COLUMBUS, Ohio – First-year coach Curt Cignetti took the question everyone will be asking after No. 2 Ohio State beat No. 5 Indiana 38-15 at Ohio Stadium on Saturday.
Are the Hoosiers – the Cinderella story of the 2024 college football season – still worthy of playoff consideration after taking their first loss?
"Is that a serious question?" Cignetti asked back. "I'm not even going to answer that — because the answer is so obvious."
MUST WATCH: Indiana HC Curt Cignetti was asked if he thinks the Hoosiers should be in the College Football Playoff despite the 23-point loss today.
— Angela Moryan (@AngelaMoryanTV) November 23, 2024
His response was yet another great Cignetti moment.@WISHNews8 | #iufb | #CFP pic.twitter.com/gWkFlC1H1O
So, yes? Cignetti gave an affirmative nod, winked, then took the long step down from the podium. Granted, Cignetti answered that a few minutes after Florida beat No. 9 Ole Miss 24-17, which eliminated one of those two-loss SEC teams trying to squeeze the Hoosiers out.
Does Indiana belong in the 12-team CFP?
The best way to say the Hoosiers (10-1, 7-1) belonged was looking at the other sideline in the final minutes. Ohio State (10-1, 7-1) wanted to put Indiana – which has not beat the Buckeyes since 1988 – back in its place in the established conference pecking order. They made a show of it, too.
Consider this sequence. Indiana scored a cosmetic touchdown with 1:53 remaining to cut the lead to 31-15 then kicked an onside kick, which the Buckeyes recovered. Ohio State running back TreVeyon Henderson broke through the line of scrimmage and slid at the 1-yard line on a run that could have resulted in a few kneel-downs from quarterback Will Howard.
Howard scored two plays later on a sneak instead. Howard pretended to stomp out a cigarette on the sideline. The JumboTron displayed a fake newspaper that read "Extra! Extra! Buckeyes win??? Google it!" Ohio State coach Ryan Day said afterward the Buckeyes wanted to "leave no doubt."
If that was the case for the Hoosiers, then it makes you wonder what they have planned for rival Michigan next weekend. Cignetti gave a short answer when asked whether he had a problem with the TD.
"No, he's gotta do what he has to do for his team," Cignetti said.
So does Cignetti. That's why he has become the most-quotable coach in the FBS this season – and he rallied the team around a pre-game interview where he said, "People can stick that narrative up their you-know-what."
On Saturday, the narrative was true.
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Indiana isn't in the same zip code as Ohio State on the field. Not this year. Not yet. The Hoosiers jumped out to a 7-0 lead, but Cignetti pointed to a third-and-1 false start early in the second quarter where he thought the Buckeyes jumped offside. Ohio State edge rusher JT Tuimoloau had a sack on the next play.
"Really from that point on — and I'm not saying the game would have been different on that call — that's not what I'm saying at all. That's where the game changed, I would say," Cignetti said. "Every time we dropped back to pass, something bad happened."
That is true. Indiana quarterback. Kurtis Rourke finished 8 of 18 passing for 68 yards. He took five sacks. Indiana managed 151 total yards.
"You have to be close to be perfect to beat a team like this, and we're going to have a chance to play a lot of similar teams like this," Rourke said. "Knowing that, you can't have those mistakes."
Punting wasn't much better. Indiana punter James Evans dropped a snap with 1:41 remaining in the half, which led to a Henderson touchdown run and a 14-7 lead. Ohio State stretched the lead to 21-7 on a 79-yard punt return for a touchdown by Caleb Downs in the third quarter. The teams traded those pointless TDs in the fourth quarter, which might become talking points when the next CFP rankings are released.
What if Indiana doesn't drop the punt snap? What if Ohio State doesn't score the last TD? What does it all mean?
Indiana playoff outlook ahead of Rivalry Week
The combination of that Ole Miss loss and the fact Indiana likely will finish 11-1 will keep the Hoosiers in the playoff as a double-digit seed. It would harmonize the Big Ten and SEC with four teams from each conference. Yes, the Hoosiers have deficiencies in those two simple questions. They haven't played anybody, and they ain't beat nobody. But they have one loss in a Power 4 conference, and it's to the team that looks like the best team in the FBS right now.
Should there be a concern? Google Lady Tremaine.
She was the Evil Stepmother in "Cinderella," and the College Football Playoff committee has unconfirmed ancestral ties. Big brands are preferred in college football, not good stories who played a soft schedule. Cignetti even conceded multiple times that Indiana had trouble dealing with the noise at Ohio Stadium. That is going to amplify – on and off the field. How would they handle that in a first-round road environment at, say, Georgia?
That's when Cignetti missed a chance to channel former Colts coach Jim Mora when asked about the playoff.
"What about them?" Cignetti said. "I don't make those decisions. I think it's more important right now that we focus on our next game. A big in-state rival in Purdue who Indiana hasn't beat in how many years?"
That should give you a clear-cut idea of how Indiana has come. The Hoosiers haven't beat their in-state rival since 2019 – and this conversation will not advance if the Boilermakers (1-10) pull an upset next week.
After that, does this team deserve a chance in the 12-team College Football Playoff? Rourke gave the right answer in the moment.
"I hope so," Rourke said. "We trust ourselves against anybody, and we look forward to hopefully an opportunity to get a rematch at some point — but just knowing next week is a big game, and we have go handle Purdue."
