Indiana's Curt Cignetti explains Notre Dame's late setback in CFP loss

Indiana’s Cinderella season under first-year coach Curt Cignetti came to an end Friday night as the No. 10 seed Hoosiers fell to No. 7 Notre Dame in the first College Football Playoff game on campus.

While Indiana made a few mistakes in the 27-17 loss – most notably an interception at the 2-yard line that led to a 98-yard touchdown by Jeremiyah Love – the end result was largely due to overplaying and overmanning was the Fighting Irish.

However, there was a moment in the fourth quarter that raised questions among fans watching the game. Cignetti scored on fourth-and-11 at the Notre Dame 48 and trailed 20-3. He decided to throw the ball back to the Fighting Irish even though there was only 10:34 left.

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ESPN announcers Sean McDonough and Greg McElroy were puzzled by Cignetti’s decision as they called the game in real time.

Speaking to reporters after the game, Cignetti said that he “didn’t want to punt” but that he couldn’t justify doing it on fourth-and-11 based on what his offense had done up to that point.

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“I didn’t want to sting. But we didn’t do anything offensively. And our defense struggled. The only positive thing I could really say was that our defense was still fighting,” Cignetti said. “Because the offensive didn’t achieve anything. And I didn’t want to go fourth-and-10 because you just wish and hope: There’s nothing to lean on to turn fourth-and-10 at that point.”

Cignetti added that there was still time to win the game with a punt. In fact, the Hoosiers were able to score two touchdowns in the final 4:32 of the game – but those scores were largely moot after Notre Dame took that punt and scored a touchdown at lunch to extend its lead to 27-3 at 5 :44 after the music box.

Here is Cignetti’s full answer:

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Indiana’s Curt Cignetti explains Notre Dame’s late setback in CFP loss

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