“We won't sneak into anyone”

Bloomington - Indiana Football has been in the stormy horizon since last season's first college football playoff.

The Hoosiers have been a popular target for the team’s fans (mainly the SEC) on social media, and they feel they don’t belong to the 12 teams.

These conversations surfaced this week when the SEC gathered at the annual spring meeting in Destin, Florida, with much of the discussion focused on adjusting the format of CFP in the coming years, leading fans to re-criticize IU's qualifications.

It's just the tip of the iceberg, as Hoosiers can expect to cope with expected weight gain this fall.

"If you want to know about noise, chaos, BS and social media stuff, but that won't positively impact you," Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti said at a recent Boost event. "That's for sure."

This is part of the information Cignetti plans to deliver to players this week as they return to Bloomington for summer workouts.

"It's hard to turn it off completely, and sometimes you want to have a feeling about what's going on there, but I think the guys who can turn it off for a lot of time are putting themselves in the right position to stay focused on what they're developing important," Cignetti said. "The team benefits too when you get a group of people thinking that way."

Last year, Siniti was equally alert to his team culture. When the Hoosiers opened the season with 10 consecutive victories, he talked about making sure players didn’t get a “warm blur” and started looking down at their opponents.

He asked the team from the conference room to the venue to pay close attention and not to be afraid to call them out if they don't meet that standard. He has publicly criticized bad practice efforts in each of the past two seasons.

In 2024, this moment comes after a two-day "Eclipse Holiday". He also quickly criticized April's bland efforts - "We just don't have enough juice" - although this is an outlier for Hoosiers' practice at this spring camp.

"It's all about controlling control, maximizing your opportunities and improving as much as possible," Cignetti said last week. "...It's in stacking meetings, stacking practices and being prepared so you can play your best role alone, collectively...that's the only way."

Indiana's focus on maintaining its competitor status will be as important as this fall.

"We won't sneak into anyone, but that's OK," Cignetti said. "We want the best shots for every team, great competitors."

Michael Niziolek is Indiana's Bloomington Herald-Times beat journalists. You can follow him on x @michaelnizielek And read all his stories by clicking here.