The Triple Option - Hoosier Head Coach Curt Cignetti Joins, Strategy in the Swamp, Non-Conference Schedule Debate

Episode Date: February 4, 2026

Let's give it up one more time for the Hoo, Hoo, Hoo, Hoosiers! Before heading to Bloomington, Urban Meyer, Mark Ingram II, and Rob Stone go down to Gainesville where Jon Sumrall is doing his best Coach Meyer impression. The guys discuss what it means to earn and wear your school's logo. The main attraction, Hoosier head coach and National Champion Curt Cignetti discusses life in Bloomington after the championship, inside the Fernando call, how do the Hoosiers stay hungry, and his practice strategy that benefits players and coaches alike. With the 2026 schedules released, the guys comb through the easiest non-conference schedules and why Bloomington, State College, and South Bend should be gearing up for successful seasons on paper. They then make the Super Bowl picks between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks. 01:30 Jon Sumrall Makes Gators Earn It 14:27 Curt Cignetti, Indiana Head Coach 33:25 Easiest Non-Conference Schedules 39:30 Super Bowl Picks New episodes of The Triple Option drop every Wednesday. Make sure you’re subscribed on YouTube and following on all podcast platforms. Also make sure you’re locked in on social @3XOptionShow on all platforms for highlight moments, bonus content, and to engage with the guys and the TO community. (https://tripleoptionshow.com) The Triple Option is presented by Wendy’s. Get yourself a $4 Biggie® Bites, $6 Biggie Bag®, or a $8 Biggie® Bundle. Now at Wendy’s. https://m-wendys.app.link/468biggiedeals Thank you to our additional sponsors FanDuel – Visit https://Fanduel.com/TripleOption to download the app and take advantage of a 50% Profit Boost today! #CollegeFootball #CollegeFootballPlayoff #CFP #Indiana #Hoosiers #Cignetti #Florida #Gators #UrbanMeyer #PennState #TexasTech #BigTen #NotreDame #Big12 #NationalChampion #SuperBowl #SeattleSeahawks #NewEnglandPatriots Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey, man, where's that national title right now? Where's that trophy sitting? It's sitting about five feet in front of me here. I'll make sure they get them out of here as quick as possible. I don't want to look at them too long and get soft. The Triple Option is presented by Wendy's. Get yourself a $4 Biggie Bite, $6 biggie bag, or an $8 Biggie bundle now at Wendy's.

Another edition of the Triple Option presented by Wendy's coming your way. Urban Meyer, Mark Engram, the second. Rob Stone here with you as always. Thanks for putting us in your ears and your eyeballs. We appreciate you being a part of the Triple Option family. Remember to rate, subscribe, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get your podcast, as well as across social media, 3X option show. You like that, huh, Mark? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Mix it up.

Sure, sure, sure. With flavor. New episodes coming your way on YouTube and wherever you get your podcast. Later on in the show, how about this for guests, guys? Indiana head coach national champion. Kurt Sigetti is going to join the triple option. Yeah, that's going to be a fun conversation. I can't wait to catch up.

Can't wait to catch up with him. I'm very curious to see what he's wearing as well. I feel like all I've been seeing from him lately is that red three-quarters zip short sleeve thing. It's kind of different. It's not the normal look you would expect from a head coach, but it's working for Kurt. All right. Time now for any given Saturday. A multitude of coaching.

changes in this offseason cycle, including where you once coached Urban in Gainesville at the University of Florida, their new head coach, John Somerall. I know you've spent a lot of time with him. You're very high in him. He comes in from Tulane into Gainesville, and he's made an impression already imitating a previous national championship winning head coach. Gee, who could that be? Let's let Coach Somerall explain. I've been there to damn thing. Like, all we've got is our name. We're going to put our freaking name one every day.

So to wear the Florida Gator logo, to wear the Gators across your helmet and script, or to wear the Gatorhead, man, you've got to earn that. Sounds familiar, coach. Love it. I agree with it. And I did it a couple stops, Bowling Green. I did it, but we didn't have gear. We didn't have enough money to buy gear.

Utah, we did it to a degree. Well, wait, what did you withhold them? What did you withhold from them at Bowling Green then? Oh, man, that's been 150 years ago. So I just, I'm a firm believer, you have to earn it. Yeah. And once you earn it, you really get rewarded. That's the way I was brought up and that's what I believe in.

And also, Mark, I grew up in a world military family and I studied special ops, Army Ranger, Navy Seal, Green Beret. And I just believe that's how you, that's how we ran our program. And when I went to Florida, they had a tough season, not that bad. But let me start with this, that whenever you take over something, you can't cookie cutter it. You got to say, okay, I took over Bowling Green. I had to blow that up. It was bad. There was two and nine or one in ten something and just a lot of stuff,

a lot of bad grades and drugs. And so we had to, I mean, torpedo that thing and start over. And we did. And then you went to Utah, it wasn't that bad. You know, Florida wasn't that bad. And actually, Ohio State taking over for a guy like Jim Tressel, we didn't change much at all. He just kind of spray bottled a little bit and cleaned it up.

