowing them out by 50-plus just two days ago, uncalled for? Certainly. 

And did he have any ill intent behind those words? Perhaps Bret Bielema’s meeting against Indiana back in 2010, when he was the head coach of Wisconsin (the Badgers won 83-20, with many accusing them of running up the score) was in the back of Cignetti’s mind. Who knows?

Although Bielema made it clear in his postgame presser he had no quibbles about Indiana keeping its foot on Illinois’ neck this past Saturday, Cignetti may still have wanted to send a final message the way of Bielema and the Illini.

Regardless, it was a stray and entirely unnecessary. But that’s what you get with a straight-shooter the likes of Cignetti. Unfiltered, unabashed statements, but, also, candid insight into the mind and thought process of a football mastermind.

As a fan of the game – even an anguished Illinois fan – you have no choice but to take the bad with the good.