Indiana HC Curt Cignetti loses it over late hit on Riley Leonard
12/20/2024 11:40 PM
Friday night hasn’t gone according to plan for head coach Curt Cignetti and Indiana football. The Hoosiers have been outclassed in all three phases of the game in South Bend as Notre Dame clinched a berth in the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Eve with a 27-17 win at home.
During the third quarter of the game, Indiana continued to make mistake after mistake as it continued to give Notre Dame life offensively. With the Fighting Irish driving down the field but facing a third and long, the Hoosiers finally got a stop on what appeared to be a sack. However, an Indiana pass rusher hit Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard out of bounds, resulting in a 15-yard penalty and an automatic first down. After the play, Cignetti was losing his mind on the sideline.
Curt Cignetti was not happy with this late hit penalty pic.twitter.com/2fLPmL4AMi
— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) December 21, 2024
That penalty went on to lead to more points for the Fighting Irish, and it wasn’t the first nor the last thing that got on Cignetti’s nerves in this one. Not much went right for Indiana in this one in any phase of the game, which led to somewhat of a dud of a first playoff game.
Notre Dame’s offensive and defensive lines dominated this game from start to finish, as Indiana was never able to consistently run the ball or protect quarterback Kurtis Rourke. On top of that, Notre Dame’s elite secondary played a ton of man coverage and dared Indiana’s receivers to beat it in one-on-one coverage, something that the Hoosiers were unable to do.
Notre Dame didn’t have an explosive night offensively, but it imposed its will all night on the Indiana defensive front and was able to control the clock. They did get one big play, a 98-yard touchdown run by Jeremiyah Love that broke open the scoring in the first quarter.
This was still a very successful season for Indiana, who has finished things up at 11-2 in Cignetti’s first season as the head coach. With his track record back to his time at James Madison, all indications are that Indiana is here to stay as a contender in the Big Ten in the years to come.
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