Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti isn’t one to smile on the sidelines.
But there appears to be something that can get a smile — even if only for a second — out of the Hoosiers coach, who has orchestrated one of the more remarkable turnarounds in college football history in just two seasons in Bloomington: a cold beer.
‘I’m really not thinking about the next game. I’m thinking about cracking open a beer,’ Cignetti told ESPN’s Molly McGrath following No. 1 Indiana’s 56-22 win over No. 5 Oregon in the College Football Playoff Peach Bowl semifinal.
Indiana opened the game with a pick-6 from D’Angelo Ponds, the defensive player of the Peach Bowl, on the first play from scrimmage. It didn’t stop there, as they scored seven touchdowns on 10 drives (excluding the final drive, where they went into victory formation).
Fernando Mendoza was once again phenomenal for Cignetti’s program in the Peach Bowl, completing 17-of-20 passes for 177 yards and five touchdowns.
Indiana’s 34-point win over Oregon is the sixth-largest win in CFP history. It is also just the second time in CFP history that a team has beaten the same team in the regular-season and the CFP in the same season. The team that lost the regular-season meeting entered Friday’s Peach Bowl with a 4-1 record in the rematch.
With its win, Indiana picked up its 26th overall win under the 64-year-old coach. The Hoosiers will now face No. 10 Miami in the national championship game on Monday, Jan. 19 at 7:30 p.m. ET inside Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
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