Cignetti Talks Big Ten Title Game Preparation vs Ohio State

INDIANAPOLIS–The Big Ten Football Championship is Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium in downtown Indianapolis between the #2 Indiana Hoosiers and the #1 Ohio State Buckeyes. Both teams are 12-0.

Hoosier Head Coach Curt Cignetti said preparing for Ohio State is certainly extensive.

“There’s a lot of plays out there that we could run that we haven’t run and I’m sure they could run that they haven’t run, but we’ve got 12 games on them, they’ve got 12 games on us. We know their personnel pretty well, and they know our personnel pretty well. So we’ve got an idea how we think they’ll attack us. I’m sure they have an idea how they think we’ll attack them. You put your best plan together to put your guys in position to make plays and then got to execute it,” said Cignetti at a Monday press conference.

Last year, Ohio State beat Indiana 38-15 late in the season to hand Indiana their first loss of the season. Cignetti said they’ll prepare like crazy all week, but you never really know how ready your team is until the game gets going.

“What I can tell you about this football team is we’ve met every challenge up to this point because we prepare consistently the way you need to prepare and put it on the field, and all three phases have been very consistent. That’s what it’s going to take this week, detailed preparation, commit to the preparation, eliminate the noise and the clutter, put yourself in the best position to play your best on Saturday individually and collectively. It’s my job to make sure that happens and the assistant coaches. With that done five days from now, our guys will walk on the field with confidence that they will get the job done,” said Cignetti.

Statistically, Ohio State is #1 in the country in scoring defense (allowing 8 ppg) while Indiana is #2 (11 ppg). Indiana is scoring 45 points per game and Ohio State is scoring 37.

Kickoff is Saturday night at 8 pm.