Nick Saban addresses former assistant Coach Curt Cignetti's success rate

Curt Cignetti and the Indiana Hoosiers have been one of the most captivating success stories in all of college football.

"I win," Cignetti put it as his opening press conference statement. "Google me."

And he's right. The Hoosiers are off to a 7-0 start to their season that includes several dominating performances—a 56-7 rambling of Nebraska last week, a 31-7 win over FIU, and a 42-13 beatdown of UCLA, just to name a few.

Many are surprised, but not former Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban. On Friday, he joined the Pat McAfee show to talk about the Hoosiers' success.

Cignetti was a former assistant of Saban who worked as the wide receivers coach for Alabama from 2007 to 2010.

"(Coach Cignetti has) been a good coach for a long time," Saban said. "He just had success at programs, whether they were D2 or D1AA, that people didn't pay that much attention to."

Curt Cignetti has been good from the very start

Cignetti spent five seasons as the head coach of the James Madison Dukes, with an impressive 33-5 record in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA).

After their 2021 season, they made the jump from FCS to FBS, going from the CAA to the Sun Belt Conference.

In two years, the Dukes went 19-4 to give Cignetti a total record of 52-9 during his time leading the program. Before that, he spent two years as the head coach of Elon, another CAA school.

His winning ways are now translating to the biggest stage of his career.

"Now he's at some place that people notice, so I think that's the big difference," Saban said in the same interview. "But I did think that if you have the right circumstance in any college program, you're willing to invest."

Indiana will look to keep their undefeated streak going against the Washington Huskies on Saturday at 12 p.m. ET.

If they can stay without any losses, the 2024 College Football Playoff will become more than a possibility—an undefeated year would include a win against the Ohio State Buckeyes, which is worth an achievement.