Indiana HC Curt Cignetti Explains The Hoosiers Canceling Upcoming Virginia Series

In light of these reports, when asked why Indiana chose to replace Virginia, Cignetti said at Big 10 media days in Las Vegas, "Here's the bottom line: We picked up an extra home game, and we play nine conference games. The best two conferences in college football, any football guy that's objective, will tell you are the Big 10 and the SEC. 12/16 SEC teams play 3 G5 [Group of Five] or FBS games. Twelve of those teams play 36 games, 29 G5 games, seven FCS games, and one less conference game. So, we'd figured we'd just adopt SEC scheduling philosophy. Some people don't like it. I'm more focused on those nine conference games."

From this, there's a lot to decipher, but at the same time, the amount of marquee matchups set for week one of the college football season begs to differ. Reigning National Champion Ohio State opens up its season against CFP semifinalist Texas, Tennessee plays Syracuse, Alabama squares off against Florida State, Clemson plays LSU, Notre Dame plays Miami, and South Carolina plays Virginia Tech. 

If you dig a little deeper, 7/11 Power Four schools that made the College Football Playoff last year will face a nonconference Power Four opponent within the first two weeks of the season. Of those opponents, five finished ranked at the end of last year, a stark difference to Cignetti's beliefs about "SEC scheduling philosophy". 

Cignetti also comes off a season in which, although he produced massive success in his first year at Indiana, leading the Hoosiers to an 11-1 regular season record and a College Football Playoff appearance, his squad received a ton of criticism throughout the season because their strength of schedule. The Hoosiers did not defeat a single top-25 opponent last year, losing to the two they did play (Ohio State and Notre Dame) by a combined scoring margin of 65-32. Taking Power Four nonconference games off of future schedules will not help that narrative. 

Heading into this year, Indiana received a Big 10 preseason ranking of six behind Penn State, Ohio State, Oregon, Illinois, and Michigan. Cignetti will face three of those aforementioned teams this fall and will have an opportunity to flip the narrative.

For a quick fact, the Cavaliers recorded one ranked win last season in a 24-19 road victory over No. 18 Pittsburgh. 

As for the Cavaliers, they face NC State as their Power Four nonconference game on Saturday, September 6th, in Raleigh, North Carolina.