Coach Q&A: Curt Cignetti reacts to Indiana's win over Penn State

Indiana football head coach Curt Cignetti spoke with the media following Indiana’s road win over Penn State.

Below is his full Q&A, as well as a transcript of the conversation.

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CIGNETTI: Super proud of our team and our players. Refused to lose in the bleakest, most dire moments when it looked impossible. On the two yard line with no timeouts, barely a minute to go and haven’t done anything offensively in quite a while. The quarterback’s been taking a lot of shots. To all of a sudden, start making plays like we made, incredible plays, and scored at the end like that, and it’s a game of inches. It truly is, and the team refused to lose, and proud of this football team. Now, tape tomorrow, there’s going to be a lot of things we won’t be proud of, but Penn State’s a good football team. And maybe they found their quarterback too, a guy that can lead them to more wins the rest of the season here. But it was the most improbable victory I’ve ever been a part of. And there couldn’t have been a better place to make it happen.

Q: On what Cignetti told the offense to get moving …

CIGNETTI: At that point, I didn’t tell them anything. I was kind of coaching Mike up. Not coach — Mike doesn’t need a lot of coaching — but just giving him what I thought, that we need to get the ball out of the quarterback’s hand quickly, get him in rhythm. And we were able to do that on some of those four vertical routes on the seams. And so Mike did a great job. Fernando, like, was just getting hit time after time after time. And never gave in and got his composure back and made plays at the end.

Q: On the receiving corps minus Sarratt …

CIGNETTI: They were huge on that last one. Charlie Becker caught the post early in the game too. Because this is a team that will double cover your receivers once in a while. And they were going one on one on Becker. And Charlie made some fantastic plays. He’s taken advantage of his opportunities this year. Look, we left a lot of plays out on the field today in the pass game.

I guarantee you that. But we’ll fix that tomorrow the best we can. But I’m glad about Becker and Cooper when we needed him.

Q: On the issue that hampered them offensively in the second half after going up 20-7…

CIGNETTI: I think we were getting whipped up front. And the quarterback got off rhythm and probably needed a little better eye control and discipline in terms of his reads and processing. But it’s hard to play quarterback when you don’t have very good protection. You got to keep the quarterback on rhythm. And that ball’s coming out quick out of his hand. When you do that, good things happen. And when you hold the ball, bad things happen. And that’s what happened. 

Q: On what the rally, with low odds, shows about Indiana’s wiring …

CIGNETTI: The best thing I can say is we refused to lose. We had that one last big run left in us when probably most people had counted us out. I guarantee you when Fernando got sacked on first down, how many people in this room counted us out, right? So, great drive.

Q: Why is it that you weren’t counting Fernando out? What is it about him and the offense that you weren’t counting Fernando out? 

CIGNETTI: I’m just trying to coach to the circumstances of the game best I can. Use your timeouts right and give us the best chance. And then at the end, players gotta make plays on the field. But I think we were able to complete some passes — things that he did really well that we had not done much early in the game that were all of a sudden open. And so the kids made it happen, Cooper and Becker were two great catches.

Q: What were the moments like with the review on Omar’s touchdown? I mean, the moment it’s called a touchdown, just what are all the emotions?

CIGNETTI: At that point, you’re just getting the next call ready. And like what hash is the ball gonna be on, which took a while to get an answer to. But I thought the officials were great. You’re getting ready in case it doesn’t go your way — all the time — on the review. Then, when we find out it’s a touchdown, okay, just get the extra point team on the field. Didn’t really love what happened on the kickoff. Gave them really good field position there. But in the end, defense found a way. The most improbable victory.

Q: After you guys went down, did you see anything on the players’ faces? Or was there anything you said to the players that you could tell that they were gonna find a way here? 

CIGNETTI: You know, I mean, things started to go against us a little bit. And the only thing I said to a lot of the guys, we’re gonna find out what we’re made of. But that was probably a series and a half or so before the last drive. And come that last drive, you ain’t have time to talk with them. You got the ball, this is the deal. We’ve been in a lot of two-minute situations. Just flashback in my mind a little bit of similar situations in fall camp that we were in where we scored touchdowns. And this one’s no different. And all of a sudden we start making those plays. We know how it is when all of a sudden you’re making those plays, like anything’s possible. It was.

Q: Curt, you coached receivers before, the back of the end zone, Omar Cooper’s catch itself, the difficulty level, how was he able to do that?

CIGNETTI: I gotta see it again on tape and TV, honestly. You know what I mean? It was a great catch, and to keep that toe in bounds, you gotta be a real special player to do that.

Q: There’s two games left, I think you he made his case today, but what’s your case for Fernando for the Heisman?

CIGNETTI: I don’t really think about that. We’re trying to develop him to become the best player he can be.

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