Curt Cignetti Draws Praise as Steve Sarkisian Pushes 9-Game Equity
Steve Sarkisian brought up curt cignetti this week while arguing for more equitable nonconference scheduling, pointing to Indiana’s approach as the debate around strength of schedule keeps growing. The Texas coach tied that argument to how programs are rewarded for wins versus schedule difficulty.
Sarkisian on Indiana
“There’s a lot of ways to find the path to make it,” Sarkisian said on Always College Football this week, before turning to Cignetti’s work at Indiana. “Curt Cignetti, an amazing job at Indiana. What he’s done the last two years, there’s not a guy in our profession that can’t say, ‘What an unbelievable job.’”
He added, “The way he did it has been somewhat unconventional with the sixth-year seniors, the transfers, the veteran group, the way they practice.” Sarkisian then sharpened the point that has become central to the scheduling argument: “We can’t want to adopt the ‘Indiana Way’ but then, not adopt all of the ‘Indiana Way.’”
Indiana’s schedule changes
Cignetti first entered the national conversation on nonconference scheduling a year ago at Big Ten Football media days last July, when he said Indiana had adjusted its schedule to adopt the “SEC philosophy” of playing nine games against Power 4 competition. About a month later, the SEC announced it was moving to a nine-game conference schedule while requiring its teams to play a Power 4 nonconference game.
Indiana’s scheduling history gives Sarkisian’s argument something concrete to point at. The Hoosiers were supposed to play Louisville away and home in 2024 and 2025, but Indiana canceled those games in 2023 while Tom Allen was still the head coach. The series had been scheduled years earlier when the Big Ten mandated a Power 4 nonconference game.
Strength of schedule debate
Sarkisian said people are starting to adjust their non-conference schedules because they are seeing the value of another win as opposed to the value of the strength of their schedule. He framed the issue around a simple question: “How do we find equity in strength of schedule or reward those teams that are playing that strength of schedule?”
Indiana’s recent results are why the topic carries weight. The program beat 13 Power 4 teams and six top-10 opponents during a 16-0 national championship run, then later canceled a 2027/2028 home-and-home series against Virginia. For programs deciding how to fill future nonconference dates, Sarkisian’s point is clear: the reward structure is now part of the scheduling calculation, not just the record.
