So long to Curt Cignetti’s almost unrivaled honeymoon phase in Indiana! The Hoosiers’ “undefeated” tag came tumbling down as No. 2 Ohio State dragged them back before they could make the playoff leap. With just one loss, they’re still likely to remain out of the playoff picture compared to other two-loss teams and even possible three-loss teams who could still make it to the CFP. Let’s hear CFB analyst Josh Pate break down Indiana’s playoff status.

An undefeated season. That’s what put Indiana in the spotlight. Their downfall? Their weak strength of schedule. Josh Pate continues to hold on to this opinion as we can see in this new YouTube episode on Josh Pate’s College Football Show on November 25. He said, “Indiana did not meet the freeze point… The freeze point is the minimum required level you’re capable of playing at to overcome the gulf of an advantage they have over you roster wise.”

This isn’t the first time Josh Pate raised alarms for Curt Cignetti’s success. Last week, he went hard at Indiana making it clear that if the Hoosiers lose to Ohio State, they might as well pack their bags and wave the playoffs goodbye. And their last 38-15 defeat against the Buckeyes proved what Pate has been trying to prove all along. Indiana had one of the easiest schedules in 2024 with their top opponents being Washington and Michigan. The other six conference and three non-conference games were against lesser threats. 

Ryan Day and the Buckeyes became their first real test and they failed miserably. Pate boldly stated, “The playoff resume conversation to me is not always about just the quality of team you have. If you have a noticeably inferior quality of schedule… If you don’t face the minimum baseline requirement of resistance in your schedule, you should not qualify for the playoffs. You have not deserved a spot in it.” But let’s see what Curt Cignetti has to say about this playoff conundrum. 

Curt Cignetti focuses on the future instead of moping around

If there’s one person who doesn’t want to talk about Indiana’s playoff chances, it’s Curt Cignetti. He already knows they messed up their once chance big time. His wry response was — “Is that a serious question? I’m not even going to answer that. The answer is so obvious.” Instead, Cignetti took the conversation to their upcoming game against Purdue. He said, “I don’t make those decisions. I think it’s probably more important now that I focus on our next game. A big in-state rival against Purdue that Indiana hasn’t beaten in how many years? Since 2019. I think that needs to be everybody’s focus.” 

It’s not the end for Indiana’s path to stardom. They can still make it to the Big Ten Championship against No. 1 Oregon if they win against Purdue and Michigan and Maryland pull magical upsets on Ohio State and Penn State, respectively. A long shot but who knows, anything could happen!