So, but down at Florida, we took everything away and I wanted to prove a point. The expectations are a national championship caliber team. That's what Steve Spurger doing. If you're not doing that, you're going to hear it.

And I expect that out of the staff. I expect it out of the players. And we took, they weren't allowed to wear Florida gear. And you earned it back. So I was never a believer. For example, there was a time where coaches would get a raise as a staff.

I took that away. I was one of the first coaches to do that. And I said, we're not doing that. If you're a great coach, you get a bigger raise. If you're not a great coach, you're going to not quite get the same race. We don't do it as a group. You do it as individuals.

And the same thing with a team, you don't just all of a sudden get your stuff back. You earn it back if you bust your ass. So Mark Ingram plays for me. Comes in. The Mark Ingram I know, he's going to be wearing gator gear quicker than the other guys because he's going to bust his ass, go to class, do the right thing. That's how he did it. I heard he was doing it.

And I'm a big fan of his. but I'm a firm believer in meritocracy. You get what you earn. Facts. Period. It's just stuff, though, right? Like, I'm looking at this from, I understand. I'm looking at this from an outsider, right?

And I need you guys to explain it because it's just stuff that you can buy a target, right, with a Gator logo on it, right? Like, why does that mean so much, Mark, to that player to have the ability to wear your Alabama crimson tie jacket or hat or not have? have the ability to wear it. As a fan, you can buy it. But as a player, you got to earn that right. Stuff is earned. It's not given. So for you to wear that script day, for you to wear that script gator on the helmet, for you to wear that gator like that, there's people who have played and come before you have represented that at a high standard in the right way. And for you to earn

the right to do that, you have to earn the right to do it. So I do admire. what Coach Summerall is doing at Florida. And I stand by it because that's what makes you take pride in your university. That's what makes you take pride in your logo. It's from the hard work that you put in, the sacrifice that you put in, the discipline that it required to be able to live up to that standard and elevate that standard. So that's why it means that much to me to wear that script A,

because I know what it took for me to do it. I know what the sacrifice, the blood, sweat, and tears that I have with my brothers to be able to do it. and the guys who came before me and after me that held it to a standard. Because we've all done the same thing. We all respect each other because that's what it took. Well, it's a psychological truth. The harder it is, the harder is to let go.

Navy SEAL training, there's 1,000 people apply, 100, make it. Because it's hard. They try to eliminate some of the wash, some of the waste. And that's the same thing. I tried to run with a football program. I wanted to make it so miserable. I wanted to find out who's in and who's out. The harder, the better.

What's that? Who wants it? then who don't. Yeah. Because it's going to be time we run the 110. It's going to be times where you got inside run drill. It's going to be times where you got blitz pressure pickup and it's hot in the two of days.

And if you don't want it, you're going to quit. If you don't love it, you're going to quit. And you go weed out the bad ones. You go weed out the bad ones. And you're going to have the dogs that rise to the top. No, I get it. I get it. The group hug.

There's something about wearing. You tried hard. Give him a shirt. No, there's something about wearing. No, no. Participating trophies at elite places. Correct. Anywhere.

Anywhere. There's something about wearing the gear that you feel you earned, and it's a little different than what anybody else can get, right? I understand that. I would strut around Colgate. Was my Colgate soccer stuff on, which was unique to me. And I love that. And if Coach Mike Dordy took it away from me, I would be pissed as hell.

And I would fight to get it back. I totally understand that. But coach, was there ever a point where you took the stuff away and you were like, shit, they really haven't earned it yet, but I got to give it to them. Like at some point, they need this stuff. No, because when you take over a program, you don't give it damn. You know, you're trying to make it as miserable as possible. And I guess I was fortunate.

I had some really good kids when I took over. I mean, I took over at what was it, Bowling Green. We won nine games, I think, our first year from two and nine or one in ten to nine games. And it turned out, it turned out that we had arguably the best senior class I've ever had. Utah, we go into 22 and 2, 24 and 2 run after they had a losing season. So I was lucky that when you scrape and push hard enough, you're going to find out the cream rises to the top. And I was very fortunate.

Mark, I had some dogs at Florida now. Once we scraped that stuff off, I had some monsters. And they went on national championships second year. Hey, well, Coach Saban said it, man, and Betsy said, high achievers don't like mediocre people, and mediocre people don't like high achievers because of what it takes. The standard. I love that.

You know what I mean? You got to reward the high achievers. Exactly. And the high achievers, if they are who you say they are, who they think they are, they bring the mediocre people up to their level. Damn right. And that raises the entire team because you're only as strong as your weakest link on the floor. You watch out for Florida, man.

