Buckeyes look forward to playing head coach who said 'Ohio State sucks'
Head coach introductions can be the perfect place to set the tone for a new regime, but Curt Cignetti now has to guide the Indiana Hoosiers into Columbus and back up his talk. Last December 1, Cignetti was brought onto the men's basketball court in front of a sold-out crowd to greet the fans. The […]
Head coach introductions can be the perfect place to set the tone for a new regime, but Curt Cignetti now has to guide the Indiana Hoosiers into Columbus and back up his talk. Last December 1, Cignetti was brought onto the men's basketball court in front of a sold-out crowd to greet the fans.
The first-year head coach announced that “Purdue sucks…so does Michigan and Ohio State." While he's exceeded any expectation by the wildest imagination, sitting No. 5 overall with a 10-0 record, he certainly gave the Buckeyes ammunition for the matchup.
The Buckeyes, ranked No. 2, are coming off a decisive win against Northwestern. This top-five showdown will determine who goes to the Big Ten Championship Game, assuming the Buckeyes beat Michigan on Nov. 30 to close out the regular season.
The loser of this matchup will hope to be the third or fourth Big Ten team in the College Football Playoff. Ohio State, if it were to lose, surely has a better argument to be the third team over Penn State due to its head-to-head win.
However, Indiana's weak schedule and lack of program prestige will cast doubt in voter's minds. We've already seen SEC teams talk about paper matchups that should matter less than on-field results, and they've been proven correct in predicting what voters will do based on this more often than not. It'd be a shame for an 11-1 Indiana team to miss out on the Playoffs.
Of course, it's possible Ohio State loses to Indiana, and Cignetti is right. If he goes into Columbus and wins as the underdog, he'll have a fat extension on his table by Sunday morning or the choice of any opening in the country. He's been phenomenal regardless of what happens next week.
Was this quote a smart one? In the moment, it worked to maximize his crowd support. But I'd be playing it daily in the locker room and before practice if I was Ryan Day.
