Curt Cignetti Takes Brutal Shot at CFP Committee Amid Indiana Ranking Controversy
from Essentially College Football
ESPN Does NOT Control the CFP Committee!
The Indiana head coach has never been one to air his frustrations on social media. But this time, after watching the Hoosiers fall from No. 4 to No. 9 in the latest CFB rankings, he took to X to deliver a cryptic message complete with emojis.
“Bad losses don’t count anymore? Are first downs still 10 yards?” Cignetti posted on X. The first question had six crying emojis and the second had three clown emojis.
The selection committee placed Georgia at No. 1, Utah at No. 2, and Alabama at No. 3. UCLA jumped to No. 4, replacing the Hoosiers. Notre Dame climbed to No. 5. Even Texas and Tennessee both sat ahead of Indiana despite carrying two losses.
While the committee did offer an explanation for that slide, Cignetti clearly wasn’t buying it.
Its chair, Hunter Yurachek, described Indiana as “the victim of a poorly timed bye week,” according to ESPN’s Heather Dinich.
For anyone who has followed Cignetti this season, the latest post should not come as a complete surprise. His frustration with the selection process has been building since the initial rankings, when Indiana was placed at No. 4. And he hasn’t limited his criticism to social media.
“SEC gets a lot of love from ESPN, and all their writers that they don’t technically pay, but march to their drum,” the coach said. “That’s why you see all these SEC teams up there, and some good two-loss teams from the Big Ten not quite as high.”
He even took that criticism a step further when reacting to the television presentation of the CFB rankings on the weekly radio show.
“These people, and there are a whole bunch of them, they march out of the tent, and they’re given instructions on what to say, and they follow the company line. And I don’t need to go any further,” Cignetti said.
But here is the thing, Cignetti is not the only Big Ten coach unhappy with how the committee is treating his conference. The latest rankings have only added to the frustration.
All four SEC teams with a 6-3 record made the CFP rankings, including Ole Miss, despite suffering heavy losses to Florida and Georgia. The Big Ten, on the other hand, has five teams with the same record, but only Oregon and Ohio State made the list. Wisconsin, Illinois and Northwestern were all left out
Illinois coach Bret Bielema also had something to say about it after his team’s 24-13 win over Nebraska. He felt his team might have received more attention if it played in the SEC.
“If we were in the SEC, we’d probably be a top-15 team,” Bielema said.
But does that mean Indiana has done enough to deserve a higher spot? That’s where things get a little more complicated.
Does Indiana have the resume to complain?
The Hoosiers remain 8-1 with their only defeat coming against Ohio State on Oct. 17. That game was decided by a narrow margin, and Ohio State has since fallen to 6-3 after consecutive losses to USC and Oregon.
Indiana’s resume has drawn scrutiny since the first rankings. The Hoosiers have not beaten a team currently ranked in the top 25. Their non-conference schedule included North Texas, Howard, and Western Kentucky. Several Big Ten wins have come by single digits, including overtime victories over Michigan and Minnesota.
Critics have pointed to those results when questioning whether a top-four placement was earned. At the same time, the only loss came against a then-highly ranked Ohio State team that still had Julian Sayin under center. Ohio State’s subsequent slide has now removed some of the shine from that defeat, which appears to have factored into the committee’s reevaluation.
The practical impact of the drop is clear under the 12-team format. A top-four ranking would have put Indiana in position for a first-round bye. At No. 9, the Hoosiers would instead host a first-round game if the bracket were set today, with a potential path that could include a trip to face a higher seed later.
The next opportunity to improve their standing arrives Saturday when No. 18 USC visits Bloomington. A win would give Indiana its first victory over a currently ranked opponent and provide the committee with a fresh data point. A loss would further complicate an already narrow path.
Cignetti has built the program into a national contender in three seasons, culminating in a title last year. The rankings process has tested that standing more than once this fall. His latest post did not elaborate on which specific results he believes the committee is ignoring.
It simply asked whether the standards being applied still match the rules everyone else is playing under.
With three regular-season games remaining and a bye already used, Indiana’s placement will now depend on how the Hoosiers finish and how the committee weighs those results against teams that continue to add ranked wins.