Curt Cignetti received widespread fanfare on social media over his decision to punt Notre Dame in the fourth quarter against Indiana with a 20-3 deficit. The decision was viewed as Indiana foregoing the white flag in a College Football Playoff and forfeiting the season.

As expected, Cignetti was asked about his big decision after the game. Indiana’s head coach said he “didn’t want to punt” but felt it was the best option given the situation and his team’s style of play.

I didn’t want to punt, but I didn’t want to end up on 4th and 10 either,” Cignetti said in his postgame press conference. “It’s like wishing and hoping for something. You have no basis upon which to convert quarters and tens at this point. And if you win the game, there’s still time to punt.

“So that was the reason for it. I didn’t want to do it. But I felt like it was the best move.

The Hoosiers faced 4th-and-11 at the Notre Dame 48-yard line with 10:45 left. James Evans hit 26 yards to the Notre Dame 22-yard line, giving the Irish the ball with 10:34 on the clock.

Notre Dame completed a 9-play, 78-yard scoring drive. The Irish put the game out of reach by extending their lead to 27-3 with 5:44 remaining. The Hoosiers only had 4:50 of game time to try to score 24 points. They gave it their all and scored the only two touchdowns of the contest, making the score 27-17.

Andrew writes about sports to support his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly supports the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.