Indiana HC Curt Cignetti Boldly Predicts Big Ten Championship Appearance in 2024

Indiana hired Curt Cignetti away from James Madison to lead their football team, a strong hire for a team competing in a tough Big Ten conference. While the Hoosiers finished last in the entire conference this season with a 3–9 record (1–8 in conference games), Cignetti believes that there will still be a quick turnaround.

During a Friday interview with Big Ten Network from Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, the site of Saturday’s Big Ten championship game, Cignetti made a bold prediction regarding where Indiana will finish in the Big Ten next season.

“I figured that I should make this trip up here since we'll be playing in this game next year,” he said while being interviewed on the Big Ten Network, via IndianaHQ.

Cignetti with a hell of a quote at the end of his BTN interview in Indianapolis:

"I figured I had to make this trip up here since we'll be playing in this game next year."

Dave Revsine asks if he's willing to go on record? "I am on record!" #iufb

— IndianaHQ (@IndianaHQ) December 1, 2023

The Big Ten first introduced its championship game in 2011, and Indiana has yet to appear in the game in its 13-year existence despite it being played in Indianapolis every season. The Hoosiers have just two winning seasons since 2007, and have a combined record of 9–27 over the past three seasons.

Cignetti, meanwhile, has not recorded a losing season as head coach of three different teams since ’11. While at James Madison, Cignetti led the Dukes to three double-digit win seasons since 2019 and never lost more than three games in a year.

With the Big Ten adding four new teams in 2024, and getting rid of divisions in the process, making the championship game is a tall task. Indiana is set to play both Ohio State and Michigan next year, along with newcomers UCLA and Washington, so a Big Ten championship appearance would be one of the biggest stories of the year.