First Trip to Nebraska a Challenge Curt Cignetti Isn't Taking Lightly

Curt Cignetti has coached in plenty of difficult places and faced plenty of quarterbacks capable of making a defense pay for a mistake. It kind of comes with the territory of being the defending national champion.

However, there was something about the way he talked about Nebraska on Monday that suggested this trip to Lincoln on Saturday would carry a little more weight than an ordinary Big Ten road game.

After all, Cignetti has never been to Nebraska.

“Looking forward to it,” Cignetti said. “I’ve heard great things about the stadium, the fans, obviously great tradition and history there through the years, and they’re playing really well. Coach Rhule and his entire staff have done a tremendous job of developing that program, and what they’ve put on tape this year is extremely impressive.”

There will be plenty of pomp and circumstance this weekend, but Cignetti's attention is understandably focused much more on what Nebraska has put on film. The Huskers are undefeated in their own right; they are playing with confidence and they’ve put together numbers that have caught the attention of an Indiana coach who has spent his career preparing teams for difficult road games.

“We’ve got a tremendous challenge this week in Nebraska,” Cignetti said. “Very impressive team on tape. A lot of respect for Coach Rhule, what he’s accomplished throughout his career, the kind of person he is, what he represents and what they put on tape.”

Cignetti did not need long to explain why he feels that way.

“They’re outscoring the opposition 44-14, plus six in the turnover ratio, 230 yards a game rushing, throw it well,” he said. “The quarterback I know well, played against him at JMU. We went to Virginia, he was a true freshman — stepped in, really played well. He’s had an outstanding career. He can beat you with his arm and his legs.”

That quarterback, of course, is UNLV transfer Anthony Colandrea, and there was a little more familiarity in Cignetti's comments about him than there typically is when a coach discusses an opposing quarterback during game week.

Cignetti remembers seeing Colandrea when he was still a true freshman at Virginia, long before he became the experienced quarterback Nebraska now has directing its offense. What Cignetti saw then was enough to leave an impression, and what he sees now is a player who’s had enough game experience to turn those early flashes into a much more complete game.

“Well, every year you play, you get better,” Cignetti said. “Repetition is the mother of learning. Nothing like game reps, and he’s had a lot of success throughout his career.”

Cignetti's description of Colandrea continued to build from there, with the Indiana coach emphasizing that NU’s signal caller has developed into more than a player who can make plays when everything goes according to plan.

“He’s gotten very talented,” Cignetti said. “He’s savvy first of all, and I think he sees the field really well, and he’s very mobile and elusive, too. If there’s nothing there, he has the ability to create plays with his arm and his legs.”

Colandrea’s ability to turn a broken play into something productive is one of the biggest concerns Indiana will have to address Saturday, particularly because he’s not simply a running quarterback who happens to be capable of throwing the football.

“He was their leading rusher last week, and he’s got a strong arm,” Cignetti said. “He’s really smart and they’ve done a really nice job with him in this offense. He was Player of the Year in the conference he came from.”

Indiana can prepare for a quarterback who is capable of making accurate throws from the pocket, just as it can prepare for a quarterback who is capable of scrambling when a play breaks down. Preparing for both at the same time, however, creates a different kind of problem, because a defense cannot simply collapse the pocket and assume the play will end there.

“They’re a little different,” Cignetti said when asked about defending mobile quarterbacks. “We’ve played guys who are mobile and can throw it, and a guy that can spin it pretty good in process and get it where it’s got to be accurately as quickly as possible on time, on rhythm, that can also extend plays and make plays with his legs. We’ll have to do a great job of caging this guy and putting pressure on him.”

The challenge for Indiana will extend beyond one player, however, because Cignetti repeatedly returned to the overall quality of the Nebraska team and the way it has played during an undefeated start.

“They’re flying around on defense trying to keep you off balance,” Cignetti said. “Impressive, impressive football team. We’ll have to play really well.”

That respect was evident again when Cignetti was asked about the fact that both teams enter Saturday's game undefeated, a circumstance that has turned an early-season matchup into one of the more significant games on either team's schedule.

“Well, it’s a Big Ten game on the road against an undefeated team,” Cignetti said. “It’s a huge challenge. We have to respond, and our guys will be excited to play.”

For Indiana, the trip itself will provide another test. The Hoosiers started the year playing four consecutive games at home before their first road win last week, and while Cignetti did not believe his team needed a road game to get closer, he acknowledged that there is something different about leaving the familiar surroundings of home and taking the field somewhere else.

“Going on the road and winning is a good thing,” Cignetti said. “It might bring you together a little bit. It’s a little different when you played four-straight at home, then go on the road. It’s just different.”

What Indiana does need is to play well enough to handle a Nebraska team that has impressed him on film. He will also be preparing his players for an environment he has heard plenty about but never experienced himself.

There is a certain novelty to that for Cignetti, who has spent his coaching career visiting plenty of college football towns but will make his first trip to one of the sport's most recognizable venues on Saturday. He knows what the stadium represents, at least from what he has heard, and he understands that the atmosphere will be part of the challenge for his team.

For a coach making his first trip to Nebraska, there may not be a much better introduction than this one. On Saturday, he will find out firsthand what all those stories about the stadium, the fans and the tradition are really about, while the defending champs try to keep their undefeated season intact.