Indiana fans wish they never had to see this day! Ahead of the big game, Curt Cignetti delivered a sharp and proud remark on how they handle Top 25 teams. Maybe he got drunk in the Hoosiers’ success this year. But you put yourself in an awkward position when you fail to walk the talk. Now, the guy who wins has now fallen deep in the trenches in the first college football playoff. 

Curt Cignetti and Indiana are out of the playoff picture after falling 27-17 to Marcus Freeman and Notre Dame on Friday. Awful Announcing posted a video of the Hoosiers HC after the defeat on X on December 21 where he explained his reason for the punt. A battered-up Cignetti blamed their offense, saying, “I didn’t want to punt, but we were doing nothing on offense. And our defense was fighting. That was the only positive, really, that I could draw, is our defense was still fighting. Because offense was doing nothing.”

His frustration with the offense is apparent in his choice of words. But it wouldn’t have been such a sad story if it weren’t for Curt Cignetti’s audacity before kickoff. Speaking to ESPN College GameDay, he boasted, “We don’t just beat Top-25 teams. We beat the s— out of them.” See what position his pride has landed him in. 

One thing we saw from the Notre Dame-Indiana game is that the Hoosiers are no match for the Fighting Irish. There have been some costly mistakes including an interception at the 2-yard line which led to an Irish touchdown. Notre Dame reporter Tyler Horka added to Curt Cignetti’s shame as he tweeted, “Marcus Freeman out of context: ‘I’m glad they put some clothes on for the game.’” How humiliating for Indiana! But it’s the punt that became the center of attention in this game. 

The punt that Curt Cignetti is slammed for

It was in the final quarter when Indiana trailed by 20-3. On fourth-and-11 at the Irish’s 48-yard with just 10:34 remaining, Curt Cignetti made an eyebrow-raising choice by choosing to punt the football back to Notre Dame. This move gave a question mark to the spectators including the ESPN announcers Greg McElroy and Sean McDonough. It’s a “head–scratcher” for McDonough while “it makes no sense” to McElroy. 

According to what Curt Cignetti anticipated, there was still time for Indiana to win with a punt. They were able to score two late touchdowns with 4:32 left. But their punting mistake already gave Notre Dame a chance to score a touchdown to lead 27-3 before that. The Hoosiers offense only recorded 278 total yards, 17 first downs, and a poor third-down conversion rate 4-of-12. Just sad! 

That’s the end of the road for Curt Cignetti and Indiana. But we gotta credit them for finishing the season with a relatively impressive record of 11-2.