NATIONAL Podcaster Reveals URGENT fixes for Indiana Football | Time to TRUST Curt Cignetti!

Indiana Football opened the 2026 season with a win over North Texas, but was the performance good enough for the defending national champions?

Jacob Goins of Locked On Hoosiers is joined by Brian Smith of The Portal Podcast for a crossover breaking down the biggest concerns coming out of Indiana's Week 1 performance.

The Hoosiers struggled to establish the traditional running game, missed tackles in space and didn't consistently create the kind of havoc defensively that became a trademark of last year's national championship team. Brian explains why those issues caught his attention — and how quickly Curt Cignetti and Indiana need to get them fixed.

There were positives, too. Josh Hoover impressed in his Indiana debut, the Hoosiers remain loaded at wide receiver, and the return of AJ Harris and Jamari Sharpe should help stabilize the secondary.

Are Indiana's Week 1 problems simply early-season issues, or are there legitimate warning signs for a team trying to defend its national championship?

Subscribe to Locked On Hoosiers for daily coverage of Indiana Football and Indiana Basketball.

• 00:00 Indiana vs North Texas Recap
• 01:20 Concerns: Focus & Hangover
• 02:09 Run Game Struggles
• 03:18 Open Field Tackling Woes
• 04:49 Defensive Bend Not Break
• 05:27 D-Line and Heisman Defense
• 06:20 Are Problems Fixable?
• 07:34 Run Game Coach Reaction
• 12:27 Fixability: Tackling & Blocking
• 14:16 Practice & Depth Issues
• 15:46 Defensive Identity & RPO
• 16:43 Upcoming Schedule Challenges
• 17:09 Defensive Back Injuries Update
• 18:03 O-Line & Run Consistency
• 19:12 Third Downs & Receivers
• 19:41 Northwestern Warning
• 20:07 Boise State-Oregon Mention
• 20:22 Confidence In Cignetti

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