Cignetti explains late punt: 'Offense was doing nothing'

Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti defended his decision to punt from Notre Dame territory despite trailing by 17 in the fourth quarter in the Hoosiers' College Football Playoff loss Friday.

Down 20-3 and having just blocked a Notre Dame field-goal attempt, Cignetti opted to punt on fourth down from the Fighting Irish 48-yard line with 12 minutes to play instead of going for it to try to keep the drive rolling.

He was frank following the game when asked about the decision, citing the struggling offense as his reason for the call.

"I didn't want to punt, but we were doing nothing on offense. And our defense was fighting. That was the only positive that I could draw was that our defense was still fighting, because offense was doing nothing." Cignetti said after the game, per Awful Announcing. "I didn't want to go fourth-and-10, you're just wishing and hoping, you have nothing to base it on that you can convert fourth-and-10 at that point.

"There's still time if you punt to win the game. So that was the reason why. I didn't want to do it, but I felt like it was the best move."

While many questioned the choice, there's no debate the offense looked dreadful up until that point for Indiana. That was the team's third drive in the second half, with the offense totaling 5 yards on 11 plays over that span.

It was a long night for Indiana, with Notre Dame beating the Hoosiers comfortably in South Bend. While the 27-17 scoreline doesn't look terrible for the visitors, two touchdowns in the final minutes hide the reality that the Hoosiers looked overmatched throughout the affair.

The Hoosiers moved the ball well against a prevent defense in the dying minutes, finding the end zone twice after putting up a total of 152 yards over the first 55 minutes of game action.