IU football took a step forward Saturday with a 56-9 victory over Kennesaw State. But coach Curt Cignetti said Monday he sees plenty of room for improvement.
“I don't think the players want to look at the score and feel like, yeah, okay, we're there, because we're definitely not,” Cignetti said. “I mean, defensively we gave up nine plays of 15 yards or more.
“They had drives of 63, 64, 44 and 50 consecutively, and we had a number of missed assignments, poor alignments, the fast balls, particularly in the middle of the field where they're going fast, were not aligned correctly.”
The win came after subpar 27-14 victory over Old Dominion in the season opener.
Quarterback Fernado Mendoza threw for four touchdowns and 245 yards. Elijah Sarratt had nine receptions and three touchdowns.
The Hoosiers are ranked No. 22 nationally in the Associated Press media poll.
Regardless of what looked like an impressive game for IU’s defense, Cignetti said the Hoosiers were one play away from it being a whole different story.
“Really the play of the game is Jamari Sharp’s strip, where it's 28-9 in the second half,” he said. “They get a big play and if [KSU] goes in to score, it's going to be 28-16. But (Sharp) makes a great play, and on the very next play, we run the reverse for a touchdown, so it's 35 to 9.”
IU faces Indiana State at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Memorial Stadium.
“They're doing a nice job on offense, scoring 40 points a game and they're fairly balanced playing a couple running backs,” Cignetti said. “Defensively, they're doing a nice job as well, so I'm sure they're going to come in excited to play, and you know, I want to see us play a clean game.”