The Weekender: Urt Cignetti Plants Indiana in Playoff Race With 63-10 Drubbing of Illinois, Dabo “All We've Done is Win” Swinney Loses Again

By Andy Anders on September 21, 2025 at 2:35 pm
Curt Cignetti
Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times/USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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An off week for Ohio State provides time to soak in everything else that's happening around college football.

That's especially true when you cover the team. It's rare to get an opportunity, as a reporter, to sit one's keister on the couch and watch the world's greatest sport from noon to the wee hours of the morning. And it was an eventful day in the sport.

Far from recapping all that transpired in an excellent weekly column, which Ryan Ginn will do on Eleven Warriors in his wonderful Dumb and Beautiful series on Monday, The Weekender is here to get you by in water cooler conversation with three of the biggest storylines coming out of the weekend.

Curt Cignetti is smoking the competition again

Many Big Ten talking heads were speculating who this year's Indiana – a team outside the traditional powers that rises to claim a College Football Playoff spot – would be in the conference. Turns out Indiana is this year's Indiana.

The Hoosiers ripped that title from then-No. 9 Illinois with the ferocity of a starved tiger on Saturday, smacking down the Fighting Illini 63-10. Indiana coach Curt Cignetti stared 1,000 yards through it all like a maniac.

Indiana quarterback Fernanado Mendoza, a transfer from Cal in the offseason, shredded a vaunted Illinois secondary. He finished 21-of-23 (91.3%) for 267 yards and five touchdowns with no interceptions. He's now second in Heisman Trophy odds on DraftKings at +950, trailing only Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer (+750).

Questions as to whether Cignetti could sustain the success that brought Indiana an 11-1 regular season and CFP berth in 2024 have thus far been answered. The Hoosiers were largely untested by a nonconference schedule devoid of Power Four opponents, but Illinois returned a bona fide 10-win squad and had a road win over Duke on its résumé. And any 63-10 win in the Big Ten is a statement.

"I felt very confident about this game going in, based on what I saw on film," Cignetti said after the win. "There's a lot of football left to be played."

The Hoosiers travel to Iowa in six days before getting their off week, which they'll need to prepare for a showdown at Oregon and a Ducks squad that's looked like a national title contender again in 2025.

Dabo Swinney says Clemson can let him go if it's “tired of winning,” proceeds to lose again

Clemson's famous (or infamous, depending on your allegiances) head coach had some pointed words for his critics last week following a 1-2 start by his highly outed team.

"If they want me gone, they're tired of winning, they can send me on the way," Swinney said in his weekly Tuesday press conference. "Because that's all we've done is win. So if they're tired of winning, we've won this league eight out of the last 10 years. Is that not good? I'm just asking. Is that good?"

All Clemson did this past Saturday was, in fact, not win but lose at home to unranked Syracuse by a 34-21 scoreline. Quarterback Cade Klubnik, a preseason Heisman favorite, threw 60 passes but completed only 37 of them. Swinney was noticeably more humble after the loss.

"It's incredibly frustrating. We just cannot seem to get on the same page and play complementary football," Swinney said. "We can't seem to get it all together. And we kind of work against each other."

Wisconsin AD Chris McIntosh throws support behind Luke Fickell

With games scheduled against Michigan, Oregon, Ohio State, Illinois and Indiana for later in the season, bouncing back at home against Maryland was paramount for Wisconsin off its expected loss at Alabama last week. The Terrapins rolled through Camp Randall Stadium instead.

Wisconsin's offense continues looking anemic as the Badgers fell behind 20-0 by halftime en route to a 27-10 loss to the Terrapins. Former Ohio State defensive coordinator and interim head coach Luke Fickell is now 15-15 through two seasons and four games in Madison after his greatly successful head coaching stint at Cincinnati. "Fire Fickell" chants rained down from the student section before intermission. Fickell didn't blame them.

Despite the 2-2 start with the embarrassing loss, Wisconsin athletic director Chris McIntosh spoke to reporters specifically to express his support for the coach.

“After a tough loss like the one we've had, when we're faced with adversity, when we're playing through a lot of challenges right now that exist, I think mostly about the people around our program, our coaching staff, Luke, our players and everybody else that supports our program,” McIntosh said. “I just think it's important that I express my support for Luke, for our staff. I think it's important.”

Fickell's contract buyout will still be set at $31.5 million when the 2025 season ends. McIntosh didn't state anywhere that firing the coach is off the table, but did want to go out of his way to throw his support behind the team. Whether his faith proves warranted looks more doubtful by the day.

"It's sharing my belief in the program and the people around our program, specifically Luke," McIntosh said. "I think I owe it to our players to do that. I appreciate the method in which they come to practice every day and the effort that they give.

"There were some kids today that laid it all out on the line. I think when you have kids that have given it all and are faced with, as a program, adversity like this, I think it's a time for our people to come together, and I think it's a time for me to express my support."

ICYMI

Big Ten Power Rankings Through Four Weeks

We dive into how all 18 Big Ten teams stack up against each other through the first four weeks of the season, from the top of the mountain to UCLA (anyone who's followed knows that UCLA will be at the bottom).

Will Howard Hours From Committing to Notre Dame in Transfer Portal

Ohio State's national championship-winning quarterback planned to commit to Notre Dame, who played the Buckeyes in the national championship game, before the Fighting Irish took Riley Leonard instead following the 2023 regular season.

2025 Buckeye 20 2.0

Our latest batch of the Buckeye 20, ranking the top 20 Ohio State players this season, arrived on Saturday. Three games of new information created plenty of stir in the standings.

What's Next

  • Saturday: at Washington (3:30 p.m., CBS)
  • 41 days: Penn State
  • 69 days: The Game
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