3 Takeaways From Curt Cignetti's Game Week Press Conference Ahead of USC

The Indiana Hoosiers got to sit on the couch and watch the rest of college football beat up on each other last week. Now the Hoosiers enter the final quarter of the regular season needing a win to stay afloat in the College Football Playoff race. Here are the main takeaways from Curt Cignetti's press conference.

1. No Real Update on Josh Hoover

The main question during the bye week was whether or not Josh Hoover or Grant Wilson would start for IU against USC on Saturday. Hoover looked hurt against Minnesota and took a crushing hit a play before being replaced by Grant Wilson at halftime.

Wilson helped lead the Hoosiers to a comeback win, but there has been no information coming out of Bloomington regarding Hoover's status.
"We'll see how the week plays out, and we'll see who we trot out there," Cignetti said. Indiana has to release an availability report publicly on Wednesday evening.

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2. Cignetti Gets Snippy With Reporter About Special Teams

Coach Cignetti is good for a viral clip at every press conference, and this week he turned a question about Charlie Becker returning punts around on the reporter.

"Coach, what have you seen out of your punt return game since Charlie took over, and how would you like to see that improve?" the reporter asked.

Cignetti challenged the question by asking what the reporter has seen. Clearly taken aback by the retort, the reporter said, "Seems like a lot of fair catches."

Cignetti eventually gave an answer, but the question or questioner clearly touched a nerve.

3. IU's Issues are with Execution on Offense

Cignetti had the bye week to do a deep dive in the film room to look under the hood of his team. While there have been glaring issues with the Hoosiers' offense recently, Cignetti believes they stem from execution, not a schematic problem.

"I would say this in general: A lot of our problems are -- while we were always looking to improve schematically and you're always going to see something different every week, the average fan may not notice it,"

Cignetti said. "A lot of our problems have been general execution. We were averaging 42 points after the first four, five games, and then the next four, I think it was, we were averaging 18 points. For the most part, it's been missed opportunities. Last week was a combination of six offensive penalties on the offensive line."

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