Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti has 'total confidence' in quarterback Fernando Mendoza entering Saturday's primetime game against No. 9 Illinois.

Indiana showed no mercy Friday night in Bloomington, hammering Indiana State 73 to 0 while head coach Curt Cignetti drilled home a fiery message. “Mental intensity and urgency equals energy,” he said. “We wanted to play one play at a time like it was a game on the line, regardless of the competitive circumstances.”

IU coach Curt Cignetti told reporters on Monday that the team's safeties need to do a better job of defending the middle of the field. The Hoosiers are thin at the position and will likely find out this week if Louis Moore will be eligible for the rest of the season.

Indiana coach Curt Cignetti met with reporters after the Hoosiers' 27-14 win over Old Dominion on Saturday afternoon at Merchants Bank Field at Memorial Stadium. Here's the transcript from Cignetti's press conference ... Opening statement ... CURT CIGNETTI ...

Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti said the Hoosiers must "move on" after Lee Beebe Jr.'s season-ending knee injury. Khobie Martin will fill his spot in the running back rotation.

They sat together at last year's Big Ten spring meetings, crisscross one another's recruiting paths and have built budding powers in the Big Ten, Bielema at No. 9 Illinois and Cignetti at No. 19 Indiana. Both have 3-0 marks this season and top 20 teams heading into one of Saturday's featured games.

How long has it been since the Illini and Hoosiers met with so much at stake? Try October 1950, when No. 12 Illinois beat No. 19 Indiana 20-0 in Champaign.

Curt Cignetti and the Hoosiers heard the noise and delivered their most convincing proof yet that last season was no fluke.