Dave Portnoy cosigns Curt Cignetti scheduling approach to mimic 'cupcake central' SEC

Dave Portnoy agrees with Indiana coach Curt Cignetti, who took a shot at the SEC on Tuesday over its nonconference scheduling. Asked why the Hoosiers canceled their home-and-home series with Virginia and added an FCS opponent instead, Cignetti said he was adopting an “SEC scheduling philosophy.”

Cignetti was likely referring to multiple SEC teams canceling scheduled series with Power 4 opponents, including one scheduled between Tennessee and Nebraska. Portnoy jumped on to Cignetti’s take, posting on X and calling out the SEC.

“While Michigan always accepts every challenge I don’t disagree with Cignetti,” the Barstool Sports founder wrote. “What is the point of playing real teams when the SEC is cupcake central and doesn’t get penalized by the committee for it.”

Indiana is coming off an 11-1 regular season in Cignetti’s first year at the helm in 2024, earning an at-large bid to the College Football Playoff. The Hoosiers lost the only game that they played against a ranked opponent, falling 38-15 against Ohio State.

This upcoming season, Indiana will not play any Power 4 opponents in the nonconference for the second straight year under Cignetti. Strength of schedule was a big topic of discussion for them last year as well, but ultimately did not keep them out of the CFP.

One major difference between the Big Ten and the SEC is that the Big Ten operates on a nine-game conference schedule compared to only eight for the SEC. One would think this would make it easier for schools to schedule at least one Power 4 opponent.

In fact, three SEC schools — Alabama, Florida and South Carolina — scheduled two Power 4 opponents in the nonconference for this season. However, 15 of the 16 schools playone game against an FCS team.

That in mind, there’s definitely some truth to what Cignetti and Portnoy are saying. We’ll have to see how the strategy ends up working out, but it’s certainly been a talking point this offseason.

Curt Cignetti takes shot at SEC in defense of canceled nonconference series with Virginia

Cignetti said the scheduling philosophy at Indiana pre-dates his time with the school, but he still had final say once he took over the program. But he also pointed out the Big Ten’s nine-game conference schedule and compared it to the SEC’s eight-game slate – a key point of conversation this month.

As he broke it down, Cignetti noted the differences between the two non-conference schedules, particularly with regard to Group of 5 and FCS opponents. In the process, he said Indiana is simply adopting the SEC’s philosophy.

“That was a scheduling philosophy that began before I was hired. But I did sign off on it upon being hired, before our first season,” Cignetti said in Las Vegas. “Look, here’s the bottom line. We picked up an extra home game and we play nine conference games. The two best conferences in college football – any football guy that’s objective will tell you – [are] the Big Ten and the SEC. Twelve of the 16 SEC teams play three G5 or an FCS game. Twelve of those teams play 36 games – 29 G5 games and seven FCS games, and one less conference game.

“So we figured we’d just adopt [an] SEC scheduling philosophy. Some people don’t like it. I’m more focused in on those nine conference games.”

On3’s Nick Schultz contributed to this report.