Profitable in a coach’s first season is tough. Profitable at Indiana is tough.
However don’t inform that to Curt Cignetti, whose first 12 months in Bloomington has introduced the 2024 season’s most dramatic faculty soccer turnaround.
The Hoosiers have gone from 9-27 in Tom Allen’s final three seasons to 7-0 in Cignetti’s inaugural 12 months. The Hoosiers haven’t trailed for a second, one in every of simply two FBS groups (together with Military) that may say that.
Now ESPN’s School GameDay involves city for a sport towards Washington this weekend. A hand damage to quarterback Kurtis Rourke is a damper, possibly a giant one. However the staff says it expects Rourke again this season, and Indiana’s efficiency has been so effectively rounded that it could be untimely to put in writing off a powerful end even when Rourke took a very long time to get again.
Indiana does too many issues effectively.
More and more, the computer systems are a believer. Opta Analyst’s TRACR mannequin initiatives Indiana to complete with 11.0 wins – tied with Oregon for essentially the most within the Large Ten. An 11-1 file would unquestionably land the Hoosiers within the School Soccer Playoff, whereas even a 10-2 file would put them proper within the thick of committee consideration.
IU’s 29.6 TRACR ranks second within the Large Ten, behind Ohio State (33.2) however forward of Penn State (24.8) and Oregon (22.7) on the prime of the convention. So for now, Indiana’s go to to Ohio State on Nov. 23 shapes up as one of many video games of the 12 months.
How have the Hoosiers achieved it? The brief story is that they’ve gone from being unhealthy at just about every little thing to good at just about every little thing. The longer story, with colour supplied by Opta knowledge, is a extra diverse take a look at how Cignetti has gotten his practice transferring so quickly.
An Offensive Transformation
The ultimate Indiana offense beneath Allen was a catastrophe. Allen, a defensive coach by commerce, had success earlier in his tenure when he employed good offensive assistants. (His finest pickup was a former lower-level coach named Kalen DeBoer who has since gone on to some prominence.)
However final 12 months’s unit was unhealthy sufficient (seventy fifth nationally in offensive TRACR) that Allen fired coordinator Walt Bell in the course of the season earlier than getting the ax himself. Indiana’s offense did nothing effectively. Defenses packed the field (a 50.6% unhealthy field fee, fifth highest within the energy conferences) to power quarterback Brendan Sorsby to beat them, and Sorsby hardly ever did.
This 12 months’s offense, beneath Cignetti and his JMU coordinator Mike Shanahan, has been a revelation. Indiana leads the facility conferences in success fee (52.9%), coming in sixth in that statistic on run performs and far-and-away No. 1 when passing. The offense is an nearly excellent image of run/move stability (throwing the ball 49.3% of the time) and is sort of a little bit of enjoyable to observe.
Shanahan likes to make the most of pre-snap movement to garble the protection, and Rourke prefers to throw in giant payments: Indiana’s common goal depth is 10.2 yards downfield, second deepest within the Large Ten.
Rourke isn’t a operating quarterback, and Shanahan has not requested the Ohio switch to turn out to be one. As a substitute, he’s leaned into Rourke’s capacity to drive the ball together with his arm. As a matter of throwing good passes effectively down the sector, there’s been no QB within the nation on Rourke’s degree this season:
The switch portal has helped in different areas too. Most notable is Rourke’s group of targets. No. 1 receiver Elijah Sarratt and tight finish Zach Horton got here with Cignetti and Shanahan from JMU. Supporting wideout Myles Worth got here from Texas Tech, and one other, Miles Cross, got here from Ohio with Rourke.
Indiana’s offense has appeared unusually cohesive for a unit that was tossed collectively by way of the switch portal kind of on the fly, and the present relationships across the lineup will need to have heaps to do with that. The Hoosiers rank second within the Large Ten in passing TRACR (32.8).
Rourke and one in every of his present receivers had expertise collectively. Cignetti, Shanahan, and a key wideout and tight finish have been a package deal deal. Indiana is a newly assembled staff, nevertheless it’s comprised of present factions.
Whereas the JMU contingent has helped on offense, it’s been much more crucial on protection.
A James Madison Protection
In 2023, Indiana’s protection’s stunk. The Hoosiers allowed 5.8 yards per play (87th in FBS) and rated poorly in almost any defensive quantity somebody might search for (87th nationally in defensive TRACR).
A protection that didn’t stink in 2023 was Cignetti’s at James Madison. The Dukes spent many of the season undefeated and had an elite Group of 5 protection – twenty eighth within the nation in defensive TRACR. JMU allowed an excellent 5 yards per play (sixteenth in FBS) and led the non-power conferences with a 30.8% success fee allowed.
Cignetti determined to get plenty of gamers from his good protection and use them to repair the unhealthy protection at Indiana. Amazingly, the technique labored! Amongst JMU transfers on the IU protection:
Defensive tackles James Carpenter and Tyrique Tucker have been key as a part of a rotation of anchors in the midst of the road. Carpenter has been the staff’s most incessantly used defensive deal with, whereas Tucker’s 15.4% stress fee and 12.2% run disruption fee have made him arguably Indiana’s most disruptive deal with in a five-man rotation.
Inside linebackers Aiden Fisher and Jalin Walker are the staff’s main tacklers, with versatile contributions as run defenders, move rushers, and protection gamers. The 2 ex-Dukes are answerable for 28 of the 40 run stuffs credited to Indiana linebackers.
Edge rusher Mikail Kamara leads the staff’s regulars in stress fee (19.7%) and sacks (6.0, whereas nobody else has greater than 3.0).
Cornerback D’Angelo Ponds has 5 passes defensed and has held up very effectively whereas going through essentially the most targets within the IU secondary. His 37.8% burn fee allowed is 10t within the Large Ten among the many dozens of corners to face 15 or extra targets.
The man main this unit, defensive coordinator Bryant Haines, additionally got here from JMU.
This evaluation isn’t meant to undersell the schematic and participant improvement adjustments Indiana has made. However a lot of Indiana’s defensive development actually has simply come right down to the revolutionary technique of “bringing good gamers from a great staff over to a nasty staff.”
The Hoosiers have generated a 41.4% stress fee on opposing QBs (5 proportion factors higher than the Energy 4 common) regardless of blitzing a less-than-average 24.8% of the time. Final 12 months, Indiana had a below-average stress fee (30.8%) regardless of blitzing 32.9% of the time.
Generally, it actually does pay to only go get good gamers. Cignetti introduced them with him. This has usually sucked for James Madison however has been extraordinarily good for Indiana.
You’ll want to take a look at our Yankees-Dodgers, NBA, NFL and faculty soccer protection. And observe us on X and Instagram for extra!
