No. 4 Indiana wants to finetune offense, defense in final non-conference tuneup vs. Western Kentucky

Indiana coach Curt Cignetti won last year's national championship by demanding his players keep finding ways to improve.

That may never change.

As the fourth-ranked Hoosiers chase a second straight title, the two-time Associated Press Coach of the Year looks at the two 50-plus point games his offense has strung together and the two routs his defense authored and Cignetti expects even better results Saturday when they close out the non-conference schedule against Western Kentucky (0-2).

“The goal is to continue to make ’em struggle defensively,” Cignetti said of the winless Hilltoppers. “They've given up some points, 280 yards rushing a game. But it’s always about preparation for the opponent. It’s still this week more about us and tightening some things up, and in some ways we’re learning still about what we can do best before we go to Big Ten play.”

The Hoosiers (2-0) have left little to the imagination.

They have the FBS' longest active winning streak (18), the longest active home winning streak (17), another top 10 scoring offense at 53.5 points per game, and another suffocating defense that has allowed only 16 points in two games with one shutout.

Quarterback Josh Hoover has thrown for as many touchdowns (eight) as he has incompletions, and he still has no turnovers, cleaning up the one glaring flaw from his three seasons at TCU. Charlie Becker has just seven catches but five have gone for TDs, putting him in a tie for the Football Bowl Subdivision lead. Meanwhile, running backs Turbo Richard and Lee Beebe Jr. have the ground game in sync even with the loss of injured Khobie Martin.

Just keeping pace with all of it will be a daunting task for Western Kentucky.

“We've had two losses that were really, points wise, we were out of it, and I'd like to be in it,” coach Tyson Helton said. “No matter what the outcome is, I'd like to be in it and I'd like to be in it in the second half and saying ‘Hey, we’ve got a chance here. That's a tremendous challenge against the defending national champions, but you play to win and I want to be in the second half competing to see if we can go win.”

Helton also understands that's just not what Cignetti & Co. typically do.

Since 2024, Indiana has scored 50 or more points 13 times and they have seven victory margins by 50 or more — three more than any other FBS team. But Cignetti, the perfectionist, still believes his team can do more.

“We still have nine or 10 plays that are negatives, negative plays, that we need to eliminate before we start Big Ten play,” Cignetti said, referring to last week's victory over Howard.

Helton doesn't expect anything less.

“If I'm them, I'm trying to squash the heck out of us,” he said. “But our goal is to be in it — if we can be in it.”

Western Kentucky has posted five straight eight-win seasons and owns eight bowl wins during the College Football Playoff era. But this year has not started well. They struggled at Nevada in the opener and after facing No. 2 Georgia last week now face the defending champs.

“Their head coach is one of the best in the business,” Helton said. “He knows what he wants, he knows what the blueprint to winning is. He knows the personnel he needs to win. His coordinators have been with him for a while. They get their players to play at a high level, they don't make mistakes, they don't make mental errors, they play really good situational football and they're always in the right places, doing the right things.”

Quarterback Rodney Tisdale Jr. started each of Western Kentucky's first two games but was relieved in the first half against Georgia by Brock Glenn after the Bulldogs took a 49-0 lead. Glenn ran for two scores and threw for another in the 70-20 loss. Who will play?

“Both will probably play, we've done that the first two games,” Helton said. “Both guys got dinged up a little bit, not bad at all. Both of them will be ready to play. Rodney should be fine. He'll be 100% ready to go, Brock will be 100% ready to go.”

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Georgia wide receiver Talyn Taylor (1) gets tackled by Western Kentucky defensive back Lataj Wright, right, during the first half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026, in Athens, Ga. (AP Photo/Colin Hubbard)

Georgia defensive back KJ Bolden, left, tackles Western Kentucky running back Ajay Allen (3) during the first half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026, in Athens, Ga. (AP Photo/Colin Hubbard)

Indiana defensive lineman Mario Landino (97) battles Howard offensive lineman Guan Price II (55) during the second half an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026, in Bloomington, Ind. (AP Photo/Doug McSchooler)

Howard running back John Washington IIl, left, is contacted by Indiana linebacker Jacob Savage, center, and defensive end Tobi Osunsanmi (12) during the second half an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2026, in Bloomington, Ind. (AP Photo/Doug McSchooler)

TORONTO (AP) — Stop me if you've heard this before. Martin McDonagh has unveiled a dark comedy of mischievous wit and melancholy soulfulness, and it's immediately been hailed as one of the best movies of the year.

Yes, the British-Irish writer-director of “The Banshees of Inisherin,” “In Bruges” and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” has been here before. But McDonagh's latest, “Wild Horse Nine,” is also something different and more provocative.

