​USC did not have to face Indiana in either of the last two seasons, and that works in the Trojans’ favor. Indiana has been a thorn in many teams’ sides recently, but the matchup history suggested USC would have likely come away with a couple of losses if the Hoosiers had been on the schedule. Meanwhile, Lincoln Riley has faced scrutiny at USC as he tries to sustain success, yet Curt Cignetti has surged to the forefront of the college football coaching world. In just two seasons on the Indiana sideline, Cignetti has established himself as one of the sharpest minds in the sport, and by many metrics he has emerged as the top coach in the nation over the past two years. While Kirby Smart and Dabo Swinney enjoyed extraordinary runs for multiple years, Cignetti’s performance over the last two seasons has positioned him as the premier coach in America right now. If he can continue delivering elite campaigns, he could be remembered among the all-time greats in the coaching annals.
Nittany Lions Wire highlights Cignetti’s rapid impact: Curt Cignetti wasted no time reshaping how people view Indiana football. In just two seasons, he has propelled the Hoosiers toward the College Football Playoff in back-to-back appearances and culminated with a national title last season. He promised wins when he arrived, and those promises have clearly materialized. He has exceeded Bloomington’s expectations, even as Cignetti wouldn’t describe it that way, given the program’s long history. There has even been talk that Cignetti was among the top coaching candidates considered by Penn State after last year’s in-season coaching change, which may have contributed to Indiana finalizing a lucrative contract extension to keep him in Bloomington. Now he even graces the cover of EA Sports College Football 27. What will Cignetti have up his sleeve for an encore this season?
Curt Cignetti is the kind of coach Lincoln Riley once aspired to become. It will be a tall order for Riley to outright surpass Cignetti this season, but for Riley to earn any meaningful measure of respect, USC must at least be robustly competitive against the Hoosiers. This piece originally appeared on Trojans Wire, framing Riley’s ultimate coaching test for 2026 as Curt Cignetti’s challenge, underscoring that a strong, well-executed season by Indiana could redefine the standard for what success looks like in Riley’s tenure.