Inside The Huskies

While Cignetti Claimed No. 1 Spot, He Made UW No. 18

The Indiana leader included the Huskies in his final Coaches' Poll balloting.
Dan Raley|
Indiana coach Curt Cignetti works the sideline against the Huskies in 2024.
Indiana coach Curt Cignetti works the sideline against the Huskies in 2024. | Jacob Musselman-Imagn Images

They say Curt Cignetti knows football and so far they have been oh so right about that.

He just took Indiana, once one of the most insipid college football programs found anywhere on the planet, and turned the Hoosiers from absolute rags to riches, into 16-0 national champions, the best without a doubt.

The opportunistic coach effectively reversed all of the bad mojo pent up in Bloomington -- a place where quarterback Michael Penix Jr. couldn't escape the demoralizing times.

Penix, if you recall, was punished with four season-ending injuries in the Indiana heartland that led to him transferring to the University of Washington and football safety.

Had they worked together, Cignetti surely would have found a way to make Penix a lasting Hoosier icon, the Heisman Trophy winner and the No. 1 overall NFL draft pick with minimal stress on the left-hander's body.

Just a day or so after winning it all over Miami, in Miami, this very attentive football coach found time to take care of some loose house-keeping chores by filling out his ballot on the Coaches Poll, a move that has resonated in Montlake.

Locals will be pleased to know that the attention-to-detail Cignetti emerged as about the only voter for any season-ending ranking anywhere, the Associated Press included, who saw fit to include the 9-4 Huskies in the polling promised land -- at No. 18.

Cignetti not only beat the UW to a pulp in 2024, 31-17 on a gray day in the Midwest, he rewarded the Huskies for their 2025 efforts.

He ranked them between Michigan and Virginia, and well ahead of USC. He ranked them as one of eight Big Ten teams in the final 25, demonstrating the strength of his football surroundings across the Big Ten.

To the minor consternation of Husky followers, Cignetti, like others, still had the UW ranked behind Illinois, a team the Huskies whipped 42-25 at home at midseason, but they'll no doubt forgive him for that.

After all, he hasn't been wrong on too much these days.

So with all of the college football polls put to bed, Cignetti and his staff will turn their attention to the transfer portal while trying to keep this instant Indiana football empire rolling.

He might have done the UW a favor with his poll preferences, but it will stop there.

Soon the Big Ten will release its 2026 football schedule, where the Huskies already are know to be hosting Cignetti and the Hoosiers, at a date to be determined, probably on a September or October Saturday, and all of the niceties will end there.

Maybe this wily guy was just trying to soften up Jedd Fisch's guys some with his Coaches' Poll generosity.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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