I think I'm buying that stock right now. I'm buying that. That swamp is going to be like a jet engine. I need to know, man. So you said like a Mark Ingram, I'd be able to earn my, you know, my gear a little earlier than somebody else. us how do you know how what do you have to do to earn it like what do you have to do to earn it like is it your performance in practice is it how you carry yourself is it a big play like

what is the requirements to earn the game no it has nothing to do with making you know performance on the field to a point but just doing right just going to class if you have a I took over a couple places where they weren't going to class and smoking and all that crap just taking care of yourself and then our strength coach became my right hand man I'd actually listen to him, say who's earned it. And, uh, I mean, that was the fun part of the job, especially for, if you surround the white guys. You have some players that were doing the right and smoking, too. Don't remind me. There's a lot of them still out there, man. It's a lot of people that do it the right way. It's just getting, feeling good at night. It's

okay. It's nothing wrong with it. It's okay. What the world has changed so much, Mark, think about that. There was a time where, I mean, you'd lose sweep over a, drug test coming up. Yeah. As a coach and staff, you're like, what in the world is going on? Crazy.

It's crazy. Now there's no more. I don't think they test any more. Do they, Mark? In the NFL, they test, but they won't punish you

for a negative test? I mean, so why do we even test? What do we say? I don't think they test anymore, Rob. Because they don't want to see the results probably.

It's legal. It's legal, right? Yeah, I don't. Right. Half the states are legal. We might have a problem here. Half the states, you can go out with a driver's license and buy.

You know what I mean? in other states, you have a freaking ath on you. They want to take you to jail. Yeah. It is crazy. I remember when we were out at Norman a couple years ago, we saw a ton of shops around the campus. I was like, wow, I did not, I just wasn't used to it. And now you start going to other places.

You're like, nope, there's that. We are now a cannabis podcast. Over there. Yeah. We need a cannabis sponsor. We'll let coach handle that one, Mark. All right. Good luck with that.

one guys. Good luck. Can you even imagine coach going into one of those shops and what he would do and the questions that would be asked? Are reads for the cannabis sponsor? Can you imagine coach? The hat would be nice and low, the sweatshirt. Just kind of, oh my God.

This is great. That's a sitcom waiting to happen. I told you. I smoked at one time. Yep. I really didn't. But Little Wayne walked by me. You didn't have right by me.

Little Wayne. Colorado, right? Oh, yeah. You got that contact hot. There was a lot of contact tied that show. The Wendges Wayne, the whole student section was smoking. Everybody was smoking out there. I think the whole city, the whole city caught a little buzz here.

Coming up next, we clean up the show. The architect is one of the most impressive turnarounds in all of sporting history. National Championship winning head coach from Indiana. Kurt Signetti joins us next on the Triple Option. With MX Platinum, you have access to over 1,400 Airport Lounge's World. So your experience before takeoff is a taste of what's to come. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Conditions apply.

Welcome back to the Triple Option presented by Wendy's Rob, Mark Urban. Oh yeah, we got them. National Champion, lead, head coach, Kurt Signetti, join us. Hey, man, where's that national title right now? Where's that trophy sitting? It's sitting about five feet in front of me here. We just finished up with a podcast local guy that used to run our collective. I'll make sure they get them out of here as quick as possible.

I don't want to look at them too long and get soft. Thanks for joining us, Coach. And 30 years ago, I was at Notre Dame and you were at Pitt. Who bought dinner that day and when we were, did you bite or did I, I can't remember. I know my, we both had nothing. Because he never buys anything. But I remember that. I also remember you interviewing when you were at Colorado State for a, I think we had a receiver job at Pitt with Johnny Major.

Oh, that's right. Yeah. Hey, so did you get to celebrate it? Or I know you're just a nut job like a lot of other great coaches. Did you just go right back at it? I saw you enjoy it with your family, which is incredible. But did you take it all in or are you a little bit like I was reflecting it when you're still at it is a little sign of weakness? Did you just go right back at it?

But did you enjoy it? I got to enjoy it afterwards once I was done. done with the media. And, of course, the next morning, you know, there's things to do and a press conference and then you're traveling back home. And then you're in the office the next day. And, I mean, you've got 19,000 things going on, getting ready for next year, coaches retention, player retention, you know, and all that good stuff. So it's been pretty busy. But I'm, you know, the old sign of date is coming up where nobody signs anymore, right? So, you know, you You know, for about the last five years, my wife and I have always taken about a week.

Going somewhere nice and sunny and looking forward to that. Where are you going? Coach, you got something on the table, coach? Where are you going? They're going to St. Sports, buddy. Yeah, that's cool. I got one more, Mark, and then you run with it. So I watched you now for two years, and we did the Nebraska game when we were at Big Noon.