The film, which has played to standing ovations across the Venice, Telluride and Toronto film festivals, stars John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell as CIA officers who have recently laid the groundwork for the 1973 coup in Chile. But they're now taking a trip to Easter Island, as one says, “to see the heads” — the Moai stone sculptures. Chris (Malkovich) is dying of cancer and increasingly loose-lipped about his colorful CIA past, including a presidential assassination.

Their conversation, as is typical in McDonagh's brilliant, barbed dialogue, is laced with deeper ruminations on regret and death, with more absurd digressions mixed in. In one memorable scene, Chris traces a connection between democracy, homosexuality and good cheese.

“I wanted those guys to feel like an old married couple in a way,” McDonagh says.

He recently met a reporter for coffee in Toronto to talk about “Wild Horse Nine” and why he's so eager for the conversation it might generate. Searchlight Pictures releases the film Nov. 6.

McDonagh: Very much. I love to travel. I like traveling alone. It always prompts some kind of thinking. Bruges was just a weekend trip for fun and the town became a character literally while I was there. Fifteen years ago I went to Easter Island with the hope that something similar would happen to the Bruges scenario. It looked like a beautiful backdrop to some kind of story to tell but it took a bunch of iterations of it before it became what you saw.

McDonagh: Maybe things seem much more cinematic. I never had any desire to write something set in London, for instance, and I never have. I don’t see it with fresh eyes. I do like traveling around America. I used to get trains around America a lot. It feels like a CinemaScope window across the West. I feel like finding the place is going to be key to my next project, which I don’t have right now. Part of that is: Where do you want to spend six months of your life? South of France sounds good! And where is cinematic that hasn’t been captured before?

McDonagh: The odd couple talking thing, I did three or four versions of that. They were talking fine but there was no purpose or reason for them to be there. But I had always been fascinated with what the CIA did in Chile in the 1970s. When I thought about that, everything fell into place. It wasn’t just two cranky old guys talking.

McDonagh: I don’t think they’re as classy as John. I think we’re painting way too good a picture of the CIA. He’s erudite. He’s got a sense of humor. He regrets stuff. And I don’t think they do.

McDonagh: Even while we were still editing it, it felt more and more like it was a commentary on the modern day, especially with a lot of the recent stuff that Trump’s been doing. It wasn’t the direct purpose of it, but I kind of liked that it felt that way. The tragic thing is: history keeps repeating itself, and more and more stupidly and less and less secretively. They kept their horrible stuff secret back then. It’s like they don’t care what people think about it anymore. I think that’s a darker place we’re in now. Shame doesn’t come into it.

McDonagh: Whether or not I agree with it or not is for a later chat. I’m not saying the pacifist version is wrong or doesn’t work at times. But I do think the CIA and KGB and most vicious governments around the world are more happy with polite protest marches.

McDonagh: He can be ultra dangerous and you feel scared of him more than most. Maybe Joe Pesci. I was scared the first time I had a Zoom with him. But also his dexterity with comedy. But mostly knowing that in the silent moments you’d see acres of sorrow and regret when he’s seemingly not doing anything — when he’s just looking out of a window or listening to a Dictaphone or smoking a cigarette.

McDonagh: Not at all. In fact, I had kind of forgotten that whole section of that film until I rewatched it a few months ago. I hope that they don’t think I stole the whole memoir-of-a-CIA-guy bit from him. (Laughs) But John’s so good at everything that history is going to repeat itself.

McDonagh: It’s not but it’s completely generous. I think it’s still one of his best-ever performances. It’s not as showy as some of the previous things I’ve done with Sam or some of Sam’s other brilliant work. But there aren’t many who could convey the love that’s there without bawling his eyes out. You feel like it’s an equal two-hander at the same time as John’s character will always be the lead.

McDonagh: John’s got a lot of me. I like the outrageousness and the danger of where he goes sometimes. In my more sarcastic, anarchistic moments, I find that sort of stuff funny. He’s an awful guy, he’s done awful things. But on top of that, I do feel like he says a lot of funny stuff that I agree with — even if it’s just cheeses. (Laughs) A scene like that, you know you’re being naughty but I think the principle of it is actually sort of loving and weirdly pro-democratic, pro-gay and pro-cheese.

McDonagh: That’s gone away! (Laughs) I realize after a year or two I’m fundamentally lazy. But this feels like a quite short time between.

McDonagh: But it does combine vacation time on an island with making a movie. (Laughs) That’s what I’m going to do next. Tahiti, 1900, two blokes.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge, left, and director Martin McDonagh pose for photographers at the red carpet for the film 'Wild Horse Nine' during the 83rd edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Thursday, Sept. 3, 2026. (Photo by Alessandra Tarantino/Invision/AP)

Martin McDonagh poses on the red carpet for the film "Wild Horse Nine" during the Toronto International Film Festival in Toronto, on Monday, Sept. 14, 2026. (Keito Newman/The Canadian Press via AP)