We need to set some ground rules:
1. Indiana deserved to make the College Football Playoff. They went 11–1 in a power conference. They blew out a bunch of mediocre teams. That second thing isn’t that impressive, but you have to find the twelve teams somewhere, and if Penn State had done what Indiana did this season, we would never give Penn State’s playoff-worthiness a second glance.
2. I like Indiana. I don’t like Mike Woodson, because he’s a doofus and also opted out of the NIT, and I didn’t like Indiana’s online football fans this year, because they were constantly crying about someone saying mean things to them. I also don’t always like Indiana graduates’ perceptions of Indiana, because these people should be focusing on how much fun they had and instead they’re trying to pretend there’s something special about their degree. (To my friend who likes to shit-talk Michigan State: You didn’t go to Northwestern, ho.) But I like Indiana. It’s one of my preferred Big Ten schools. Put me in a room with an Indiana grad, an Ohio State grad, an Iowa grad, and a USC grad, and I will try talking to the Indiana grad first.
3. Curt Cignetti is a good football coach. He took the worst program in the Big Ten and made it the fourth-best team in the Big Ten. He did this overnight. That’s bonkers.
4. Curt Cignetti’s “don’t get completely blown out” approach made sense against Ohio State. Against Ohio State, the final score mattered. Cignetti achieved his goal. Cignetti convinced Gus Johnson, in-game, that Indiana wasn’t getting blown out, even though Ohio State was dominating the Hoosiers in every facet of the sport. Cignetti probably convinced the committee, too. It worked. Against Ohio State, it worked.
With that out of the way…
What the hell is wrong with Curt Cignetti????
We’re going to do two lists here. The first is a short, incomplete list of all the shit Curt Cignetti talked this week heading into his game against Notre Dame. The second is a short, incomplete list of all the times Curt Cignetti refused to try to beat Notre Dame and instead inexplicably tried to lose close.
The Shit-Talking
Upon being asked this week about winning “almost all” the Coach of the Year Awards, Curt Cignetti clarified: “I think I’ve swept all the awards. Not ‘almost all.’”
While his team and staff prepared for tonight’s game, Curt Cignetti went on College Gameday to talk about Indiana’s record against Top 25 teams. “We don’t just beat Top 25 teams,” he said. “We beat the shit out of them.”
After saying Indiana beats the shit out of Top 25 teams, Cignetti cited a win two years ago over (unranked) Coastal Carolina. Did Indiana play Coastal Carolina in 2022? No. Cignetti was talking about a game he coached back at James Madison. Two hours before the biggest game of his career, Curt Cignetti went on ESPN to say that a two-year-old win over a 9–4 Sun Belt team wasn’t getting enough respect.
In the same interview, Cignetti was asked about his time coaching under College Gameday co-host Nick Saban. Cignetti recited a litany of ways in which he and Nick Saban are, as head coaches, “the same.” It was a little awkward, Cignetti comparing Cignetti to Saban, but it was complimentary, and Cignetti’s bluntness and difficulty navigating social cues can make him a sympathetic creature. How did Saban take it? Hard to say. His response was, “One thing you didn’t learn from me is talking all the shit you talk.”
We could go back through the season and the offseason and last year’s coaching carousel period and explore more Cignetti boasts, but that would take a long time. You get the idea. This is a man who likes to discuss his own accomplishments, real and imagined.
The Quitting on His Team
Why do we care about a man who discusses his own accomplishments, real and imagined? Because you’d think a man who tells others to think so highly of him wouldn’t coach like such a coward whenever he faces a good team. Again, yes, hiding in the basement made sense against Ohio State. It was loser behavior, but it made sense. Tonight? Tonight was single-elimination. Curt Cignetti jumped at the chance to be the one eliminated. Let’s check the tape.
First Quarter, 7:00 remaining, Indiana trailing 7–0: Indiana faces 4th & 8 at the Notre Dame 37. Curt Cignetti punts.
Second Quarter, 9:57 remaining, Indiana trailing 14–0: Indiana faces 3rd & 10 at the Notre Dame 49. Indiana runs for a loss of one yard, then punts.
Second Quarter, 4:10 remaining, Indiana trailing 14–0: Indiana faces 3rd & 5 at the Notre Dame 17. Indiana runs for one yard, then lines up to go for the fourth down conversion. Curt Cignetti calls timeout and sends his kicker out to get Indiana’s only points of the first half.
Fourth Quarter, 10:34 remaining, Indiana trailing 20–3: Indiana faces 4th & 11 at the Notre Dame 48. Notre Dame’s last two drives have taken an average of six minutes and nine seconds off the clock. Curt Cignetti punts.
Everyone got on Cignetti about the punt. Others—namely Sean McDonough and/or Greg McElroy, on the broadcast—pointed out Indiana didn’t try to return any kicks until the game was out of reach. I will point out that Kurtis Rourke only attempted 18 passes in the first 55 minutes of the game, even though Indiana desperately needed fast points. I’m pointing that out partly because it’s funny and partly because this is how Cignetti also managed that Ohio State game. He took the air out of the ball and tried to run out the clock. He did this in a game he lost by 23.
Curt Cignetti could have tried to win last night. He probably would have lost by more points, because that’s usually what happens when you turn to risky strategies, but he could have at least tried to win. Instead, he took the safe route to a double-digit defeat. Next year at Big Ten Media Day, he’ll be able to talk about how his team’s only losses in 2024 came on the road against Ohio State and Notre Dame, and how the second one only came by ten points. He’ll talk about Indiana’s great point differential in 2024. He won’t mention the cowardice it took to keep it.
We’ve enjoyed getting to know Cignetti this year. He’s a character. He’s made Indiana a factor. We’re excited to see if he can build on this season. For a while there, Cignetti seemed invincible. He was like ISIS in 2014. But until he shows something different, the truth we’ve seen Cignetti live is one of braggadocio in the face of ease and terror in the face of difficulty. Against both Ohio State and Notre Dame, Curt Cignetti did not try to win the football game. He tried to lose the football game by a small number of points. Against Ohio State, this worked. Against Ohio State, the final score mattered. The final score didn’t matter last night.
