Curt Cignetti only focused on opponent heading into first game

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (WISH) — Curt Cignetti is only five days away from from his first game as the head coach of Indiana football.

He’s spent a lot of time since being hired as head coach trying to generate excitement for the program and flaunting his previous coaching record.

But, he doesn’t see the opening game as an opportunity to set the tone for what IU football will be in the new era. He just sees it as another game.

“I don’t look at it that way,” Cignetti said. “This is the opponent. I’m spending every second of my day with a sense of urgency trying to help put us in the best position to be as good as we can be. And that’s how we look at things as coaches.”

Cignetti was into the office at 5:00 a.m. on Monday, and was up at 4:00 a.m., part of his typical game week routine.

For practice this week, there will be a specific focus each day. Monday is just a light practice, and then Tuesday is first and second down and punt return, Wednesday focuses on third down, and Thursday’s focus is on red zone situations, goal line situations, and two-minute drills.

The mornings and afternoons are spent preparing for the situations that will be the focus in practice.

Heading into the first week of the season, Cignetti is feeling good about the offense and Kurtis Rourke at quarterback.

“We have a lot of veteran players,” Cignetti said. “We have a veteran quarterback. And I think we have a chance to be a good offense and defense and special teams.”

However, Cignetti says that he still has concerns, but that he’s never had a team where he didn’t have concerns.

Indiana kicks off their season against Florida International at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday at Memorial Stadium.