Hoosiers Use Disrespect as Motivation Going Into College Football Playoff

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana coach Curt Cignetti has a knack for knowing when it’s time to step into the spotlight and when it’s time to put his head down and work.

Saturday, amid the conference championship games and College Football Playoff debate, he made his pitch like any coach would who's fighting for his team. He felt Indiana, whose lone blemish in an 11-1 season was a 38-15 loss at then-No. 2 Ohio State, had been slighted.

“Here’s my question, right. There’s six one-loss teams in the country, right, okay,” Cignetti said on CBS. “We lost to the second-ranked team on the road. Penn State lost to the fourth-ranked team at home. Texas lost to the fifth-ranked team at home. Boise (State) lost to the seventh-ranked team. Notre Dame lost to Northern Illinois. And SMU lost to an unranked team at the time they played them.”

“So how are we not right now seeded for a home game? That’s what I want to know. We’ve got the largest margin of victory in the country. Take out the FCS and G5 (opponents), P4 only, we’re outscoring people 40-17, second in the country. So because our name is Indiana and not Michigan, we’re ninth.”

"How are we not, right now, seeded for a home game?" @IndianaFootball's Curt Cignetti has some questions about their current CFP ranking. pic.twitter.com/PAEWW0IRS7
— CBS Sports College Football 🏈 (@CBSSportsCFB) December 7, 2024

But as the first 12-team College Football Playoff bracket was revealed Sunday afternoon, Indiana remained behind Penn State, Texas, Boise State, and Notre Dame but jumped ahead of SMU, which lost in the ACC championship game. The Hoosiers were ranked eighth and received the No. 10 seed, setting up a first-round game at No. 7 Seed Notre Dame at 8 p.m. ET on Dec. 20 in South Bend, Ind.

Cignetti met with local media Sunday afternoon at Memorial Stadium, and he wasn’t in the mood to discuss any frustration about having to defend Indiana’s resume. It was time to prepare, and like his team had done all season, block out the noise.

“That's all in the past,” Cignetti said. “Our eyes are forward right now on what we've got to get done in terms of preparation for the next opponent and also handling the other things that coaches have to handle nowadays in December. This team's accomplished a lot. I'm proud of what they've accomplished. I think the coaches have done a great job, players have done a great job. But in saying that, no one's satisfied. No one's satisfied. The players are hungry for more, the coaches are hungry for more.”

Indiana quarterback Kurtis Rourke and linebacker Aiden Fisher, who recently received second and first-team All-Big Ten honors, respectively, showed a bit more excitement.

Saturday, Rourke watched Ohio University, where he played from 2019-23, dominate Miami of Ohio in a 38-3 win and secure its first Mid-American Conference championship since 1968. He was proud to see his close friend, Ohio quarterback Parker Navarro, win Offensive Player of the game and said it felt like being a fan again. It also reminded him that Indiana is still playing for history.

“Being a guy that was in that program for five years, it's awesome to see that and see a lot of my teammates, my past teammates, excel and beat a rival like Miami of Ohio. It was awesome,” Rourke said. “... Then just kind of when the game ended, was just kind of thinking about when our time's up and how exciting it is to play this late in the year, especially a part of the first-ever 12-team playoff. So a lot of fun emotions yesterday.”

Kurtis Rourke Indiana football — Indiana quarterback Kurtis Rourke passes against Purdue at Memorial Stadium. | Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images

Rourke watched the College Football Playoff selection show Sunday afternoon with his wife and in-laws, and he was excited to see Indiana’s name called. He takes pride in knowing that Indiana achieved most of its preseason goals and called the playoffs an opportunity to reset for a new season.

His mindset after seeing Notre Dame was Indiana’s first opponent?

“Just a place I haven't played before,” Rourke said. “So just kind of looking forward to the opportunity. Really excited to play whoever we're going to. Just know that it's going to be that Notre Dame's a historic place, so that's kind of all I knew. I actually don't know anyone that went to Notre Dame, so maybe that will be a first. They're a historic team. They've had great teams in the past, and they're a good team this year. So just knowing that, but also knowing that we're also a pretty good team as well.”

