Which is bigger right now: the size of Curt Cignetti’s cult or the number of Jeremiah Smith worshippers?
What makes this an especially tough call is that Cignetti, the coach of No. 5 Indiana State, also worships the young Buckeyes, who are riding a 22-game Big Ten winning streak against No. 4 Ohio State on Saturday.
If a training deity treats you like a king, what could be better?
“(The Buckeyes) not only have a lot of great players, they have a wild one,” Cignetti said Monday. “That’s the only word I can describe it.”
Halfway through the 2026 season, it’s wild to admit that a wide receiver is already a heavy favorite to win the Heisman Trophy. According to FanDuel, Smith sits at -210 and becomes the fifth wide receiver in his 91-year history to claim the Heisman. Miami QB Darian Mensah is second at +1,000.
Mensah completed 84.2% of his passes for the nation’s No. 3 team while collecting 15 TD passes with no picks. He has college football’s best passer efficiency rating (212.2) since they started counting the stuff in 1956 — but he’s in a different zip code than Smith for the Heisman.
How amazing Smith is getting — and how devastating it will be if he and the Buckeyes can’t solve Indiana again on Saturday.
“There’s nobody like him playing at this level right now,” Cignetti said. “He’s a freak and we’ve got to do really well on him.”
Here’s the thing: When No. 1 Ohio State played No. 2 Indiana in the Big Ten championship game last year, the Hoosiers didn’t do much on him, but Indiana still pulled out a 13-10 victory. Smith caught eight passes for 144 yards, but he did not score.
Indiana’s secondary isn’t as good or as experienced as last year’s crew, so keeping Smith out of the end zone will be tougher — especially considering he’s caught eight touchdowns in three Big Ten games.
That potential mismatch could go a long way toward explaining why all major sportsbooks have Ohio State as a 3.5-point favorite over Indiana.
But then there’s the Cignetti factor, even if he downplays something like this.
“You know, if I had a big secret, I wouldn’t tell everybody,” Cignetti said. “But at the end of the day, players make plays and you’re just trying to put them in position to make plays.”
Yes, that’s enough. A coach doesn’t shop for players, doesn’t set standards for them to reach, doesn’t instill in them the belief that they can handle any deficit.
Cignetti’s aura (do kids still say that?) is worth at least one goal every week. Did Indiana show any signs of panic last week when it trailed Nebraska by 11 early in the fourth quarter? No. Did they look stressed at any point last season, even when trailing in the closing seconds at Penn State? No.
Now, Ohio State has a bigger budget and bigger players than Indiana. But the Buckeyes may not have the ideal offensive scheme to snap Indiana’s winning streak.
Indiana ranks fifth in scoring defense (11.8 points per game), but is vulnerable to dual-threat quarterbacks. Northwestern’s Aidan Chiles and Nebraska’s Anthony Colandrea made the most of their legs against the Hoosiers.
Ohio State QB Julian Sayin was never that guy. Has minus-3 rushing yards and just 2 TDs on 76 career rushing attempts (which includes sacks).
Perhaps the Buckeyes were waiting to showcase Sayi’s skills in the rollout and zone option.
If Smith and the Buckeyes are to stun Cignetti at home on Saturday, they’ll need to bring out Sayi’s previously unseen skills in zone selection and submission.
Or the Hoosiers will roll them over again.