Brady Quinn uses Curt Cignetti, Indiana to take shot at Lincoln Riley
What Curt Cignetti is doing at Indiana is unprecedented. After decades worth of losing seasons in Bloomington, his Hoosiers are two wins away from winning the national championship, and just beat Alabama 38-3 to win the Rose Bowl.
FOX Sports’ Brady Quinn, a former Notre Dame star QB, took to social media to praise the job Cignetti has done at IU. He also used it to seemingly take aim at USC head coach Lincoln Riley for recent comments made after the Trojans’ Alamo Bowl loss.
“Cignetti is doing in two years what some say takes four just to open that window,” Quinn wrote. Riley said after the game that USC is finally kicking down the door after four seasons there.
Riley arrived at USC ahead of the 2022 season, bringing eventual Heisman Trophy-winning QB Caleb Williams with him from Oklahoma. The Trojans finished the year 11-2, and were ranked as high as No. 4 in the country that season. USC hasn’t had the same success since, while Indiana’s rise has been immediate.
“I really believe a window here has opened up. … That’s taken a lot of effort by a lot of people, a lot of commitment by a lot of people,” Riley said. “Four fun but really challenging years to get it open, but it’s open now.”
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In four seasons at USC, Riley has amassed a 35-18 record to go with a 24-12 record in conference play. Only one season — his first with the Trojans — saw USC win 10 or more games. That includes 8-5, 7-6, and 9-4 records in the last three seasons. In comparison, Clay Helton, who Riley replaced as USC head coach, in his final three seasons with the program, he went 8-5, 5-1 (COVID), and 1-1 before being fired after two games during the 2021 season.
Looking ahead, the Trojans will face a gauntlet in the Big Ten to prove their worth in 2026. This includes matchups against the likes of IU, Ohio State, Oregon, Washington, and Penn State, among others. If that door has been kicked down, Riley’s Trojans have more than enough opportunities to demonstrate why.
One team the Trojans won’t be playing — Quinn’s Fighting Irish. Notre Dame controversially no longer appears on USC’s schedule. However, that hasn’t stopped Quinn from throwing jabs at his alma mater’s century-long rival. In fact, Quinn recently shredded Riley for his comments about the USC-Notre Dame game no longer being played.