Cignetti, Lanning Preview Indiana-Oregon Rematch
ATLANTA, GA.–The Indiana Hoosiers (14-0 and #1) will meet the Oregon Ducks (13-1 and #5) Friday night in the College Football Playoff Semifinal Round at the Peach Bowl. The game, which will be played at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, is a rematch. Indiana beat Oregon 30-20 at Oregon on October 11.
Both Indiana Head Coach Curt Cignetti and Oregon Coach Dan Lanning discussed the rematch in a Zoom call on Saturday with reporters. Shortly after winning the Rose Bowl over Alabama on Thursday, Cignetti mentioned that it’s not easy to beat a great team twice. He spoke more about that Saturday.
“Yeah. I think it’s more of a psychological edge maybe; the one team that came up a little short, a little added edge, so to speak. But at the end of the day, it’s determined by what goes on between the white lines. It will be a tremendous challenge because Oregon, they’re very well coached, and they got good players. They’re explosive on offense. They run the ball really well. They’re very balanced. The line does a good job. And then they spread around the pass game, use all 52
yards. And, defensively, great speed, fly the ball, multiple hats,” said Cignetti.
Lanning said both he and his team have learned a lot from the 30-20 defeat, but now isn’t the time to make drastic changes.
“It’s all about making sure — you don’t go into a game, when you’re sitting in the position that Indiana is sitting in or that we’re sitting in, and say, okay, I’m going to change a lot of the things that we do. You gotta buy in to what you’ve done the whole year to get you where you’re at and really double down. So more than anything, double down on our process. Our guys have been a part of big games. When you play in the Big Ten, you’re going to be a part of big games. And every game can go different. Every game has a life of itself. So that’s what we have to be able to do is focus on our process, be really obsessed with the details going into a game like this and put your players in a position to have success,” said Lanning.
The transfer portal also opened on January 2. Both coaches addressed that too.
“We have 13 portal guys on campus right now. So from 10:00 till 2:00 my Oregon prep got cut a little bit short,” said Cignetti.
Lanning responded to that.
“Yeah. And just to build off that sentiment first, I’ll tell you, Coach Cignetti, keep focusing on those portal guys. We’re going through the same thing here. Sorry, I did a breakfast with some recruits this morning,” said Lanning.
They both shared a laugh at that. Lanning and Cignetti were both assistant coaches under Nick Saban at Alabama. Saban won six national titles. Both Lanning and Cignetti praised Saban for all he taught them.
Kickoff is set for 7:30 pm Friday January 9. Pregame coverage begins at 6:30 on the IU Radio Network.
