Curt Cignetti loses temper before a single snap in Indiana-Northwestern game

You don’t turn a program around like Curt Cignetti has turned Indiana around by overlooking opponents.

No one knows that better than Cignetti himself.

After the opening kickoff and before Indiana had snapped the ball once, the Hoosiers had already taken two illegal snap penalties, including one as Cignetti was trying to take a timeout. As a result, Cignetti let the officials on the sideline hear it, seemingly taking issue with Northwestern simulating snap counts as well.

Curt Cignetti was NOT happy after the refs missed his timeout call pic.twitter.com/wyfOvDrOeK

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) September 26, 2026

Cignetti and Indiana have been as quiet as one could expect defending national champions to be in the early-going this season, thanks in part to playing North Texas, Howard, and Western Kentucky to date. With this being the lone scale on Sept. 25 with larger FBS ramifications, some fans who were worried Cignetti may be losing his edge can rest easy.

Indiana’s opening drive would end up lasting about seven-and-a-half minutes, ending in Turbo Richard getting stuffed at the goal line by the Northwestern defense.

Follow our live blog for updates from the Hoosiers-Wildcats Big Ten showdown.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Curt Cignetti loses temper before a single snap in Indiana-Northwestern game