Cignetti said that last December when he was hired. He was asked how he will be able to sell his vision of the culture to recruits, existing players, and transfers. He said, "It's pretty simple. I win. (pause) Google me." IMO it is a fair response. His record was 119-35 before getting to IU. His JMU teams were 52-9 in 5 years. Yes, he wins. It is true.
Cignetti turned over the majority of the starting lineup. He took the top players on his JMU team (OL, WR, RB, TE, DL, LB, CB), added a few players from Ohio (WR, QB), signed a WR from Texas Tech, an RB from Wake, a DB from Old Dominion, etc.
The talent level was clearly below Notre Dame. That said, the team plays sound football. They just got out-athlete'd, IMO. There may be some comments about getting out-schemed, but I saw schemes that tried to mitigate IU's weaknesses. Notre Dame exploited those mitigations.
I was hopeful for IU.
It will be interesting to see how IU performs in the coming years.