Skip to content

Ad Disclosure

Curt Cignetti brushes off concerns of long road trips, reveals Indiana’s travel routine

Cory Nightingale

By Cory Nightingale

Published:

Curt Cignetti’s Indiana team has been one of college football’s biggest surprises in 2024, maybe even the biggest surprise of all in a season that’s already been off-the-charts stunning after just 7 weeks.

The 1st-year Hoosiers head coach has propelled Indiana, for heaven’s sake, all the way up to No. 16 in the latest AP Poll, and they are a perfect 6-0. This Saturday afternoon, Indiana is at home in the friendly confines of Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, as it hosts 5-1 Nebraska in FOX’s attractive noon ET slot.

But what about when the Hoosiers aren’t at home? What about those long road trips that are now a reality more than ever with the expansion of the Big Ten from its Midwest roots all the way to the California coastline and the Pacific Northwest? Indiana has already played at UCLA this season, where the Hoosiers didn’t blink in dispatching the Bruins, 42-13, at the Rose Bowl.

Shorter trips to Michigan State and Ohio State still await Cignetti’s team this season, but he took a road warrior mentality during Wednesday’s appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show.” Cignetti isn’t one for longer travel plans for road trips. He likes to get there, play the game and come back in as short amount of time as possible.

“We’re gonna get there as late as possible and we’re gonna wake up and we’re going to play the game,” said Cignetti. “Get to the hotel about eight o’clock at night, ate our meal and went to bed. … Woke up, played at 3:30 and kicked their ass and came home.”

Cignetti’s bold answer drove the gang at the show into laughter, but he was just being his usual honest self.

Cory Nightingale