Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti and his team captains Kurtis Rourke and Aiden Fisher spoke with the media on Sunday afternoon to discuss the College Football Playoff and their first round matchup with Notre Dame.
Cignetti spoke here to CBS Sports about preparing for a playoff game and said:
"We expected to be here, we didn't have the team together. We knew we were going to be in this playoff, and it's business."
— CBS Sports College Football 🏈 (@CBSSportsCFB) December 8, 2024
Indiana Head Coach Curt Cignetti joined the College Football Rankings Reaction Show.
Watch Live: https://t.co/vrBf0vYYKt pic.twitter.com/Cmow7Smrli
“I’ve looked at their stats, haven’t had a chance to watch them today with all the media stuff going on, but I saw enough of them against Purdue to know that they’re an excellent football team, and when you look at their scores, they haven’t played in very many close games. So I’m sure they’ll be quite the challenge, but we’re looking forward to it. We’re a good football team.
“I’m confident in our football team. I think that we’ll apply the lessons learned at a high stake when we had to go on the road in a hostile environment against a good football team and apply those up at Notre Dame. We’re going to have a great week of prep.” said Curt Cignetti
"This morning I kind of woke up and did my normal routine for a Sunday morning. Me and my roommate watched the selection show, kind of saw where things fell in place, and we're happy for that."Aiden Fisher
Cignetti and IU did not have a watch party for the CFB Playoff release and Cignetti wasn't 100% satisfied with the results.
"Yeah, here's my question, right?" Cignetti asked CBS Sports. "There are six one-loss teams in the country, right? 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 lost to the seventh-ranked team. Notre Dame lost to Northern Illinois, and SMU lost to an unranked team at the time they played. So, how are we not, right now, seeded for a home game?"
Indiana finished as the No. 8 ranked team in college football rankings, but got the No. 10 seed because Boise State and Arizona State both won their conference championship games.
If the Hoosiers can upset Notre Dame and Georgia, they would play either Boise State, SMU or Penn State.
The Hoosiers (11-1) and Fighting Irish (11-1) will play on Friday, Dec. 20 at 8 p.m. ET in South Bend.