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Curt Cignetti

I defended him here a few weeks ago about something he said that I thought was somewhat accurate and hardly bulletin board worthy, and stated that I liked his chippiness, the little I had read. Full disclosure, I’ve now read and heard him more extensively, and I think he’s an ass with an outsized mouth and false bravado. “We don’t just beat top 25 teams, we kick the shit out of them”, etc…. Might be interesting if remotely accurate.

Won the Battle Hope We Didnt Lose the War

Yes it was. ND played almost as well as it could. D for sure. But O came close...albeit can still improve.

Don't be fooled by the garbage time points. That's like I said on MF. He allowed the Irish to get lax at the end, knowing the game was in hand.

The ND O in my view cannot get that much better. It comes down to better play calling and some execution. Particularly by the O line in the red zone.

Like I said, RL won't suddenly become a deep passer. He'll continue to live by running and short passing. Again, it's on Denbrock to call things optimally.
Not close to our A game

The ND offense couldn't run the ball outside of 1 run really. We had 3 or 4 drops. Had a interception. We got great field position in the 2nd half and inside the red area and couldn't close the game til late. Had a field goal blocked. Too many penalties, delay of game.

Lot to clean up on O. That was our B to B- game on offense

Won the Battle Hope We Didnt Lose the War

Yes it was. ND played almost as well as it could. D for sure. But O came close...albeit can still improve.

Don't be fooled by the garbage time points. That's like I said on MF. He allowed the Irish to get lax at the end, knowing the game was in hand.

The ND O in my view cannot get that much better. It comes down to better play calling and some execution. Particularly by the O line in the red zone.

Like I said, RL won't suddenly become a deep passer. He'll continue to live by running and short passing. Again, it's on Denbrock to call things optimally.
Golden took the blame for the soft defense at the end.

I wouldn't have minded one consolation TD, but I was disappointed they scored twice. The coverage of both onside kicks was disappointing. It was bad enough to give up one, but we could very well have lost the second ball as well.

Curt Cignetti

Have you ever played competitive sports? Whether its impact is real or imagined, disrespecting your opponent is often a sure fire way to motivate them for the game.


It is one of those things that is real but hard to quantify. It won't overcome a wide margin, but can when things are tight. Motivation matters to us humans, as we're not bots.

BTW: MF was magnanimous in victory, praising Indiana. He is the last guy who will give the opponent any reason to play out of personal spite.

Anyone rlse listening to College Game Day this morning?

I almost threw up last night when Sean McDonough explained the outcome, “I’m not sure if Indiana just had a bad night or if they are just a bad team”.

As if no other reasonable explanation exists
So thankful I watch the game with the sound off! I was disappointed we weren’t able to get more pressure on the qb with all the blitzing, but credit the DBs for great coverage. Indiana’s vaunted rushing attack was swallowed up by Cross and Mills and Rubio, and the speed and athleticism of our linebackers and defensive backs was on full display whenever they tried to run outside. Defense played a great 58 minutes last night!
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Anyone rlse listening to College Game Day this morning?

I almost threw up last night when Sean McDonough explained the outcome, “I’m not sure if Indiana just had a bad night or if they are just a bad team”.

As if no other reasonable explanation exists
He's no different than several posters on this board.

They're never satisfied and most of the time when ND beats a good team they later claim "They're not really that good".
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Does the “Prevent” defense

prevent the offense from moving the ball and scoring ?
Not when your DL by itself cannot get pressure on the qb. But to Indiana’s credit, the prevent is designed to give up yards, take time off the clock, but tighten up near the end zone; and their qb and receivers made really good plays on their two tds in the closing minutes. Can’t argue with the dominant win, but I hate shutting them down for 58 minutes and allowing those PREVENT scores the lat 2 minutes.

Curt Cignetti

While he may be a very good coach, he has an edge to his personality that comes across as arrogance. On Gameday before the game--why was a head coach taking time away from preparing his team and coaching staff for the game to go on TV?--he responded to a question from Herbstreit about IU not beating any top 25 teams. He said, "We don't just beat top-25 teams, we beat the shit out of them." He then noted that when IU beat Nebraska they were ranked 25th and bragged that IU "kicked their ass." You can bet that will be bulletin board material for the next time IU and Nebraska play. Wasn't very classy on Cignetti's part. I have a feeling Cignetti won't be a popular guy with other coaches in the B1G.
I think it's probably part of his success, and the world at large just has to live with it. You know what I'm saying? You don't turn IU into an 11-1 playoff team by being a shrinking violet. It's possible that you could be all humble and deferential and still did what he did, but not typically, not in a sport like football. So if he's arrogant, that's maybe why he's successful and is part of his success. BK never acted like that, he's not arrogant, even though ND fans falsely claim he is. And he went 12-0 at Cincy and they would have made a 12 team playoff. So of course it can be done. But what IU accomplished was pretty impressive, and I don't think it's a big surprise their coach has a chip on his shoulder. That's how you motivate yourself!

Won the Battle Hope We Didnt Lose the War

That wasn't our A game


Yes it was. ND played almost as well as it could. D for sure. But O came close...albeit can still improve.

Don't be fooled by the garbage time points. That's like I said on MF. He allowed the Irish to get lax at the end, knowing the game was in hand.

The ND O in my view cannot get that much better. It comes down to better play calling and some execution. Particularly by the O line in the red zone.

Like I said, RL won't suddenly become a deep passer. He'll continue to live by running and short passing. Again, it's on Denbrock to call things optimally.

Anyone rlse listening to College Game Day this morning?

I almost threw up last night when Sean McDonough explained the outcome, “I’m not sure if Indiana just had a bad night or if they are just a bad team”.

As if no other reasonable explanation exists
Yeah, that became the narrative pretty much from halftime on. Not like ND had anything to do with IU's pedestrian performance.

Officially Official CFB Playoff 1st Round (Corn & Soybeans Bowl) ND v. IU Game Thread

The entire reason why a system like F+ was built was so that we can compare teams as if they were playing the same quality of schedule and experiencing the same amount of luck

Indiana was number nine in F+ with a top 5 offense and a top 15 defense (again these numbers are adjusted for opponent quality)

Even if you play a s***** schedule if you beat up on your schedule enough you can still have a high F+ ranking so Indiana did enough vs their schedule to still produce a top 10 team

Notre Dame smoked them any way

Notre Dame is now considered a slight favorite versus one of the best teams in the SEC ( Georgia) as a result

I don't know what Notre Dame fans need to see but if you look at the evidence (ita out there) it confirms Notre Dame is one of the very best teams in the country. I've been saying this since week 11.

I don't know why the fans are so hell bent on diminishing this 2024 team. If Notre Dame beats Georgia they become a favorite to win the whole thing


I again bring up how weighting can be skewed when you're beating teams ranked too high. The SEC has deservedly gotten criticism for this. But the BIG has this as well.

Team USA in soccer is ranked too high because it beats teams in the Americas ranked too high. A mid tier European or South American team is actually better than a top North American team. See the point?

Ranking can over exaggerate across different divisions. In this case, Indiana, although decent, is not top 10. Not by quite a shot. Per my last post to you, one could see this based on play vs good opponents, as well as a bit deeper look into metrics.

Xavier Watts

Great game by X last night. He came to play. 10 tackles, including 5 solo tackles and 0.5 TFL. And of course his interception was huge after Riley's first pass is batted into the air by an IU D-lineman and then intercepted. While it was very early in the game, really seemed to flip the momentum, especially after Jeremiyah did a house call from ND's own 2.

I was really impressed with X's tackling last night. He took really good lines to the ball and was hitting hard.

Man, we are going to miss X next year.
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