CFB discourse is a bit of an echo chamber. If one reasonably “big” voice presents an opinion, it often reverberates across the landscape. The epicenter doesn’t even need to be a member of the national media. It can be a player, coach, or fan. One such opinion, perhaps fallacious, has simmered beneath the surface all year. It has boiled over at times but gotten shut down. It’s the notion that Curt Cignetti’s Indiana Hoosiers are overrated.

A week is an eternity in college football. With all the chaos stemming from the southeast and then championship weekend, It does feel like an eternity since Indiana was a talking point. The weak strength of schedule, the reality-check loss in Columbus- and, of course, their status as a playoff team. Now that the dust has largely settled ahead of Selection Sunday, the picture for Indy is clear. They are a lock for the CFP. What an achievement for Curt Cignetti in year 1. However, yet again, the naysayers are cropping up to the surface.

Bulldogs’ legend David Pollack broke down the events on Conference Championship weekend via his YouTube channel. He digressed to talk about the Hoosiers after one person’s comment during the live stream irked Pollack into a mild rant. Reading out the comment, which bluntly read “Indiana is overrated”, Pollack replied “Everybody’s overrated…who isn’t overrated? I mean, I can talk to everybody on [this livestream], and I can get so many people to go, ‘George is overrated as crap. Did you see what happened in the [Georgia] Tech game?’” Safe to say Kirby Smart and co. have shut down a lot of their critique stemming from that overtime frenzy last weekend.

He went on to make the case for why Indiana is deservedly in their current disposition. “I think everybody has flaws. Everybody struggles. But, I mean, who else deserves to be there more [than Indiana] when they’ve all got blemishes?” said Pollack.

The Hoosiers have only lost 1 game all year, albeit their schedule has been kind. With teams like Alabama in consideration with 3 losses on their resume, Indy’s case is hard to argue.

This achievement cannot be understated. Absolutely no one gave Curt Cignetti a chance of making the CFP back in August. They’ve been aptly called the Cinderella story of the season. Despite this success, Cignetti is not satisfied. He has a particular gripe with the powers that be. 

Curt Cignetti publicly lashes out at college football playoff committee’s decree

The CFP committee has somewhat been a proponent of the aforementioned echo-chamber. They have given Indiana their dues for the most part, though. Indiana was ranked as high as 4th at one stage while being unbeaten. However, they were brought down a few rungs after their loss at the Shoe to the Ohio State Buckeyes. Cignetti feels the punishment was too harsh.

In an interview with CBS ahead of the Big 10 Championship Game, Cignetti made his feelings known. “Here’s my question. There’s six 1-loss teams in the country, right? We lost to the 2nd ranked team on the road. Penn State lost to the 4th ranked team at home. Texas lost to the 5th ranked team at home. Boise lost to the 7th-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’ve got the largest margin of victory in the country. Take out the FCS and the G5, right, Power 4 only. We’re out-scoring people 40 to 17, 2nd in the country. So because our name is Indiana and not Michigan [we’re not getting talked about]”, he said.

Here’s a thought. Imagine you offered an Indiana fan, or even Cignetti for that matter, a ticket to the CFP back in preseason. They’d have cut your hand off for it. While his case seems fair, Cignetti has received around as much as he could’ve bargained for. Bloomington will not be the host of the festivities. However, there is a lot to cherish, and still a lot of skeptic voices to quell.