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I don’t think I can ever like this guy. Two reasons (this is from memory so correct me if I’m wrong):

1. Before their playoff game (singular) last year, Cignetti was on GameDay 15 minutes before kickoff. 15 minutes before kickoff of their first ever playoff game. Leaving his players in a hostile environment 15 minutes before a playoff game to try to impress a dork like Pat McAfee. In the interview where he seemingly wouldn’t leave the stage, he said they were going to “kick the shit out of Notre Dame”, on live tv 15 minutes before kickoff in a hostile environment where his players were probably wondering where their head coach was.

2. When ND was up by I think 17 in the fourth quarter. IU hadn’t been able to move the ball all night but they were in ND territory at like the 40. It was 4th and maybe 7. Cignetti punts. He punts in a playoff game down 17 on a drive where they finally found some momentum. Freeman recognizes the white flag and puts in the backups. They play conservatively and burn some clock before punting it back. ND puts their backups in on Defense and what does Cig do? He suddenly starts calling an aggressive game, like more aggressive than they have all game. They end up scoring to make it look respectable (it wasn’t). His entire gameplan all game was to not get embarrassed.

I hope ND plays them next year and Freeman never lets up on the gas.