And I kept watching your teams, and I was like, you know, just the run fits on defense of tackling. You just never miss communication on offense. Your perimeter blocking, which we all know. That's where all those hidden yards are. And I walked out and I stood right next to your team and just the mechanics, the way your team work, the efficiency. Your staff, you've been very fortunate to have loyalty, consistency. One of the things that hit me right in the jaw is I start losing guys.

And your two coordinators, I didn't realize. I remember Bryant worked for me. And then Mike Shanahan. Tell me first, they're the most undervalued people other than players. They're the most important people in a coach. And I can't say enough about your staff. Tell me about your staff. And how do you keep them?

Yeah. You know, Bryant and Mike, I hired as part-time coaches at the D2 level for less than $10,000. Now, Bryant was with me two years and then went to Cal Davis. And they got let go. And that's when I got the Elon job and I brought him back. And then when Corey Heather, Heatherman left me at JMU after three years, who's now to D.C. at Miami, I hired Brian. He's a great coach. I mean, they both are. But Grant Kane's been with me probably seven years at least since I went to JMU, my special teams guy, John Miller. There's a number of them. And of course, I did lose my strength and conditioning guy, Derek Owing. And, you know, that's a key guy. He was with me six or seven years, went to Tennessee. So we're going through that right now. but hired a great guy to run that thing.

But, you know, the staff makes it happen and we're on the same page. And, you know, that's key of the drill, getting everybody think alike, especially when you're in season every single day. And then on game day, the players included. And when you've got people that you've been with for a while, it's easier to get that done. You just got to make sure complacency doesn't set in, which, you know, when you're successful, that's the daily deal.

And how do I keep them? I don't know. I'm a little different than a lot of guys. I don't practice a long time. I'm a 25-minute walk-through guy on Monday and Friday, and we're about an hour 30 to an hour 40, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, helmet, shoulder, pad. Wow. I'm the same way in the office.

I come in early, organize the day. When we're done with practice, those coaches, they can go home if they want to. And, you know, if their work's done. Yeah. And now some of them stay, some of them don't, but I don't walk the halls to see who's here and who isn't. So the one thing I would say is we're pretty efficient in everything we do. Like we don't waste time when we're here. We, you know, we're working.

So I'm sorry, Mark, so you're, the grind days are Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. Those guys, when you're done practice, because you're so efficient and you'll, you, then when you roll in the next morning, you don't watch a practice film afterwards? No, we watch it in the morning. I like to watch Praxville when I'm fresh, and I'm a morning guy. So Monday is a late night because we meet with the players at 5, and we start our walk through around 7.30. And then everything else is like 2.15, right?

And we're done by 5.30. So, you know, those guys, if they got their work done, you know, they go home and see their kids. Wow. That's awesome. I love it. I love the efficiency of the, the time, coach. But no, coach, I remember after we won our national championship, you know,

in Pasadena, we flew back to Tuscalo the next day. And I remember we had a team meeting and Coach Saban was on our butt right away. Like, now it's all about what can you do when you're at the top of the mountain. Everybody's shooting for you, you know, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, and he was on us right away. When did you guys have your first team meeting when you got back to the Hoosiers? And I know it's obviously different with roster retention, roster turnover, but when was the first team meeting and what was your message? to the team. Yeah. Well, we actually didn't have a team meeting. I did meet with the portal guys together, met with the new high school guys together, and met with the returners together.

We have not had a team meeting yet. They're down there in the wait room now working and this and that. But I thought it was really important. I get in front of the portal guys and the high school guys because they had been on campus for seven, eight, nine days. We're preparing for the national championship, and we kept them separate from the team, just to lay down the loss, so to speak, and kind of the direction where we're heading. So let me ask you that I remember Lou Holtz when we won in, what was it, 06, and it's almost like the, it's so relieving, and then we did it. And then reality sets in, and I think you're going to feel it.

I mean, everyone else I've talked to at some point you'll feel it that damn, climbing the mountain like Mark said a minute, and going, Holsteaden's. used to say this to me is that it takes passion, energy. But when you're on top, it just, it seems like everyone's swinging at you. And, you know, Indiana, and I know you know this, but every Big Ten conference school and everyone you're playing has got your game circled. You're Signetti and you're the Hoosiers now, as opposed to the old Hoosiers. So, you know, have you felt that yet? Probably not. But, you know, be prepared for, you know, maintenance is a bitch.

No, yeah. Climbing the mountains fun. I mean, you know, it's hard to get to the top of the mountain. Right. And so, and the very few teams have done it back to back. You know, to me it's all about us still. You know, are we meeting the standard on a daily basis? Are we meeting the standard consistently?

