IU's Curt Cignetti drops huge Nick Saban lesson he learned before CFP national title game

Indiana Hoosiers coach Curt Cignetti is hours away from realizing a dream of winning a national title if they can conclude an undefeated season with a win against the Miami Hurricanes Monday night.

Cignetti's Hoosiers turnaround is nothing short of unbelievable, but he isn't the only person to deserve all the credit.

Amongst all of the College Football Playoff media sessions, Cignetti took a few minutes to acknowledge what an important role Nick Saban had throughout his coaching career.

“When I was with Nick [Saban], there was an evaluation sheet, and supposedly when he was with [Bill] Belichick at the Browns, he had sort of come up with a sheet, or had a large impact on that, ankle, knee, hip flexibility, toughness at every position," Cignetti told reporters. Ankle stiffness, hip stiffness, knee stiffness, fatal flaws, start-stop game, generate explosion from those three facets of your lower body. That would be the biggest things."

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The way Cignetti recalled this particular method has stuck with him.

“From a personal standpoint, I learn from my mistakes, and I think most of us who aspire to achieve at a high level either learn from our mistakes or we don’t progress," Cignetti said.

Going into the title game, Cignetti said finding the best players really doesn't always come down to stars or media hype. It's about the "it" factor, the thing that separates the good from the great teams.

“To me, there’s a lot to be said about what the guy is made of, his intangibles and his moldability or coachability,” Cignetti said. “What kind of teammate he’s going to be. You still have to have a certain level, obviously, of athleticism to be successful at the P4 level and the Big Ten."

Cignetti said what makes this team easy to coach is everyone buying into the same mission and vision every day.

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“But you get the right group of guys together that combine as a team and they’re good decision-makers, they’re good people, because you’ve got to make decisions on the football field, too, and you’ve got to play with discipline and you’ve got to play with poise and you’ve got to play with confidence and consistency and have day-in/day-out consistency to a high standard and expectation," Cignetti said.

One more game. A 16-0 record is within reach. Anything can happen. Now the game must play out

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