Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti baffled fans and even ESPN announcers Friday night with a conservative game plan as Notre Dame defeated the Hoosiers, 27-17, in the College Football Playoff.
Complicating matters, that game strategy stood in sharp contrast to Cignetti’s pregame boasts on College GameDay, when he said he and the Hoosiers “beat the s***” out of Top 25 teams.”
In fact, let’s start with those comments because they underline the “We don’t get any respect” theme that Cignetti has been touting about Indiana in recent weeks. And they stand in sharp contrast to what happened later in the night.
No. 10 Indiana entered the game 11-1, yet many fans and analysts pointed out the team’s lack of quality wins. Analyst Pat McAfee asked Cignetti what the Notre Dame-Indiana game meant for football in the state. Without even being prodded, Cignetti admitted plenty of people doubted the Hoosiers.
“There’s a lot of skeptics. There’s a lot of doubters,” Cignetti said. “I get it, haven’t beat a Top 25 team. Nebraska was 25th in the Coaches Poll, beat their a** 56-7. And I’ve never beat a Top 25 team. Well, you know, Coastal Carolina, back when we were little James Madison, moving up to the Sun Belt, 22nd at the end of the year, we beat them 47-7.
The coach finished with a flourish.
“We don’t just beat Top 25 teams, we beat the s*** out of them!” Cignetti said.
Cignetti made a remarkably smooth transition, going in a matter of seconds from humble coach of the “University with Something to Prove” to “We beat the s*** out of Top 25 teams!” braggadocio.
GOOGLE HIM #CollegeGameDay pic.twitter.com/IsYPImH47Y
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) December 20, 2024
Yet Cignetti’s pregame confidence didn’t carry over into the game. The Hoosiers had an extremely conservative game plan, almost as if they were playing not to lose, even when they were losing big. Case in point: Trailing 20-3 with under 11 minutes remaining in the game, the Hoosiers punted.
“Indiana is going to punt on this… I’m very surprised,” play-by-play announcer Sean McDonough said.
“I don’t understand… It makes no sense,” analyst Greg McElroy concurred.
“Indiana is going to punt… I’m very surprised.” – Sean McDonough on Curt Cignetti’s decision
“I don’t understand… It makes no sense.” – Greg McElroy
“I don’t get this at all. He’s really punting it… That’s a head-scratcher to me.” – McDonough 🏈🎙️ #CFP pic.twitter.com/VYbACXoRJb
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 21, 2024
Sports media were baffled by Cignetti’s careful approach, on that and other occasions. Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wetzel posted on X, “Notre Dame vastly better than Indiana but the Cignetti game plan has been puzzling. Six punts. Fair catches on kick returns. Rushing on 3rd and 10. This is not how you spring a playoff upset.”
And he wasn’t the only one…
For Curt Cignetti to talk the way he talked this season and then to coach this conservatively in THIS game.
It just doesn’t make sense. At all.
— Andy Backstrom (@andybackstrom) December 21, 2024
I don’t understand why Curt Cignetti said what he said on GameDay if he was going to coach the game this way.
— Nicole Auerbach (@NicoleAuerbach) December 21, 2024
You can’t talk mad shit and then coach scared. Cmon man!
— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) December 21, 2024
In short, the Hoosiers were not playing like a team that “beats the s***” out of Top 25 teams, but a team still finding its way into the national spotlight.
When Cignetti made his pregame boast, McAfee could feel the coach’s energy.
“OK! Google him! Google … him!” McAfee shouted.
McAfee’s shout-out was a reference to Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman. After Notre Dame drew Indiana in the CFP first round, Freeman admitted he Googled Cignetti’s name “because I didn’t know much about him.”
After the game, many of the Google and social media searches on Cignetti and Indiana are going to be questioning the team’s baffling game plan.
[ESPN]
