Curt Cignetti seems to take shot at Texas Longhorns after Indiana falls to No. 9

Curt Cignetti let two days pass after the College Football Playoff selection committee dropped his Indiana Hoosiers from No. 4 to No. 9, then took his complaint to X on Thursday afternoon. The defending national champions had not played since a 23-16 overtime win over the Minnesota Golden Gophers on Oct. 31, and five teams moved past them during the bye week anyway.

“Bad losses don’t count anymore? Are first downs still 10 yards?” Cignetti wrote, with six laughing emojis after the first line and three clown emojis after the second.

Bad losses don’t count anymore?

Are first downs still 10 yards?

— Curt Cignetti (@CCignettiIU) November 12, 2026

It is the second straight week Cignetti has gone after the rankings. After the first release, with Indiana sitting at No. 4, he accused the committee and ESPN of favoring the SEC. This time his post named no team, but the committee chair had already supplied one on Tuesday night. Hunter Yurachek, the Arkansas athletic director, was asked about the Texas Longhorns, who jumped from No. 7 to No. 6 and now sit three spots above Indiana with two losses to the Oklahoma Sooners and Florida Gators.

“I think the committee has given Texas a lot of respect in spite of those two losses to unranked teams because of the quality of their schedule and the wins they have over Tennessee, Ole Miss, Ohio State and Missouri,” Yurachek said.

Of the five teams that passed Indiana, Texas is the one whose losses the chair described as coming against unranked opponents. The same session explained why the 8-1 Texas Tech Red Raiders landed at No. 12, the first team outside the projected field. Yurachek pointed to a strength of schedule the committee ranks 65th and to the Red Raiders’ only defeat. “Texas Tech’s one loss is to a 5-4 Cincinnati team,” Yurachek said.

Florida is also 5-4, and Oklahoma beat the Gators 23-7 last Saturday, with neither team in the committee’s top 25.

What the committee said about Indiana’s drop

Asked about Indiana, Yurachek started with the calendar. “Indiana was probably the victim of having a bye week at the wrong time,” Yurachek said, pointing to a Saturday with seven games between ranked teams.

“Every team that Indiana played, had played to date in the Big Ten, they all lost,” Yurachek said. The UCLA Bruins won 34-20 at Minnesota a week after the Gophers took Indiana to overtime in Bloomington. UCLA, still unbeaten, moved from No. 8 to No. 4, and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Alabama Crimson Tide and Tennessee Volunteers also passed Indiana after wins over ranked teams.

The committee also has questions about the Hoosiers’ offense, which needed overtime in each of their last two games and finished the Minnesota win with the backup quarterback after the starter took a hit in the first half.

“They have won games because of their defense, not because of their offense,” Yurachek said.

Fans turn the post back on Indiana’s schedule

Replies under Cignetti’s post on X went after the Hoosiers’ own resume, with several fans pointing to the home loss to Ohio State.

“This is what I would be tweeting out too if my teams best win is a nail-biter to Northwestern. Your schedule is pathetic. You’ve played one good team, and you lost (at home),” @HPBAac wrote.

“Sorry Coach, but I Googled your schedule this season and you lost to the only good team you played!” @GoBucks5240 wrote.

Others went after the nonconference slate Indiana built.

“You did this yourself by scheduling 3 bumbs OOC and losing the only big game to this point on your schedule. Indiana and Wake have remarkably similar resumes to this point,” @BoxScore_FB wrote.

“How about you start playing a real schedule, a big boy schedule, Buford high school plays a tougher schedule than Indiana,” @JulyGtzP wrote.

Cignetti has a fair complaint about how two losses to unranked teams cost Texas nothing while one loss keeps Texas Tech out of the field. The reasons the committee gave for moving Indiana down, though, sit inside the Hoosiers’ own schedule: an 8-1 team with one loss to the Ohio State Buckeyes, two overtime escapes and an offense the chair singled out by name.

Indiana hosts the No. 18 USC Trojans on Saturday, and the committee releases its next rankings Tuesday, Nov. 17.

Related Readings:

‘No hot seat’: Oklahoma backs Brent Venables, and his $51.67 million buyout explains why

Colin Cowherd thinks Curt Cignetti story has been ‘overplayed’ as Indiana falls in CFP rankings

Why Josh Pate, who always preaches patience, has run out of it with Kyle Whittingham

Hunter Yurachek’s telling explanation for Alabama over Tennessee may not satisfy Vols fans

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