Indiana coach Curt Cignetti talks after home loss against Ohio State

[0:00] in the close game and had so many opportunities to get it done, [0:05] not only at the end of the game, but throughout the game. [0:09] Just too many missed opportunities on offense. [0:12] And I thought our defense really played well. [0:18] They had their backs against the wall quite a few times, [0:21] and maybe Ohio State would kick a field goal or something of that nature. [0:27] Special teams, you know, obviously good to field goal. [0:32] The 55-yarder was just a little bit out of his range with that wind condition. [0:38] He hit it good, you know, then right down the middle. [0:41] Offense came out in the third quarter, turned it over the first two series. [0:47] But their critical moment in that game, you know, there's a lot of them. [0:53] About four and a half minutes ago in the second quarter, we're driving. [0:58] Got all of my men to take the lead, and, you know, we had it, [1:04] and we couldn't make it happen. [1:05] And that's when we hit the crossbar, and then they go down and score. [1:11] But I thought we did a nice job of grouping there at halftime, you know, [1:18] kind of similar to last week. [1:20] And then had more adversity right off the bat in the third quarter, [1:24] but the defense just wouldn't give in. [1:27] And then the offense got it rolling. [1:28] And then that, you know, you all saw the last play. [1:32] We're fourth and four. [1:34] We're expecting a house blitz. [1:36] You never really know. [1:37] You're, you know, rolling the dice. [1:39] And that's our blitz check that we ran. [1:42] We just called it. [1:44] They got us on it that one other series in the third quarter on fourth down [1:47] where he got sacked down in the red area. [1:50] And we had it. [1:51] We just didn't make it happen. [1:53] So it's a hard one to swallow. [1:56] Learn from it and move on. [2:00] He's on your left. [2:01] Zach? [2:02] I know you want to review the film, [2:04] but, like, you talked about missed opportunities on offense. [2:05] Anything you sensed kind of reoccurring there on offense? [2:08] Or was it just sort of different issues that prevented you maybe [2:11] from cashing in on some of the opportunities? [2:13] You know, I think most of it was, you know, [2:17] we had a lot of past game opportunities, [2:19] and we didn't take advantage of enough of them. [2:24] Zach, can you write the letter? [2:25] I guess just, like, to what extent, [2:26] like, were there ever moments when you were almost just surprised [2:28] at just the small mistakes, a fumble, an untimely penalty, [2:31] some of those missed opportunities on offense, [2:33] just the way they added up on your team today? [2:35] Well, at that point, you know, I was really surprised [2:40] we didn't make that happen at the end of the half. [2:42] And we were down there on the – I don't know what down it was, [2:46] third and four maybe, about the 12th. [2:49] And, you know, we put our three receivers of the field on the left hash, [2:53] and they got all the coverage over there. [2:54] And, you know, something went wrong on it. [2:57] But both guys are wide open, and we didn't make it happen. [3:01] And then we hit the crossbar, [3:02] and then they went down and scored at the end of the half. [3:04] So, really, I thought the start of the third quarter [3:08] with us turning it over twice was just more of the same. [3:12] Then finally we regrouped, and, you know, defense just kept us in it. [3:18] Then we started making a few plays. [3:19] It's right there for the taking, and you've got to be able to take that one. [3:24] Randy, on your right hand, Pete? [3:26] Yeah, Coach, obviously, historically, you guys are really good at the passing end, [3:29] especially from an efficiency standpoint. [3:31] Anything in particular you look at and say, okay, [3:33] the 20 for 40 was because of A, B, and C? [3:35] I mean, I'm going to defer on that and say I've got to watch the tape [3:41] because I do have to watch the tape. [3:46] Yeah, Kurt, you mentioned how well the defense kind of stood up. [3:50] In particular, Farrell seemed to have maybe the best game he's ever had. [3:53] Yeah, two big interceptions. [3:55] Yeah, and that first one led to points. [3:59] Huge, and the second was huge, too. [4:02] And really one of the ones they got. [4:04] I mean, we got great coverage on the guy, [4:06] and the ball was underthrown into the wind, [4:08] and we just misjudged the ball. [4:11] But those were two big interceptions, certainly. [4:15] Sammy, in front of Pat. [4:18] Coach, your passing game got going in the fourth quarter. [4:22] What kept it from getting going earlier? [4:27] Execution. [4:28] I mean, you've got to execute, you know. [4:31] And when all 11 guys do their job, it tends to work. [4:35] Every once in a while, you may call a play that's not so great and get stuck. [4:39] So, we had a lot of opportunity out there that we didn't cash in on, [4:46] particularly in the second half. [4:49] But there was quite a bit in the first half, too. [4:52] Pat, are you right then, Scott? [4:55] Seg, first time in a long time you've had to come back from a loss during a season, [4:59] week over week. [5:00] What's the message? [5:01] How do you do it? [5:02] You know, I told the kids it was a tough one. [5:04] Really proud of the effort. [5:06] And we gave ourselves a chance to win and certainly had the opportunity, too. [5:10] And the sun comes up tomorrow and get ready for Michigan and learn from the things we've got to learn from. [5:17] And it's still all ahead of us. [5:18] We can accomplish, you know, anything we want, all of our goals except going undefeated. [5:24] Scott, in the right, the mic. [5:27] Hi, Scott Dockterman with The Athletic. [5:30] Josh was high on some passes across the middle of the field, [5:34] but then he also was able to take you down on a scoring drive and almost a second one late. [5:39] How do you kind of assess his performance and where do you feel like he may need to make strides to get where you want to go? [5:47] Yeah. [5:47] I mean, you know, when you play quarterback, it's all about getting the ball to the open guy on time accurately as quickly as possible. [5:56] So that's the bottom line on a quarterback. [5:58] And if you can extend plays at plus, plus, plus on that. [6:02] So, you know, we certainly had a couple misfires, but he made some nice plays, too. [6:11] And I think it would be unfair for me to offer an evaluation without watching the tape. [6:15] We all watched the game. [6:17] Mike in front to Colin. [6:18] Coach, I heard Coach Saban this week say that when you go on a really long winning streak like he did, [6:24] sometimes that there can be more value in a loss than you realize at the time. [6:27] I mean, is that a philosophy that you buy into? [6:34] I think we kind of learned our lessons before this game, and we just weren't good enough today to seize it. [6:44] Mike, pass it down to Colin. [6:45] Colin, on your right, last one. [6:47] Jeremiah Smith only had two catches in the first half. [6:50] You obviously had A.J. Harris starting at corner for the first time since week one. [6:53] What was your overall assessment of the secondary and how they played? [6:56] They didn't target him much early in the game. [7:00] And we made some plays back there. [7:07] Farrell had those two interceptions. [7:10] And we missed that first draw. [7:11] They went right down the field. [7:13] And then I believe we held them to the field goalie, a couple missed tackles. [7:16] But we had some good plays back there, yeah. [7:19] It would be hard for me. [7:20] I think A.J. made it through the whole game. [7:24] But they didn't target him as much as normal. [7:28] It was almost like early in the game he was sort of the decoy. [7:31] All right, thanks, guys. [7:33] Thank you. [7:34] Whose phone is that?