COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio State’s 2024 win over Indiana was a reality check for Curt Cignetti and what he was building.

This was a guy who’d taken over a historically bad program but spent the lead-up to the season talking with so much bravado that it almost felt performative. He was a winner (119-35) trying to turn a team historically known as a loser into one, too. But he was also realistic about the uphill climb that came with it.

That bravado wasn’t just because he wanted to become a character as a guy in his 60s who made his name at the FCS level and was running an FBS program for the first time.

Its purpose was to galvanize a fanbase and draw attention to Bloomington, and it worked. Plus, he had a favorable schedule that allowed him to quickly turn that belief and attention into so

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