Curt Cignetti’s mentality for the national championship

MIAMI (WISH) — The top-seeded IU football team have racked up a lot of accolades this season.

The Hoosiers are undefeated and getting ready to play in their first national championship in program history, and head coach Curt Cignetti is aware of the praise his team is receiving.

“I think leading up to this game, there’s been a lot of pro Indiana hype, a lot of rat poison out there,” Cignetti said.

The national championship matchup against Miami will be the last college football game for plenty of IU’s players.

“It is a close team,” Cignetti said. “I’ve witnessed quite a bit of sentimentalism throughout the week from some of our seniors who we’ve been with quite a long time. I think it’s time to sharpen the saw now, throw those warm fuzzies out the door, that sentimentalism. It’s time to go play a game against a great opponent. We’ve got to have a sharp edge going into this game. You don’t go to war with warm milk and cookies.”

The Hoosiers have an opportunity on Monday night to join the 1975-76 IU basketball team as undefeated national champions, a team coached by Bob Knight.

“I was a big Bob Knight fan as a little kid,” Cignetti said. “I liked sort of the shenanigans and the faces at the press conferences and throwing the chair across the court. I thought that was pretty cool. And the guy I bought my house from was a big friend of Bob Knight, actually.”