After Indiana's 42-13 win over UCLA, the Hoosiers are now receiving some national attention, although coach Curt Cignetti simply acknowledges it, not focusing on it in the slightest.
"It'll open some eyes, it was on national TV," Cignetti said after the UCLA win. "That's it. It's one game. We came out here and got done what we wanted to get done. I'm not into labels.
This showcases the mentality of the first-year head coach, taking it one game at a time and not focusing on any outside noise.
This is what he expects of his players and his staff as, favored or not, ranked or not, receiving votes in the latest AP Poll or not, the Hoosiers are there simply to handle business.
Handle business the Hoosiers did, as IU went into the Rose Bowl and made a statement. This has garnered some national attention, something the IU football program is not accustomed to.
"We’ll enjoy it for 24 hours," Cignetti said. "On Monday we are humble and hungry, and our eyes are on the next game."
"We've got to have a great week of preparation," Cignetti added on Monday. "That starts with the staff. Stay humble and hungry as we prepare for this next opponent."
One of the biggest football talk shows in media, The Pat McAfee Show, even mentioned Cignetti and Indiana football after its win over UCLA.
"Don't look now, but [Coach] Cignetti is doing things down there at IU," McAfee said on the show, noting that he's a fan of Cignetti's coaching style and how he has started out his first season at Indiana.
McAfee's show was not the only national media entity to give IU praise.
Barstool Sports, a site known for coverage of simply the major brands in college football, also talked about IU recently following the Hoosiers' win over the Bruins.
Barstool mentioned the fact that the Hoosiers have an abnormally high chance to make the College Football Playoff, higher than some premier programs in the sport.
Barstool gave this fact coverage, along with the fact that there seems to be a buzz around the program for the first time in a few seasons.
Taking it one step further, IU has also recently been given some love in recent bowl projections. All of the major projections have penciled IU into a bowl game, some even as prestigious as the Duke's Mayo Bowl.
ESPN"s broadcast of Monday Night Football even mentioned Cignetti and the Hoosiers, with Joe Buck (Former IU student and honorary graduate) and Troy Aikman (Former UCLA Quarterback) talking about Saturday's IU win.
Buck even went as far to start singing the Indiana fight song: "Indiana, our Indiana" to mock Aikman and celebrate the Hoosier victory. They then commented on Cignetti, Aikman saying, "you guys got us pretty good, I like your coach."
That's high praise from the hall of fame quarterback, especially since he's given Buck a hard time about the IU football program before.
Overall, this is very rare coverage for the Hoosiers, something that has excited the fans, but Cignetti remains unfazed.
He mentioned that despite all this buzz around the program it's "all eyes on Charlotte," keeping the mentality of one game at a time consistent from week to week.
All in all, this coverage is good for the Indiana football program. Behind the 3-0 start, it can get easy to take a peek at what some of the national media is saying, however Cignetti has remained adamant that Indiana will not get complacent.
Winning is the expectation for this team, so some added national media coverage won't change that.
Cignetti and his team only have one goal in mind: to go 1-0 every single week.
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