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Curt Cignetti Was Still Coaching Fernando Mendoza During Presser After Peach Bowl Win

Cignetti couldn't help himself here.

Tim Capurso

Cignetti's Hoosiers rolled the Oregon Ducks 56-22 in the Peach Bowl.
Cignetti's Hoosiers rolled the Oregon Ducks 56-22 in the Peach Bowl. / / Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated
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Indiana continued its dominance of the College Football Playoff on Friday, as the Hoosiers rolled to a resounding 56-22 win over the Oregon Ducks in the Peach Bowl. The Hoosiers dominated from start to finish, intercepting Oregon quarterback Dante Moore's very first pass and returning it to the end zone for a touchdown in a performance so complete that even the scowling, seemingly-never-satisfied coach Curt Cignetti eventually had to crack a smile.

After the Hoosiers' 38-3 pasting of Alabama in the College Football Playoff quarterfinal, many expected a closer game in the semifinal against Oregon. But after another blowout win over the Ducks, observers were left with one question: how does Indiana keep doing this?

One possible answer came during the Hooisers' postgame press conference, just not the way some would have expected.

Indiana star quarterback Fernando Mendoza was asked what kind of impact the crowd, heavily slanted in favor of the Hoosiers, had on the game. He began his answer by recalling the Indiana-Oregon contest at Autzen Stadium in November, won by the Hoosiers despite a raucous Ducks crowd.

“...We played at Autzen Stadium Week 5,” Mendoza said. “Believe we had five or six pre-snap penalties...”

“Seven,” Cignetti corrected, without missing a beat.

In many ways, the lighthearted moment was emblematic of exactly how the Hoosiers maintain this awe-inspiring level of play, regardless of the opponent or stage.

Cignetti's insatiable demeanor on full display during Indiana's romp of Oregon

At multiple points throughout Indiana's dismantling of Oregon, the camera panned to the stoic Cignetti, who never cracked a smile even as his program kept lighting up the scoreboard. So demanding is Cignetti that after the Hoosiers—up 42-15 in the fourth quarter—blocked a punt inside the Ducks' 20-yard line and returned to the Oregon 7-yard line, the coach was caught on camera with his hands on his hips wearing an expression almost resembling an eye roll. He was seemingly upset that Indiana hadn't returned the blocked punt for a touchdown.

That's Cignetti in a nutshell. Always demanding more. And it's not an act.

“...Now it was all on me to get everybody focused, thinking the way we want them to,” Cignetti said back in December when asked about keeping the Hoosiers focused despite a long layoff. “Because they've had a lot of smoke blown up their you-know-what for two, two-and-a-half weeks, right? And then you were dealing with player retention and negotation and a lot of stuff. A lot of different stuff. Guys are winning awards, right?

“So I thought I had to rock their world and get their attention. And I did my best job to do that.”

The Hoosiers are now one win away from capturing the program's first-ever national championship.

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Tim Capurso
TIM CAPURSO

Tim Capurso is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Prior to joining SI in November 2023, he wrote for RotoBaller and ClutchPoints, where he was the lead editor for MLB, college football and NFL coverage. A lifelong Yankees and Giants fan, Capurso grew up just outside New York City and now lives near Philadelphia. When he's not writing, he enjoys reading, exercising and spending time with his family, including his three-legged cat Willow, who, unfortunately, is an Eagles fan.

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