ATLANTA – Indiana has followed the same weekly protocol in preparation for all 14 games this season.
Every day has the same tasks to complete. Every practice runs the same way. Every game is treated the same way. Every player is coached the same way. Everyone’s mentality is the same. Evidently, it works.
In each of the 14 games, Indiana’s intricate process has wrapped up the same way. Win with class. Sing the song. Celebrate for 24 hours. Move on to the next game.
“It’s kind of insane. Tuesdays are the same Tuesday. Wednesdays are the same Wednesdays. Thursdays are the same Thursdays,” center Pat Coogan said. “Even outside the facility. I find myself doing the same morning routine or getting gas at the gas station on Thursday morning every single week.”
Cignetti calls it being process-oriented. “Process-programmed” might be a better way to describe the phenomenon. The culture he has instilled universally implements Indiana’s unbreakable routine and relentless philosophy. All external emotional factors and noise prove worthless.
It’s as if Indiana is programmed like a computer. Everyone is coded with the same process and mentality. Nobody has been able to mess with the code from the outside.
“At this point, it kind of feels like we're robots,” linebacker Aiden Fisher said. “You’ve gotta finish one game and you're already thinking about the next. And you're back in your preparation, you're starting a new team and it's been built into a routine now, 14 games in.”
Indiana has beaten four AP top-10 teams this season. The Hoosiers are the only undefeated team remaining. They won on the road at Oregon, Penn State and Iowa. They beat No.1 Ohio State to win the Big Ten. They blew out Alabama in the Rose Bowl. Media presence is at an all time high. It is considered meaningless by those in the program.
“You can go on the internet and people are hyping you up, but you've got to move past because you've got a game next week,” cornerback D’Angelo Ponds said.
Indiana is one of the final four teams remaining in college football. The school’s first national title is two wins away. None of that matters. The Hoosiers are not programmed to expand their scope beyond what is necessary.
“When you're in the moment, and right now you have as much to play for as you do, you don't really mind it,” Fisher said. “So keep that robotic mindset, just keep prepping, attacking each day the same way we have. If you don't do that, then you're doing yourself a disservice, and that's what got us here.”
Robot status remains as Indiana is set to play Oregon in the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. The process has not differed. It has no reason to. Indiana is going through its process the same way as it would against Indiana State or Old Dominion.
Cignetti emphasizes an unwavering commitment to the standard from play one to play 150 in each game. The same holds true in practice, meetings or walkthroughs. Indiana football is 100% focused on Oregon because it is the next game on the schedule. Fourteen games ago, Indiana was 100% focused on Old Dominion because it was the next game on the schedule. After each game is complete, all commitment moves on to the next one.
“You just can't dwell on things,” Fisher said. “Nobody's gonna talk about the game last week at the end of this game. So all that matters is this game right now, be in the moment, take advantage of it.”
Indiana and Oregon will kick off at 7:30 p.m. on Friday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, and the game will be broadcast on ESPN. The Hoosiers will look to finish their unwavering process for the fifteenth time the same way they have the last fourteen.
Win with class. Sing the song. Celebrate for 24 hours. Move on to the next game.
