Curt Cignetti gets brutally honest on difference between Indiana and Notre Dame
12/21/2024 01:55 AM
After an incredible season that saw it go 11-1 in the regular season in its first year under Curt Cignetti, the clock struck midnight on Indiana football’s Cinderella story on Friday night. When it gets to College Football Playoff time, there’s no room for the flash and the feel-good stories.
The nitty gritty is what decides December football games, and the Hoosiers just couldn’t match up with Notre Dame up front on either side of the ball during a 27-17 loss that was more lopsided than the final score indicates. Notre Dame led 27-3 in the fourth quarter before Indiana tacked on two late touchdowns to make the final score a little bit more respectable.
After the game, Cignetti was his usual, 100% honest self about the gap between Indiana and a more complete, dominant team like Notre Dame, according to Dylan Traeger of Hoosier Illustrated.
“They’ve probably got more depth than we do and have some more front line guys that are bigger and stronger,” Cignetti said, per Traeger.
That difference stuck out all night on both sides of the ball. On one side, you had an Indiana offense that couldn’t establish a consistent run game all night, save for a few explosive runs in the first half. When star quarterback Kurtis Rourke dropped back to pass, especially in obvious passing situations, he was constantly under pressure and was sacked three times.
On the other side, Notre Dame was able to protect Riley Leonard in the pocket, allowing the veteran quarterback to make the right play time and time again. The Irish didn’t run the ball as consistently as it would have hoped to, but the left side of the offensive line cleared the Indiana defense out on Jeremiyah Love’s 98-yard touchdown in the first quarter.
All in all, this Indiana football team was clearly just a few true blue-chip players short up front to be able to compete with a team like Notre Dame on a down-to-down basis. The Hoosiers ran into a similar problem in their only other loss this season against Ohio State, so this didn’t necessarily come as a shock.
Of course, none of this is all that surprising considering that Indiana is in the first year of a rebuild with a brand new head coach. Cignetti did a great job building out the rest of the roster via the transfer portal, but it’s very difficult to gain depth in the trenches in just one offseason. If the Hoosiers can improve in that area in the coming months, they very well could get another shot at a game like this next season.
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