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Ohio State blows out Indiana, 38-15. Now, it's time to do the same to That Team Up North.
Curt Cignetti forced a smile on his face as he sat down for his postgame press conference following his first loss as the head coach at Indiana.
It was about all he could do to reflect any remaining positivity after his team suffered its only defeat of the college football season so far by a final score of 38-15 at the hands of Ohio State. Through a grin that quickly evaporated after one sentence, an agitated Cignetti opened up his comments with a lighthearted outlook on reality.
“All good things come to an end eventually. I give Ohio State a Lot of credit, they dominated the football game. Thought we Got off to a good start — good football game there for a while.”
Cignetti recalled in detail the timeline of how and when Indiana kept the game close before the Hoosiers ultimately went off the rails. Though he cited a false start penalty that he believed should have been called as an offsides as the turning point, IU's head coach clarified that what ultimately made the difference in the game was the dominance with which the Buckeye defense put pressure on quarterback Kurtis Rourke.
“We couldn't protect the quarterback. We had communication errors in pass [Protection]. every time we dropped back to pass, something bad happened.... It was like a nightmare.”
The havoc created by the Silver Bullets became exacerbated by the big-game atmosphere at Ohio Stadium, and Cignetti admitted such an environment had a detrimental impact on Indiana as a team overall. He recalled the offensive line had to switch up its cadence to a silent count due to the crowd noise.
Cignetti also initially acknowledged that the pressure of the moment seemed to affect the Hoosiers team-wide in executing their assignments. However, he later walked back that phrasing to cut his own players some slack in praising the ability of their opponent.
“You Couple [OSU's Pass Rush] with the noise and having to go to a silent count, because our center couldn't hear. The speed at which they do it at compared to our scout team, and the pressure of the moment, our guys just didn't respond very well... it wasn't very pretty.”
When asked what he thought of Ryan Day scoring the last touchdown of the game in the final minute — which preceded a thorough mocking from OSU quarterback Will Howard — Cignetti said of Day, "he's got to do what he's got to do for his team."
Cignetti fielded multiple questions from the media regarding if Indiana still deserves consideration for the College Football Playoff. IU's head coach scoffed at any notion that the Hoosiers' performance this season did not merit a CFP spot, outright asking the second reporter that inquired on such a topic, "is that a serious question?"
Indiana will play Purdue next week in the team's regular season finale as the Hoosiers seek to win their first Old Oaken Bucket rivalry game against the Boilermakers since the 2019 season.
