Curt Cignetti's comments after beating Michigan prove he plans to build a consistent winner

You'd think a first-year head coach at a notoriously bad college football program would be happy with a 10-0 start. You'd think being a near-lock for the College Football Playoff after beating a conference opponent would be cause for celebration. You must not have met Curt Cignetti yet.

After beating Michigan, 20-15, on Saturday, the Hoosiers head coach wasn't going to pretend that he was happy with his team's performance in a game he likely thought should have been a blowout.

This should come as a welcome sign for Indiana fans. Cignetti has put the program's rebuild into hyperdrive in his first season as coach but comments like this make it obvious he's not aiming to be a cinderella story one year and then fade back into obscurity the next. Cignetti wants to build something lasting at IU, and lasting dynasties in college football are build by attitudes like this. Think of Nick Saban at Alabama, who would call a timeout up by 800 points against Vanderbilt ('Dores are back, though) because one player missed an assignment.

Cignetti has about a dozen national championships to win before he can compare resumes with Saban's, but the principal is the same. Don't settle for something you think can be improved upon.

Indiana has been the best story in college football

Every once in a while, a new coach comes in and immediately changes the energy around a program. But 10-0 in the Big Ten with a chance at the conference title and a first-round bye in the College Football Playoff isn't done with just an energy shift. There's no way to "good vibe" your way to a national championship (though the power of friendship does remain the most powerful in sports.)

Cignetti and Indiana are 10-0 because he's an incredible football coach, and he knows when his team is underperforming. With Ohio State on the horizon, Cignetti still wants to clean things up. But cleaning things up while 10-0 is still better than cleaning things up while 9-1.