No. 4 Indiana escaped their matchup on Saturday against Minnesota with the win, but in true Halloween fashion, it came with quite a big scare.
The game was tied 13–13 in the final minute of play with the Golden Gophers driving around midfield. After getting stopped on third down, Minnesota faced a decision to either go for it on fourth-and-8, attempt a kick at what would amount to a 60-yard field goal, or punt and hope to pin the Hoosiers and get to overtime.
But while the biggest strategy question appeared to be in the hands of Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck, it was Indiana’s Curt Cignetti that wound up making a truly inexplicable decision. As the Gophers pondered what they would do, the clock ran and ran and ran, despite the fact that the Hoosiers had two timeouts.
In basically every case, Indiana would want to use one of their timeouts in the spot, preserving time for their offense to secure a game-tying or game-winning field goal once possession changed hands. Instead, the clock ran all the way down to 24 seconds before Fleck took a timeout of his own and trotted out his field goal unit.
At this point, people began to wonder what Cignetti was thinking.
WHY in the world did Curt Cignetti not call a timeout to save his offense time after 3rd down???
Game management in college is AWFUL
— Chase Daniel (@ChaseDaniel) October 31, 2026
Minnesota’s last offensive play of regulation was with 1:01 remaining.
Curt Cignetti opted to not call a timeout.
The Hoosiers finished regulation without using either timeout. https://t.co/IM8cDDqCCO
— Underdog CFB (@UnderdogCFB) October 31, 2026
A rare Cignetti mistake. There was no detriment in calling timeout. It would’ve helped him if they made the field goal or missed it. It made no sense.
— BucciOT.Com (@Buccigross) October 31, 2026
Why isn’t Indiana calling a timeout???
— Tim Murray (@1TimMurray) October 31, 2026
Minnesota kicker Luke Drzewiecki drilled it from 60 yards, and suddenly the upset was on, with the Gophers leading 16–13. Indiana had just 19 seconds (and two timeouts) to match the score, rather than having roughly a minute (and one timeout still!) had they called one earlier.
HE NAILED IT FROM 60 YARDS!!!!!!
GOPHERS LEAD LATE!
“HAPPY HALLOWEEN LUKE DRZEWIECKI” – Brad Nessler https://t.co/KoDOSHPKei
— CBS Sports College Football 🏈 (@CBSSportsCFB) October 31, 2026
But the reigning champions still had fight in them. Quarterback Grant Wilson, who came in at halftime to replace Josh Hoover, connected with star receiver Charlie Becker to move the ball past midfield.
While the clock stopped momentarily on the first down, it began to run once the ball was set. Again, in this spot, normally a timeout would be taken, especially if you have two of them. But Cignetti kept them in his pocket again.
DIVING CATCH BY BECKER!! 👀👀
📺 CBS | Paramount+ https://t.co/vTkMwAB6lJ
— CBS Sports College Football 🏈 (@CBSSportsCFB) October 31, 2026
With two baffling timeout mistakes in less than 10 seconds of game time, the collective sports media world was having something of a breakdown wondering what the heck Cignetti was thinking.
It is extremely hard to question the coaching decision of the man who took Indiana of all programs to an undefeated championship season last year, and yet, everyone at home seemed to understand the situation better than Cignetti in that moment.
WHY DOES CURT CIGNETTI REFUSE TO CALL TIMEOUT?!?! 🤯 https://t.co/XDmWJTopUO
— College Sports Only (@CSOonX) October 31, 2026
All time bad clock management by Curt Cignetti
— Football Analysis (@FBallAnalysisYT) October 31, 2026
So many strange game management decisions from Curt Cignetti but Indiana somehow got this to overtime.
— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) October 31, 2026
Cignetti is lucky they made that 60-yarder because not using either of his timeouts there was insanity
— Max Chadwick (@CFBMaxChadwick) October 31, 2026
Cignetti not taking a timeout there is brutal. Did he think Becker was out of bounds?
— Alex Barth (@RealAlexBarth) October 31, 2026
But it didn’t matter. Cignetti got bailed out after kicker Paddy McAteer drilled a 60-yarder of his own to tie the game and force overtime.
HOWWWWWW?!?!
ANOTHER 60 YARDER!!!
PADDY MCATEER SENDS IT TO OVERTIME!
📺 CBS | Paramount+ https://t.co/P0NMHzQ7zb
— CBS Sports College Football 🏈 (@CBSSportsCFB) October 31, 2026
Luckily for Cignetti and Hoosiers fans across the country, there is no running clock in overtime, so the potential for timeout miscues was essentially zero for the rest of the night. Indiana scored a touchdown on their first play on offense, and was able to get the stop they needed on defense to seal the win.
After the game went final, Cignetti seemed to at least partially acknowledge what an ugly sequence it took to even get to overtime.
“It was really like, how many things you could do wrong and walk away with a really bad loss, even though Minnesota played great. And then finally with 19 seconds we woke up,” Cignetti told CBS reporter Jenny Dell.
The Curt Cignetti postgame interview with CBS reporter Jenny Dell, capped off by Baby Ruth candy bars. 🏈🎙️ https://t.co/cKrTL0zc3h
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 31, 2026
Speaking with reporters after the gameCignetti explained his thinking behind both decisions. On the first, he said that had the kick been a little closer he might have stopped the clock, but he instead decided to let in run when he saw it was going to be 60 yards from the hash, which is about half of an answer. On the second, Cignetti said he thought the clock had been fully stopped because Becker got out of bounds, which checks out fully.
With the dust now settled, Cignetti definitely got bailed out by his kicker. Had the Hoosiers not come back and won, his decisions not to call timeouts would be under far more scrutiny. Instead, the Hoosiers head into a bye week with a win and any questions can be answered with a vague, but genuine, “Yeah, we just needed every second to get out of there with a win.”
Source: awfulannouncing.com