Like, my message really isn't, the things I believe in are not going to change. my message to the team might change daily based on what I see and how we're doing. Usually if we're doing pretty good, I may not even talk to the team after practice. But if I don't like what I see, I am going to talk to them. Now, it's not going to be long, but they're going to understand what I'm saying. Facts. Hey, coach, one of my favorite plays in the game was when Fernando Mendoza, obviously, goes forward on fourth down, runs the linebacker over, dives into the end zone,

that set the tone, game momentum, help you guys finish the game. What was the play call for that play, and what went into your decision to go for it on fourth down from the 12th? Yeah, well, you know, you got to play to win. I mean, you got to have confidence in the players. And sometimes I, you know,

I always remind myself that before the game begins. I'll put some things on paper how I want to coach the game and whatever. And like I told the staff and the team a few times, the last couple games, you know, you win you're your hero, you lose your bum, so cut it loose and play to win, right? You can't play not to lose.

And I didn't feel real good about trotting a field goal team out there and just getting a six-point lead and kicking the ball off. You know, they were moving the ball a little bit on us in the second half. And we had an opportunity to go up to two scores. And even if we didn't make it, they were going to be pinned down pretty good, right? We were going to have to hold them anyway. So, you know, we went for it earlier in that drive on fourth down. Great back shoulder to Charlie Becker.

That's right. And, you know, playing the win, man, you've got to have confidence in the players. They've been making plays all year long. Quarterbacks have been making plays all year long. Let's go. What was that play call? You could share it or no? It was just quarterback draw.

I mean, we had to call a little different because we turned. the line different than we had all year long. Did you have an RPO with it in case it was a six of pressure? There were RPO's, yeah, on the outside, two inside states and hitches. But we were anticipating the quarterback would run based on what they did the play before and what we thought they would be doing in that situation. And it worked out that way. He broke a few tackles now.

He did that. He did that. I want to change the subject real quick that this whole world of, you know, Dabo, Coach Sweeney, you know, the NCAA right now is, you know, it seems to me this is a slam dunk investigation that doesn't take four and a half years to get. Are you experiencing this tan? I talked to a lot of friends still and you say, Wild Wild West. Are you personally experiencing that nonsense, the tampering with the Indiana roster? Well, yeah, absolutely. I mean, you know, we had a guy last year offered a million dollars by E. Be shocked at the school. You know, it's gone on this year. Guys walk in my office and talk to me. And, you know, it's tough, man.

It's hard. I mean, you know, you've got these agents calling everybody across the middle. How you like to play those guys? You try to do it the right way. But you get tough. Coach, let's pivot forward, right? We're all about moving forward right now. You go to year one in your transition from James Madison, Indiana.

You've leaned heavily into the. transfer portal. Year two last year, it felt like it was a little bit less, but the portal was still important. So here we are now year three. Kind of take us to what the composition of this team is for year three and what you wanted to be building it out a couple years. Yeah, I think year one we took 32. Year two, we took 22. This year we took 17. So you see that number going down as the high school recruiting builds up. And now that we're winning, the high school recruiting is getting better. It still takes those guys a little while to develop, so they can play winning football. I don't care, you know, a 24-year-old is going to play better than an 18-year-old.

So I don't think you're ever going to see the day where you're not dabbling in the portal. And, you know, maybe next year we're at 14, who knows. But you always have critical needs and you always got to win every single year. That's just the way the business is now. So the foundation of the house is the high school recruiting, and, you know, that's picking up and getting better and better. But you got to supplement it with the portal guys. Your three different quarterbacks. Can you sustain that?

Or is that a model that you like going forward? We have up to this point. I mean, since 19, Ben Danucci was player year in a conference, 20 Cole Johnson player year in a conference. And then Todd Senteo, one-year transfer player year in a conference. And Jordan McLeod won a transfer player year in conference. And Curtis York, he was not player year in conference because Dylan Gabriel won the Heisman, but he led the country in QBR. And this year, Fernando Mendoza, obviously.

So now we got Josh Hoover and build around the quarterback and the offensive talent and get him to kind of play the way you want them to play and get him better. And, you know, it all starts at that position. Coach, man, you know, we've heard a lot of. about like different spring games traditions and how people are doing it. Do you plan on having a traditional spring game this season or how do you plan to, you know, adjust your offseason program with the spring transfer portal, no spring transfer portal? Yeah, we'll play a half.

That's what we've done the last two years here. And I think I did that in my last couple of years of JMU too. You know, on a Thursday night, we'll play a half. They've got something here called the Little 500. It's like a bike race model. It's 500. and that's two days later. And, you know, we'll practice 13 times.

I've never practiced 15 times in spring yet. I've never practiced 25 times in fall camp. So we'll get enough done in 13 days. Is that right? Yeah, never. And an hour half on the field, you said. Yeah, about, yeah. Spring ball may go 150, you know.

That's going to get players there off that, off that schedule. You're keeping them fresh. You're keeping them ready to go. efficiency. Well, that's what I'm trying to do is keeping them fresh and healthy. Because nobody has depth, and I've never had a team that had enough depth. You know what? That was awesome, SIGG, is you talked about your dad.

