Curt Cignetti didn’t spend much time lingering on Indiana’s 19-15 loss to Ohio State. His first message after the game was simple: the calendar keeps moving, and so does the schedule.
“Alright, well, the sun comes up tomorrow and we’ll have to get ready for Michigan, prep for Michigan.”
Indiana pushed Ohio State all the way to the finish Saturday at Memorial Stadium, but Cignetti said the Hoosiers left too many chances on the field. He praised the effort and the fight, noting that his team put itself in position to win a close one.
That, to him, was the frustrating part.
He said the defense held up well under repeated pressure and kept Indiana in the game when the offense couldn’t cash in. Cignetti pointed to multiple moments where the Hoosiers had opportunities to take control, including a drive late in the second quarter and another sequence that ended with a crossbar hit instead of points.
“One of the critical moments in that game - you know, there was a lot of them - about four and a half minutes to go in the second quarter, we’re driving, got a lot of momentum, take the lead, and we had it and couldn’t make it happen.”
He added that the missed chance at the end of the half was especially hard to swallow. Indiana had receivers open, but the play didn’t connect, and the Buckeyes responded by going down and scoring.
Then came the third quarter, when Indiana turned it over on its first two series.
“That’s when we hit the crossbar. And then they go down and score.”
Still, Cignetti said the defense steadied the team after halftime and refused to break.
“I thought we did a nice job regrouping there at halftime, you know, kind of similar to last week, and then had more adversity right off the bat in the third quarter but the defense just wouldn’t give in.”
He also praised Indiana’s special teams, noting that a 55-yard field goal attempt was just beyond range because of the wind.
“He hit it good. Would’ve been right down the middle.”
The offense, though, never fully clicked. Cignetti said the pass game produced chances but not enough finishes.
“I think most of it was - we had a lot of pass game opportunities and we didn’t take advantage of enough of them.”
When asked what kept Indiana from finding a rhythm earlier, he kept it blunt.
“Execution. I mean, you got to execute. You know, and when all 11 guys do their job it tends to work.”
He declined to give a full breakdown of the passing performance without watching the film, but he acknowledged the Hoosiers left a lot out there, including on the final drive.
“You all you saw the last play. Fourth and four, we were expecting a house blitz.
You never really know. You’re rolling the dice.”
Indiana ran its blitz check, but Ohio State got it right. Cignetti said the Buckeyes also beat the Hoosiers on a similar fourth-down look earlier in the third quarter.
“That’s our blitz check that we ran. Just called it. They got us on it that one other series in the third quarter on the fourth down where he got sacked down in the red area.”
The quarterback play drew questions, too, and Cignetti said the standard remains the same.
“Yeah, I mean, when you play quarterback it’s all about getting the ball to the open guy on time, accurately, as quickly as possible.”
He said Indiana had a couple of misfires, but also some strong plays from the position. Still, he wasn’t ready to assign a fuller evaluation without reviewing the tape.
For the defense, Cignetti highlighted Ferrell’s two interceptions, saying both were massive for a team that kept giving itself life.
“Yeah, two big interceptions, yeah. And that first one led to points.
Huge. And the second one was huge, too.”
He said one of Ohio State’s turnovers on defense came on a ball that was underthrown into the wind, while Indiana had good coverage in the play.
Cignetti also fielded questions about Jeremiah Smith, who had only two catches in the first half, and about AJ Harris starting at corner for the first time since week one. He said Ohio State didn’t go to Smith much early and that Indiana made plays in the secondary, though there were also missed tackles.
“They didn’t target him much early in in the game. Knew we made some plays back there.
Ferrell had those two interceptions and we missed that first drive; they went right down the field and we I believe held them to a field goal. We had a couple missed tackles.
But we had some good plays back there, yeah.”
He added that Harris seemed to make it through the full game, and that Smith may have functioned almost like a decoy early.
Indiana now turns quickly to Michigan, and Cignetti said the message to his team is to learn from the loss and move on.
“I told the kids it was a tough one. Really proud of the effort.
We gave ourselves a chance to win and certainly had the opportunity to. Sun comes up tomorrow, and get ready for Michigan.
Learn from the things we got to learn from.”
Then he closed on the bigger picture.
“And it’s still all ahead of us. We can accomplish anything we want, all our goals, except going undefeated.”
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