Curt Cignetti, college football blowhard.
Notre Dame’s scheduled home-and-home football series with Indiana has been canceled at Indiana’s request, according to reporting from The Athletic’s Pete Sampson and Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde. The two schools announced the agreement on April 19, 2021, with Indiana set to visit Notre Dame Stadium on Aug. 31, 2030, and the Irish scheduled to play in Bloomington on Sept. 27, 2031.
The reporting surfaced on Aug. 3, the same day Notre Dame officially announced a renewed four-game rivalry series with USC running from 2030 through 2033. The opener of that series falls on Aug. 31, 2030, the date Indiana had held for nine years.
Under the terms of the 2021 contract, per Sports Illustrated, the canceling party owes $250,000 when the game is called off more than two years out, $500,000 with one to two years’ notice, and $1 million inside a year of kickoff. At more than four years from the 2030 date, the lowest tier applies.
This should come as no surprise to anyone, especially given that Cignetti proudly boasted about making his schedule easier with lighter OOC opponents.
Now, of course, Cignetti likes to point out that the B1G is already tough enough, so why stress yourself with a quality OOC opponent. Sure, let’s go to the stats, Curt:
Sure, there’s four B1G teams in there and four SEC teams. Seems even right…well, let’s look at the inverse of this:
From Chris Low, here’s the worst records against Top 25 teams in the past five years:
Colorado 0-16
Maryland 0-15
Rutgers 0-15
Cal 0-14
NW 0-14
Va. Tech 0-12
Virginia 0-11
Houston 0-10
Vanderbilt 1-18
W. Va. 1-17
Nebraska 1-16
Wisconsin 1-15
Iowa 1-13
SMU 1-9
Auburn 2-20
Purdue 2-19
Michigan St. 2-18
Arkansas 2-17
Yeah…that’s 8 B1G teams…8 of which post a worse record in the past five years than *checks notes* Arkansas.
The five in bold italics are on Indiana’s mighty B1G schedule this year…their other four? USC, Ohio State, Michigan, and Washington, all of which were in the Top 20 of the best records, although one could argue Michigan and Washington are shells of their programs from two years ago…so basically you have what amounts to a two game schedule, you brag about the power of your conference, and then cancel an out of conference series with Notre Dame.
Yes, he won and has the right to talk. Yes, he has bragging rights. Never thought I’d say it, but when the day comes where I have more respect for Just for Men, it’s a dark day indeed.
And for all those saying they can’t wait for the redemption day for CC, I don’t see it coming anytime soon with a schedule like this.
Curt grew old on me in a big hurry.
Cignetti’s annoying but he’s not wrong. He knows that the playoff selections are about TV viewers and they’re eager to get those grainfed Midwest eyes on the screen. Why make it hard on yourself when you can just sneak along week to week and inherit your way to an invite.
Thankfully Sankey added a 9th conference game for the SEC. Bold move, Cotton. Let’s see how that plays out.
Numbers bear out the fact, if your program wants to remain in the top 25 of college football, call in sick, instead of participating vs UGA football…GO DAWGS!!
It does my heart good to see Auburn on that distinguished list. FTMF 🙂
#AUBURN SUCKS!!
Cig destroyed Bama 38-3. I appreciate him!
I want the opportunity for Kirby to put a whipping on Cignetti.