I'm just kind of jumping off script here, but you talked about your dad. And you never got to go to the Hall of Fame until you were down there for that. And see his name up there? And found out that morning that the press conference was at the Hall of Fame. Unbelievable. What, did that warm the heart? I mean, I can only imagine what that. Yeah, that was pretty cool.

Good for you, man. Yeah, thanks. Coach, coming up on the show, we're going to talk about scheduling and offseason schedules and non-conference foes. This year, your non-conference scheduled, North Texas, Howard, Western Kentucky. What is your scheduling philosophy

that at least that you can control? I'm going to play who the AD says we're playing. I mean, North Texas, 12 and 2, Western Kentucky, 9 and 4. So, you know, and then we played nine, how many, nine big 10 teams? Yeah. And so, you know, they do it. So what's your AD's philosophy in it then?

I think right now the prevailing philosophy is the SEC's going to nine, right? Yeah. Mm-hmm. Tens at nine. And, okay, what you do in the big 10 really matters a lot. Why make it harder on yourself? Facts. Facts.

Hey, coach, I need to know, man, what that ping pong game talking about? Been a long time, brother. Hey, man, I'm coming to get my gift. back on you. Did you get them? Wait, wait, wait. Did you get them? I think we split, you know, honestly.

I know we got him. Hey, coach, man. Tell him, hey, man, what do you remember about flying into Flint, Michigan? I know it was cold and coming to see me and recruit me that first time. You was the first person I saw from Alabama. I'm like, okay, okay. I'm doing something now. I got Coach Cognetti in the Crimson Tide here in Flint, Michigan.

Tell him, man, what do you remember most about that first visit we had? I remember two of them, I think, and it was snowing like hell. One time you were to track meet. Yep, the indoor track meet. And then the other time, I think we ate pizza in your living room. Yeah, the first time was the pizza in the living room. The second time you brought Coach Burns up there. Y'all was at the indoor track meet.

Yeah, I remember that. I remember that. I was flying. Coach Burns liked me then when he saw me running that track meet. Were you at Alabama in 14? No, I was there 7, 8, 9, and 10. Yeah. Yeah.

Coach, we on the outside, we see a different perception of what Indiana is. Obviously, you're in the weeds with it, right? So we see the touchdown at Penn State, right? We see what happened with Mendoza going airborne in the national championship game. Those are probably the images that are stuck with us with most of the people. What's the image or images of what's transpired, the entirety of the season, through the celebrations and the celebrations back in Bloomington? And what are those little mental snapshots that you have that are going to stay that are going to resonate with you for the rest of your life?

Well, those were two iconic plays and great moments in Indiana football history. What I'm going to remember about this group is just how consistent they were day and day out, week in week out, how they approach their work and then put it on the field. A lot of great leaders on this team, a lot of really smart guys. going to do well in life that were really probably closer maybe than any team I've ever had. Now, generally, when you win big, you got a pretty close team. But boy, these guys really were tight and played with a lot of confidence. When did you allow yourself to celebrate and take it in and smile? As soon as I could.

You know, it takes a while to get that stage up every time you win one of those playoff games. And then, you know, maybe you got to do Big Ten network or fall. and finally get in that locker room and crack one open. Crack one open. Hey, thanks for joining us, man. You're great. Please share your staff from an old coach. Much respect, man.

Those guys did a hell of a job. Yeah, you got it, buddy. Coach Signetti, you're awesome, man. Congratulations again. We are so proud of what you and what Indiana was able to create National Championship winning head coach, Kurt Signetti. Thanks, coach. Stuck in that winter slump,

Try Dove Men plus Care Aluminum-Free Deodorant. All it takes is a small change to your routine to lift your mood. And it can be as simple as starting your day with the mood-boasting sense of Dove Men Plus Care Aluminum-Free Deodorant. It'll keep you feeling fresh for up to 72 hours. And when you smell good, you feel good. Visit dove.com to learn more. Welcome aboard via rail.

Please sit and enjoy. Please sit and sip. Play. Post. Taste, view, and enjoy. Via Rail, love the way. Urban Mark, Rob, back here with you, the Triple Option, presented by Wendy's. Time to go three and out, guys.

We're going to discuss non-conference schedules, right? So the 2026 calendars have been set for all the big programs. We're going to try to find the three easiest non-conference schedules. We talked to Kurt Signetti about it earlier, Coach, in Indiana, maybe at the top of your list. It is, and I like the fact that Coach Signetti was very clear. Who cares? I don't want to paraphrase him too much, which is, I mean, I get it. I respect it.

I actually respect a person that just says that. He says the Big Ten Conference playing nine games. They played Kennesaw State, Old Dominion, and Indiana State. I'll never forget that when I heard those three teams they played, and they won a national title. So I think, I think unfortunately, because I do like those non-conference big games. I used to like it as a coach, and I love it now, just watching. But I think those days are over, Mark. With that said, the three, I'm going back to the Hoosiers.