Rourke is one of 21 transfers who joined the Hoosiers before the 2024 season as a transfer from a non-Power Four school. Indiana was picked to finish 17th in the preseason Big Ten poll, in part because many thought Group of Five transfers wouldn’t be able to replicate their previous success in the Big Ten.

Ohio University was the only Division I program to offer Rourke out of high school. Many of Indiana’s transfers from James Madison weren’t offered by nearby, in-state Division I programs like Virginia Tech, Virginia or Maryland. They’ve used all of that to grow massive chips on their shoulders throughout the season, and that isn’t going anywhere.

“It's just extra motivation,” Rourke said. “I think what's so great about our team, it starts with Coach Cignetti. A lot of us have had to prove that we belong in wherever we are. It just fuels us in knowing that we're counted out and we're the underdog and we always will be, at least for this year. So we just go in and we can play freely knowing that we're capable of competing with anybody. It just fuels the fire for sure.”

Fisher is one of the 13 transfers from James Madison and was similarly overlooked as a high school recruit and in the transfer portal. Now he’s the leading tackler on an Indiana defense that ranks first nationally in run defense, second in total defense and sixth in scoring.

He did his normal routine Sunday morning before the selection show, saw where the Hoosiers fell, then got to work.

“I didn't even see that part,” Fisher said of the criticisms thrown at Indiana’s schedule as the bracket was revealed. “Once they placed us with Notre Dame, got my headphones, got my book bag, and came here to watch a little film and get ahead of it. People have opinions everywhere. You can say strength of schedule, who we play, how we play. We'll handle it when the time comes, and that stuff is just opinions. Everybody has one.”

Aiden Fisher Indiana Football — Aiden Fisher (4) and the Hoosiers celebrate a fumble recovery against Michigan at Memorial Stadium. | Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Fisher noted that none of the schools competing with Indiana for a national championship called him in high school or when he was in the transfer portal last winter. He’s made sure to keep that in mind throughout the season, and he’ll bring a continued desire to prove himself to South Bend.

He’s also kept tabs on the shots fired at Indiana for the teams it has faced. Indiana enters the playoffs with the nation’s 67th strength of schedule. Only Boise State ranks lower in that category at 78th, but SMU (57th), Notre Dame (59th) and Arizona State (62nd) aren’t too far off. Fisher is using that as motivation.

“We've gotten a lot of criticism for our schedule and things like that, so it just kind of gives us more of an edge,” Fisher said. “It's something that we look forward to. It's a blessing to be in the position we're in, but we've earned it, we've worked for it, and this is the standard for Indiana football to be in this position year in and year out now.”

Indiana has a longer break than ever as it prepares for the College Football Playoff. This season was already unique in that the Hoosiers had two bye weeks, a new wrinkle due to Big Ten expansion. But they’ll have waited 19 days since defeating Purdue 66-0 before they take on another in-state foe.

Cignetti has a lot to balance in that time, with National Signing Day last week, ongoing transfer portal evaluations and visits, plus preparation for Notre Dame. He said he was busier this past week than he was in season, but took about 30 seconds Sunday to walk outside his office and reflect.

“I looked around the stadium between interviews,” Cignetii said. “And it kind of hit me, and it was like, wow, we've accomplished a lot in 12 months.”

With the extended break, Cignetti is not worried about his players taking the “rat poison” – praise from the outside about what they’ve accomplished this year – and losing sight of what’s at stake. He has a veteran team, and they’ve stayed focused on their day-to-day tasks throughout the season.

They’re still motivated by those who’ve doubted them, and now they get their chance at the highest level.

“Regardless of who we play, this is the playoffs. You win or go home, and we're in it to win it,” Cignetti said. “Our odds of probably making the College Football Playoff at the beginning of the season, I don't know what they were, but they were pretty darn low, I'm sure. We were picked 17th out of 18 teams in the Big Ten. Our odds of winning the next four games are probably significantly higher than they were of making the college football playoffs in the first place. So we've climbed that mountain.”

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