Indiana coach Curt Cignetti is ready for the national title game.
During the final press conference before Monday’s championship game, both Cignetti and Miami coach Mario Cristobal were asked how their teams would coach for the final time this season. Cignetti didn’t mince words about how he wanted his team to be ready.
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“I think leading up to this game, there was a lot of pro-Indiana hype, a lot of rat poison out there,” Cignetti said. “I saw something divine on social media this morning with our guys hugging each other at the end of practice. It’s a close team. I saw a great deal of emotion throughout the week from some of our seniors who we’ve been with for a long time.”
“I think it’s time to sharpen the saw now, and throw that warm fuzz out the door, that emotion. It’s time to play a game against a great opponent. We’ve got to have a sharp edge in this game. You can’t fight a war with warm milk and biscuits.”
If you’re not clear about the Cignetti Holy Rose reference, The photographer sprinkled holy water in the Indiana end zone before every Hoosiers’ playoff game to date in which the team has outscored its opponents 94-25.
And if you’re a longtime college football fan, you probably also recognize the term “rat poison” from Nick Saban. It was one of Saban’s favorite ways to describe how a team can get caught up in its positive press; Cignetti is a former Saban assistant and worked with the coach long-time at Alabama.
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Cristobal too. He was also an assistant at Alabama before becoming the head coach at Oregon State in 2017. He also channeled Saban in his answer to the question when he talked about operations before Monday night’s game.
“Good, [Saturday] “It was a typical practice Thursday and I think the operations themselves are no different than any other Thursday, but each team is unique. Each team is uniquely special and different and has brought something different to the lives of all the people around them,” Cristobal said.
“But I don’t see us getting caught up in any nostalgic moments or anything like that. I really feel like our team was really focused, and that they were really intent on executing the rest of the day’s operations, knowing what a tremendous opportunity we had. And that’s how we ended the evening, and that’s how we got ready this morning to go and continue our operation.”