Again, they play a good North Texas, but still North Texas. They play Howard and they play Western Kentucky that I believe won nine games. And Sig let us know that. So Indiana, Houston, playing Oregon State, Southern, and Georgia Southern. Wow. Whenever you get directions involved, coach. I know, I know. And then my old Utah team is playing Idaho and then Arkansas team.

I heard they're a shell of themselves and Utah State. So the old scheduling philosophy that we used to live by big dog, medium dog, little dog. There's a lot of little dogs out there. A lot of little puppies barking out there, nipping at me. A lot of little dog. Little dog, little dog, little dog. Mini dog. Mini dogs.

Mini dogs. Mark, who are your three? Who's got the best mini dog schedule out there? Sure. Right now, you got to go Penn State. Penn State got Marshall, Temple, and Buffalo for the non-conference. We saw that last year, too, with them. They also have no Oregon and no Ohio State and no Indiana.

So you talk about easiest non-conference, maybe easiest conference as well. You know, when you're taking out Oregon, Ohio State, Indiana, those are the three best teams in the Big Ten. this year. Then you got to go Texas Tech. We got Abilene Christian. Sounds like one of the high school, you know, Christian Academy's right here by me. No offense to Abilene Christian, by the way.

And then they got also Sam Houston State and Oregon State, who is absolutely haven't been doing anything lately. It's at Oregon State, at least to add a little caveat to it. Oregon State, what is their record to pass? Welcome. Hey, Pac-12 was back, baby. The Pac-12 is back. The pack is back, man.

The pack is back to life. Full of state schools. Yeah. Let's go. Okay. Yeah. So, yeah, Texas Tech, Penn State, and then who, I will go with the Georgia Bulldogs. Tennessee State, Western Kentucky.

And, well, we can't always just throw Georgia Tech in there. I mean, I think that's not a conference, but. Tennessee State. End of season. Tennessee State and Western Kentucky? Haynes King is gone. Yep. it'll be a different. A Mendoza. A Mendoza could be running

the ship for Georgia Tech. All right. So those are the non-conference schedule. I want to go totality. Mark, you kind of hit on it as well. If you look at the totality of Penn State schedule, Matt Campbell, I guarantee you he looked at that before he signed the paper. It's like, you know what? I could deal with just the first year. This is an easy entry back into the Big Ten, right? We already talked about Marshall at Temple Buffalo, no Oregon, no Ohio State, Indiana. The toughest stretch,

it's two Saturdays in a row. It's home to USC and then at Michigan. Only one West Coast trip that goes out to Washington. So I think Penn State, you know, assuming they can sort themselves out with all the new bodies and the new coaches coming in, Rocco Beck is going to be their QB. I think this is an easy entrance, if you will, for Penn State. Listen, Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame, if you don't make the playoffs with this schedule, something's wrong. Now, when we say out of conference schedule, So it's hard to say it's easy because they only have five quote unquote conference games, right, from the ACC.

But looking at the totality of it, open up with Wisconsin, Akreen Bay, then two other Big Ten teams, but it's Michigan State and Purdue. So you're talking teams that are middle to the bottom part of the Big Ten, right? You got rice. Rice is their gimmy. The ACC games at North Carolina, Stanford, the two big ones are both home. Miami and SMU. They also have BC and Syracuse. So seven games, that's their extra credit.

They go seven games, then to buy after that BYU game. So then they have another neutral game with Navy at Foxborough. So I think the totality of Notre Dame schedule looks extremely manageable. Irish, you need to make the playoffs. Again, you only need to be in the top 12 and you'll be in the playoffs. Texas Tech interesting as well again, totality. No BYU, no Utah. We talked Mark about the three out of conference teams.

And then they host maybe two of their more challenging teams, Arizona State and TCU. Five games then to buy when they have Arizona State at home. I think Texas Tech is primed to get themselves back into the college football playoff picture. That was your fresh take of the week. Presented by Wendy's get yourself a $4. Biggie Bites, $6 Biggie Baggie Bag. And an $8 Biggie bundle now at Wendy's. All right.

We love Biggie Baggie Bag. and we love Biggie Bundles. And we love Super Bowl Sunday as well. Yes. You guys are road-tripping it. I'm going to go be a cheer dad in Orlando, so I'm missing it. As this kicks off our two-minute drill, brought to you by Fanduel. Visit Fanduil.com slash triple option to download the app and take advantage of a 50% profit boost today.

Again, that's Fandul.com slash triple option. Time to make our picks for the Super Bowl. Seattle guys favored by four and a half. The over-under mark is 45 and a half. Duce, deuce, your first up. Who's taking home? Man, uh, four and a half is a lot for a Super Bowl, you know?

It actually seems small to me. Yeah, but to me, I'm going to lay the points here. You know, I think, uh, you know, I respect Raibble. I respect the Patriots and what they've done this season. But there's something about the Seattle Seahawks team. They just got a lot of juice on offense. You talk about Jackson Smith and Jigba. It looks like the best receiver in the league right now.

