Curt Cignetti Roasts Illinois After Blowout Win, Eyes Iowa Test

Curt Cignetti sees a tougher test this Saturday than last week wound up being

Sep 12, 2025; Bloomington, Indiana, USA; Indiana Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti walks along the sideline during the second half against the Indiana State Sycamores at Memorial Stadium. | Robert Goddin-Imagn Images

Indiana (4-0) has again become the darlings of the college football world after its dominating win over Illinois on Saturday. The 63-10 victory showed the nation what many Hoosiers backers already thought: that Indiana is primed for another run to the College Football Playoff and perhaps one it can make some noise in this year.

Getting to the College Football Playoff is still over two months away, and a lot remains to be accomplished by Indiana before that can happen. Step one of that process is this Saturday, when the Hoosiers travel west to take on Iowa (3-1).

On Monday, Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti held his weekly press conference and spoke about the upcoming Iowa contest, and did so while getting one final burn in on Illinois.

Indiana's Tyrique Tucker (95) celebrates his sack 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

"So we're going to have to play well. This will be a challenge, a more difficult challenge than the last one (Illinois), for sure."

Cignetti went on to praise Iowa for how it's not a team that gives you anything. "The thing about Iowa, in general, they will not beat themselves. You're gonna have to beat them."

Indiana is looking to win in Iowa City for the first time since 2007, when it beat the Hawkeyes 38-20, the only time it has this millennium.

While Indiana is coming off its dominating win over Illinois, Iowa returns home after winning at Rutgers 38-28 this past Friday night as quarterback Mark Gronkowski ran for three Hawkeyes touchdowns.

Indiana vs Iowa: Turnovers Will Tell the Story

While Indiana will enter the game as a road favorite, it could come down to the turnover battle. Can Indiana keep up what has been a fantastic start to the year in terms of the turnover battle? Indiana's plus-five in turnover margin ranks as the 10th best nationally while Iowa is even in turnover margin for 2025, ranking it 61st nationally.

While turnovers are hard to predict, Indiana's regular pressure on opposing quarterbacks has helped cause them early in 2025. The Hoosiers have 15 sacks through four games, the fifth-most in all of FBS to date. It'll be key for Indiana to continue to pressure Iowa if it plans on moving to 5-0 on Saturday.

ESPN FPI Projects Indiana at Iowa Contest

ESPN's computer system Football Power Index (FPI) has its updated projection for Saturday's game, giving the Hoosiers a 78.4% chance of victory. Despite four of the five experts on the ESPN College GameDay panel picking Illinois to knock off Indiana last week, the FPI gave the Hoosiers an over 60% chance at victory.

Saturday's game kicks off at 3:30 p.m. ET in Iowa City and can only be seen on Peacock.