Bloomington, Indiana - Indiana coach Curt Cignetti and his wife Manette enjoyed cocktails on vacation in the Dominican Republic earlier this year, but a stranger approached them at the resort.

He began reciting the Indiana team mantra in 2024: "Fast. Body. Relentless. Intelligent. Intelligent. Discipline. Calm."

Cignetti is not used to being recognized outside his university town and can only laugh. Hearing the terminology of Indiana's program in a foreign country shows that the success of the season shows that after a year, it was repeated and ruthlessly executed.

With Cignetti's "Google Me" Bluster having a sensational first-year result, he quickly refocused on the momentum. Cignetti came to Indiana, a school that could win a national championship. The 1st grade result has many Hoosier fans viewed this concept as a possibility that he could not imagine in his previous generations.

"You're going to do that in football," Cignetti said recently in his office. "And I think everyone saw it last year."

Cignetti's first season calls include college football playoffs, seven different national or conference coaching awards, and overall wins of the program record (11) and the Big Ten (8). Indiana ranked 10th in the AP poll, the highest since 1967.

There are some unrealistic things like inspiring fan bases that take advantage of the excitement of the agency and bring new dual identities to generations, which are passed down from generation to generation. Indiana's spending, according to the cost, offered Cignetti a new deal for $72 million in eight years, now has a $11 million employee salary pool. (The pool program will be ranked in the top five in the country.)

This is a significant increase for Indiana Football, which wants to continue to taste the success of football decades after being a gatemat.

"Last year was an incredible start," athletic director Scott Dolson told ESPN. "We are paranoid. We don't want to be a miracle of clicks."

Cignetti fits into this topic, spending more time in a recent interview reflecting what hasn't happened and improving what needs to happen. After creating a feel-good story for the country in 2024, Cignetti relies on these shortcomings.

"When we played the big boy, that didn't happen," Cignetti said. "The way we did it was really disappointing."

The final conversation began with a 27-17 loss in Notre Dame in the first campus college football playoff game in history. Indiana trailed 27-3 in the fourth quarter, and Cignetti mentioned a specific regret - not picking up the offensive rhythm earlier in the game.

"It should be two minutes early, but in hindsight it's 20-20," he said, adding: "It could be a silver lining for Notre Dame's game, it's a sour taste I left in my mouth, in terms of motivation to start this year."

Even if the timeline is more difficult, it is not difficult to make a strong reason for 2025. Indiana landed on one of the NCAA's highest NCAA transfer portal quarterbacks in Cal's Fernando Mendoza and upgraded an offensive line that fought against elites in 2024. Mendoza will have the third-team all-around Elijah Sarratt (957 yards, 8 TDS).

Last year's defense, Bryant Haines, the country's No. 2 overall coordinator, returned a team of all-around ten players at each level - cornerback D'Angelo Ponds (nine PBUs in 2024), defender Aiden Fisher (118 tackles in 2024) and defensive racer Mikail Kamara (15 Tfls in 2024 in 2024).

It was a humble brag when Cignetti said he "doubt (Mendoza) will follow the curve with everyone else" coaching at quarterback.

Both Ben Dinucci (2019) and Cole Johnson (2021) won the CAA Offensive Player of the Year when James Madison became the FCS school. Indiana's offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan has been the coordinator and PlayCaller for Cignetti since 2021, with results steady high.

In 2022, at JMU, transfer quarterback Todd Centeio (Colorado State/Temple) won the Sunshine Belt Player of the Year at James Madison, as did 2023 transfer quarterback Jordan McCloud (Arizona/USF).

Then in 2024 in Indiana, Kurtis Rourke arrived at Ohio State University with a small fanfare. He ended up being the Big Ten second-team all-meet quarterback, the country's second most effective quarterback behind Jaxson Dart, and ranked third in overall quarterback ratings.

Why does the Cignetti-Shanahan system work well?

"We're developing around the strengths of the quarterback and the team," Cignetti said. "At JMU, we have good players, and Rourke happened last year. He was accurate, at the fingertips, got the ball out of his hand, threw it at the rhythm, played with confidence, and we grabbed the ball."

Mendoza's projection is higher than all star quarterbacks before Cignetti, as he started 19 games at Cal and threw 3,004 yards and 16 touchdowns last year.

A region that hurt Mendoza last season collided with Indiana's weaknesses, which was exposed in the Hoosiers' biggest game, as last year, their sack rate against Ohio State, Notre Dame and Michigan was 13% while the rest of the schedule was 3%. In those three games, they had a block rate of 30.1%, while in the other three games they had a block rate of 14%.

"We look a little different when we play really good people," Cignetti admits.

Indiana's three offensive lines against big brands add huge weaknesses - Colorado's Kahlil Benson (who started at IU in 2020-23), Notre Dame's Pat Coogan and Ohio State's Zen Michalski. This puts six Indiana's older and experienced linemen along with return left tackle Carter Smith and guards Bray Lynch and Drew Evans.

That's good news for Mendoza, who was the second most recent player in college football last year (41), behind Colorado's Shedeur Sanders (42).

The refurbished Indiana line should help Mendoza make a leap this year, as Cignetti is excited to have a quarterback who can expand the game. (Mobility isn't his business for all Rourke's touch, especially as he emerges in the 2024 draft of the ACL torn .)

"We're going to have to put him in our pockets because (Cal) couldn't protect him last year," Cignetti said. "So you can only get so many hits until you start having a little hatred about it."

For Indiana, a step forward means performing on a stiff schedule. Although Indiana's non-league schedule is again sponsored by Puffs Plus (Old Dominion, Kennesaw State and Indiana State), the top ten schedules will be more difficult.

Last year, Indiana’s best win was a win over Michigan’s eight wins, while other wins against the Bowl team were against Washington (6-7) and Nebraska (7-6).

This year, we will learn more about Indiana cleaning pictures faster. IU will face Illinois at home on September 20, head to Iowa next weekend, and then to Oregon on October 11 a week after seeing each other. It will also be heading to Penn State later this year.

Cignetti is preparing for Indiana. He believes that the age of income share in college sports is expected to be beneficial to the Indians when he supports President Pamela Wheaton and Dolson's fundraising work.

Indiana's best offseason wins came from suitors who defended against Haines, Shanahan and strength coach Derek Owings. Haines has obtained two new deals thanks to external interests and will earn $2 million. Owings signed a new three-year contract in Bloomington and chose a raise in Bloomington. IU lost quarterback coach/co-offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri to UCLA, where he became the offensive coordinator for playing and replaced him with promising NFL assistant coach Chandler Whitmer.

After Indiana surprised the college football community by paying more than $15 million to buy former coach Tom Allen, the Hoosiers rally to make sure they can drive the momentum forward.

“We want to invest strategically,” Dolson said. “Since we brought CIG coaching to strategic, we feel we’ve done everything. Not cuffs.”

This adapts Cignetti and Indiana to new challenges - expectations.

"Last year ended and you had to start over from zero ground," he said. "And, you have to be hungry, firm and disciplined, and do what you succeed every day."