Indiana’s Cinderella season under first-year coach Curt Cignetti came to an end Friday night, with the 10th-seeded Hoosiers falling at No. 7 seed Notre Dame in the first on-campus College Football Playoff game.
While Indiana did commit some mistakes in the 27-17 loss — notably an interception at the 2-yard line that resulted in a Jeremiyah Love 98-yard touchdown — the final outcome was largely a result of being out-played and out-manned by the Fighting Irish.
There was a moment in the fourth quarter, however, that raised questions among fans watching the game. Facing fourth-and-11 at the Notre Dame 48 and trailing 20-3, Cignetti elected to punt the ball back to the Fighting Irish, despite there being only 10:34 left of game clock.
ESPN announcers Sean McDonough and Greg McElroy were confused at Cignetti’s decision as they called the play in real time.
Speaking to reporters after the game, Cignetti said he ‘didn’t want to punt,’ but that he couldn’t rationalize going for it on fourth-and-11 based on what his offense had done to that point.
‘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, was that our defense was still fighting,’ Cignetti said. ‘Because offense was doing nothing. And I didn’t want to go fourth-and-10, because you’re just wishing and hoping: You have nothing to base it on that you can convert fourth-and-10 at that point.’
Cignetti added that there was still time to win the game with a punt. Indeed, the Hoosiers were able to score two touchdowns in the final 4:32 of the game — but those scores were largely rendered moot after Notre Dame took said punt and went on to score a touchdown to extend its lead to 27-3 while eating 5:44 off the game clock.
Here’s Cignetti’s full response:
The Indiana offense finished the game with 278 total yards, 17 first downs and a paltry 4-of-12 third-down conversion rate.
The Hoosiers also finished 1-for-1 on fourth down — though it occurred on fourth-and-1 at the Notre Dame 37-yard line with 47 seconds remaining in the game.