Curt Cignetti does not understand the College Football Playoff rankings.
Heading into Championship Weekend, Cignetti’s Indiana team was seeded ninth in the CFP rankings. And while the 11-1 Hoosiers are all but assured of being one of the 12 teams in the playoff, they’re going to have to go on the road in the first round.
As Cignetti was interviewed ahead of the Big 10 Championship Game between Oregon and Penn State, he wasn’t exactly sure why that was the case.
“Here’s my question,” Cignetti said. “There’s six one-loss teams in the country, right? We lost to the second-ranked team on the road. Penn State lost to the fourth-ranked team at home. Texas lost to the fifth-ranked team at home. Boise lost to the seventh-ranked team. Notre Dame lost to Northern Illinois and SMU lost to an unranked team — at the time they played. So how are we not, right now, seeded for a home game? That’s what I want to know. We got the largest margin of victory in the country. OK, take out the FCS and the G5, right? P4 only. We’re outscoring people 40-17. Second in the country.
“So, because our name is Indiana and not Michigan, we’re ninth?”
Indiana coach Curt Cignetti has some questions about the CFP seeding.
“How are we not, right now, seeded for a home game? That’s what I wanna know…Because our name is Indiana and not Michigan?”pic.twitter.com/biqgd5muHN
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 8, 2024
Cignetti’s argument has some solid points. And ultimately, it is hard to not think that a program’s reputation plays some role. That’s not necessarily a new thing in college sports but we can certainly understand the frustration that the coach of a rising program might feel.
That said, there are also some flaws in his argument. The biggest is how he labels the teams that beat all of the one-loss teams. The rankings he’s listing are all the rankings that the team had at the time of the game in question. This is particularly notable in a few different cases.
The most notable is where he compared Indiana’s and Penn State’s losses, which came to the “second-ranked team” and “fourth-ranked team,” respectively. Technically, he’s correct. At the time of the game, those were the rankings. However, Indiana’s loss and Penn State’s loss came to the same opponent. Cignetti would also have been correct if he said, “We lost 38-15 on the road to Ohio State and Penn State lost 20-13 at home to Ohio State.”
Another issue is calling Boise State’s one loss as coming against “the seventh-ranked team.” Again, at the time of the game, that’s the correct ranking. But the team that beat Boise State was Oregon, who — at the time of Cignetti’s comments — was not only ranked No. 1 in the country but was FBS’ lone undefeated team. The Broncos also played the Ducks very close, losing 37-34 on a last-second field goal.
SMU’s loss was to an unranked — at the time — opponent. Once again, Cignetti was correct. But once again, he was creative with his description. The Mustangs lost to BYU. The Cougars are now ranked No. 18 in the country and finished their regular season 10-2.
Also, notice how he didn’t identify Notre Dame’s one loss as coming at home to an unranked team. He was quick to point out that loss came to Northern Illinois. That in particular makes it hard to shake the feeling that he’s trying to present the opponents in the best way possible as opposed to just being consistent.
Would Indiana’s ranking be better if it belonged to Notre Dame, Penn State or another program with a richer football tradition? Probably. Fortunately, Cignetti and the Hoosiers will have a chance to prove the rankings wrong in the CFP. It will come on the road, but Indiana will have its shot.
