Skip to playerSkip to main content
  • 6 weeks ago
Transcript
00:00Let's turn our attention to the other battle, Indiana and Alabama.
00:05Talk to me about the coaching perspective.
00:07You know, Coach Cignetti very well.
00:09On the flip side, we have Kalen DeBoer.
00:11He was on the hot seat prior to the game in Norman just about a week,
00:16a week and a half ago before that team fell behind 17 to nothing.
00:21They made a second quarter comeback.
00:23They tied it at the half and they pull away to get the 34 to 24 victory.
00:28Right now, Kalen DeBoer and Alabama have a little bit of momentum,
00:32but how do you see the coaching advantage or coaching matchup in this second round game?
00:39You know, the thing that I think I get more out of talking to other football coaches,
00:43which I've talked to throughout the season as we've watched Indiana and Kurt Cignetti
00:49progress through his second year, I think it's almost a consensus that right now
00:54they are more fundamentally sound as a football team.
00:56That's coaching than any other team in America.
01:00They are so fundamentally sound.
01:02They are prepared in every phase of the game.
01:04They dot every I, they cross every T.
01:06Their evaluation of talent is outstanding.
01:10Their attention to detail on defense, run defense, pass defense, running game,
01:16passing game, special teams, turnovers, all those things,
01:20they are so fundamentally sound.
01:23That's the one thing I think happened sometimes Kalen DeBoer has been a part of programs
01:27where he's won championship after championship at a lower level.
01:31Quite often they're beating people so much, so much, so much.
01:35He came into this season, not able to run the ball very well,
01:37and they still don't do a great job of running it when people know you're going to run it.
01:42And so I think when it comes to coaching, I just, although people,
01:46Kurt Cignetti's fairly new on the national scene,
01:49he's been around a long time, assistant and head coach, and knows what he's doing.
01:54But I just love the fundamentals, the coaching fundamentals of Indiana
01:58is what is impressing football coaches around America.
02:02Yeah, and we'll see exactly how that second round game plays out.
02:06Indiana right now is a six and a half point favorite in that matchup.
02:10I think just looking at it overall, Coach, I would give the inside edge
02:15from a speed advantage to Alabama over Indiana.
02:19It's not a knock on Indiana and what they were able to do up until this point,
02:2313-0, number one overall seed.
02:26But we are talking about Alabama and SEC caliber speed going up against the Big Ten.
02:33And even though the defending national champion, Ohio State,
02:37and Michigan Wolverines in back-to-back years have hoisted the hardware.
02:42This is still SEC caliber team right now with Kalen DeBoer,
02:47and that's where I will give the inside edge to the Crimson Tide in the second round game.
02:52Yeah, I can't go that way.
02:54I've been so, like I say, as a football coach,
02:57I'm so enamored with the fundamentally sound football team at Indiana.
03:01I think they're going to, without the ability to run, and Indiana is a top-ten rush defense,
03:07I think top-two or three scoring defense in the country, maybe top-two second-ten scoring defense.
03:13It's going to come down to, can Ty Simpson play a perfect football game?
03:17I think he's going to have to play a perfect football game for them to come in there
03:21and not turn the ball over that, and I give that to Indiana.
03:25Mendoza got the Heisman Trophy for a reason.
03:27He is a great quarterback who also has made big plays in two games where he had to make the plays himself.
Comments

Recommended