Curt Cignetti spoke to the Indiana media after the No. 5 Hoosiers lost 38-15 to No. 2 Ohio State at Ohio Stadium on Saturday.

Here’s everything Cignetti had to say after the match:

Opening Statement…

Cignetti: In life, all good things eventually come to an end. I give Ohio State a lot of credit. They dominated the game of football.

I thought we got off to a good start and had a good football game for a while at 7-7. We got a turnover on defense (Jailin Walker interception) and a fourth down stop (at the goal line when Indiana was up 7-0) and then we got a first down on offense at 7-7 and then we got to the third place. and-1 and by all indications they jumped offside, which would have given us a first down. But we were called for the penalty (a false start officially attributed to Bray Lynch)…I’m not sure they made the right decision. We ended up in third and sixth place and got fired. From that moment on, and actually I’m not saying the game would have been different on that call – that’s not what I’m saying at all – the game changed there. It was around that point.

We couldn’t protect the quarterback. There were communication errors in pass pro. Every time we dropped back to pass, something bad happened. It seemed like we were sitting in that end zone to our left for nine years. It was like a nightmare. We dropped a punt there. We were actually lucky to go into halftime with a seven-point deficit. And they were a great team in the third quarter, Ohio State. We couldn’t get anything going in attack. They had a big point win. I was proud of the way we fought back and got within two scores, 31-15, but I didn’t like that we gave up the point (a 39-yard run by TreVeyon Henderson to the Indiana 1-yard line in the final minute) and the touchdown at the end. They won, they deserve to win. They are a great football team and combined with the noise it made a very challenging day for us. And I give them nothing but praise.

On struggling in pass protection…

Cignetti: Nothing we hadn’t seen on tape and we practiced all week. I think you link it to the noise and you have to go to a silent count, the center couldn’t hear it. And the speed at which they do it, compared to our scout team, the pressure of the moment, our guys just didn’t respond that well. Sometimes we missed assignments, sometimes we had communication errors, sometimes we were physically defeated, but it wasn’t very nice.

On whether the Hoosiers struggled to put negative plays behind them when the game started going Ohio State’s way in the second quarter and whether the team deflated at halftime…

Cignetti: No. I felt good at halftime. Here’s how I felt. We were 14-7 down and were lucky that we were only seven, that’s how I felt. All we had to do was get our feet back on the ground and settle the game a bit. That the longer the game went on, the pressure would shift on them if it stayed within reasonable distance, but then they had those scores. We just couldn’t respond. We started to get a little ground game going, but we called pass, got sacked and played behind the chains. I was proud that we scored that last touchdown and made the two-point conversion (to make it) 31-15. You are now making an offside. Who knows? But (they scored another touchdown) and that was that.

About special teams issues…

Cignetti: We went into the game plus-10 in turnover ratio and those (clumsy punt snaps) are like turnovers, right? Ohio State entered at plus-4. The dropped punt definitely looks like a touchdown and the punt return, there may have been a few (penalties) in the back that weren’t called, but still. Yes, it’s not good. It’s not good football.

On Indiana’s schedule, the playoffs and what Indiana showed on Saturday…

Cignetti: You know, we didn’t handle the noise very well. We just didn’t do that. They are an excellent football team. And I didn’t think we played our best game today. But I think a lot of that was down to them.

(Follow-up question on whether Indiana deserves to be in the playoff…)

Cignetti: I don’t make those decisions. I think it’s probably more important now that I focus on our next match. A major domestic rival against Purdue that Indiana hasn’t beaten in how many years? Since 2019. I think this should be everyone’s focus.

On Ohio State’s final touchdown…

Cignetti: No. He has to do what he has to do for his team.

What changed for the Indiana offense after the first series…

Cignetti: Good question and it’s hard for me to remember series two and three and what happened because of them. I think we had some chances. We got into that end zone, it seemed like we were there for 15 minutes. And they were just taunting us. I don’t know if it was the silent count and the guard’s trigger. They were able to time some blitzes. We couldn’t protect the quarterback. We were probably throwing the ball a little bit more, not trying to run the ball. We didn’t have anything going on, that’s really what happened. We have five or six series where we have done nothing in attack.

On the day of Kurtis Rourke and what caused the problems…

Cignetti: It’s going to be a combination of things. It kind of snowballs on you. One time it’s this thing, the next time it’s that thing.

On Indiana’s defense, playing well and what can be taken away from it…

Cignetti: I thought so too. I know there were a few moments where the defensive coaches weren’t really happy. They have some guys on offense now who can play. If you take out that last long run, when it was 31-15, they were basically on a four-minute offense there. They ran a wedge play and the guys spit it 39 yards to about the 1. You take that point away from there and they have less than 300 yards of total offense. Not bad, but offensive and special teams have to do their part. But I think our defense has played hard and they’ve been pretty consistent all year…just like our football team. But we’re talking about today.

As for whether the pass protection issues were starting to work for the players…

Cignetti: No, maybe the pressure of the moment was the wrong term. Maybe it was the opponent’s ability. That’s a good football team that went to Oregon and lost the final drive of the Oregon game with a controversial offensive PI call. This team is loaded. Loaded.

On whether he was surprised the Hoosiers didn’t handle the noise well…

Cignetti: I thought we could handle it at our normal cadence, based on the reports we had been getting. Some of the linemen could hear it, but the center could not. We had to become quiet. It was no problem. We had broken the ball.

On whether Indiana should be one of the 12 teams in the playoffs based on the body of work…

Cignetti: Is that a serious question? I’m not even going to answer that. The answer is so obvious.