You talk about the addition of Rashid Shaheed, how dangerous he is as a punt returner, kick returner, and a wide receiver. Then you talk about Kenneth Walker, who I think is coming into his own in this postseason. He's running the rock. He's catching the football. This offense has a lot of juice. Then you talk about Sam Donald, the evolution of him. What he has come from since he was with the chest,

They talk about he was a bust. He was with Carolina. He was backing up. They talked about he's a bus. I was waiting on Sam Donald to prove me right. I mean, to prove me wrong this year and have a bad stretch. He hasn't had a bad stretch all year. He probably had one or two games out of 16, 17, 18 that weren't up to par.

So Sam Donald is playing out of elite level, a high level. There's defense. They rush you before. Drake May has been sacked a number of times in this playoff, I think 15 times in this playoff. And so you have a defense. defensive front led by a DeMarcus Lawrence who can get to you with a rush four people. If you can rush four people and cover seven, that's the rest of people's success.

So with this team, I got too much juice on offense, a strong defense. I'm laying the points, four and a half. I'm a lady's points with Seattle. I think Seattle has the momentum and they just got too much juice. I'm laying the points. I'm going with Seattle here in this one. Coach, how do you see it? I'm going to take the X factor in Vable.

He's been there. He's won three Super Bowl. He's seen the best, one of the best teams, you know, dynasties in NFL history with the Patriots and how it's done. And I got a lot of respect for Seattle. But I'm just, I think the X Factor is the guy running the charge of one of the great turnarounds in NFL history if he wins his last game. So I'm a Mike Grable fan. I witnessed it. I would go visit the Patriots when he was playing and watch that team work.

And I just think the X factor will be Mike and his experience. experiencing Super Bowls and having a plan of attacking out and go win that game. So they're not afraid to go in the room. Four and a half points is a lot. I think they're going to cover it, but I actually, I'm going to pick the, and there's a little bit of personal bias because I love very able to see him do this. Have you been watching Jackson Smith and Jigba? Oh, I've been watching it for years.

I think that's so good. Because he got overshadowed by Marvin Harrison Jr. now. Yes. He is a dog. He was the number two receiver at house. State. Think about that for a minute. He's a dog.

Monster. A dog. Have you watched Jackson Smith and Jake? Have you watched Kenneth Walker the third? Have you watched Rashid Shaheed, aka Douce Doose, deuce getting loose?

We got Ross with Seattle. Oh, I got Seattle by at least seven. Yeah, that's how high I am on them. I love the Brable story. I love New England winning on the road every game this year. And I know this is a neutral site game, but keeping it away from Foxborough, it is an awesome story to turn around. And like as soon as the Patriots hired Vrable, weren't we all saying, what a great hire?

Like how smart. Why do teams give up on great coaches? I know sometimes you just need to mix it up, right, and change the locker room or the mentality. But what a steal. What an absolute steal for the Patriots. And Drake May, man, if the pets are going to do it, it's going to be with May's wheels, right? I mean, all those big first downs he picked up by, by doing it himself.

That kid's a gamer, man. I love him. He's also a tar heel, so there might be a little bias there. All right, the triple option and our good friends at throwbacks. You guys are going to be up in the Bay Area for Super Bowl weekend. We're going to miss you.

I know, I know. Listen, I'm going to miss you guys too. I'm downright sour about it, but I'm going to be a good cheer dad. Fans, you guys have a chance to hang out for free with three college football Hall of Famers.

If it's free. It's for me. Free. Free? Free. Three. Three, exactly. This Saturday, the seventh, you can watch a live crossover episode at Five Pacific. Coach will be there. Mark will be there. Our good friend Maddie Ice, Matt Liner, Jerry Ferre, and Agar will be there, plus other guests. Come on out. We talked about it. St. Joseph's Art Society. You guys get to hang out at an art society. How fancy. How fancy of you guys.

1401 Howard Street in San Fran for the block party. Doors open up at news. music, meet and greets, live shows, not just the triple option, not just throwbacks. There's some soccer, there's some college basketball, there's some NBA. Learn more at AMP, AMP Sportsblockparty.com. And the key, you said what? The key is, it's for free. It's for free. Ampsportsblock party.com.

Please send me pictures, yell at me. I am going to be sitting in some place at Disney, staring at lots of cheerers. Coach, and loud, and screaming. Is for what? It's for me.

I'll take three. Follow, subscribe, rate us on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you get your podcast as well as across social media at 3X options show. Thanks again to coach Kurt Signetti joining us, man. What an awesome interview. That was, he's the best, man. So happy for that program.

You guys have a good, fun, safe, artsy, to San Francisco. As always, thanks to our partners, Wendy's and Fandu. We will see you again next time right here on the Triple Option.