Curt Cignetti says Kalen DeBoer, Alabama can get ‘a little tricky and cute’ on short-yardage situations
By Sydney Hunte
Published:
Curt Cignetti hasn’t forgotten Indiana’s 38-3 rout of Alabama in the 2025 College Football Playoff Rose Bowl quarterfinal.
There was one particular play, though, that stood out from early in the second quarter.
With the Hoosiers holding a 3-0 lead, and with the Crimson Tide facing a 4th-and-1 from their own 34, Kalen DeBoer elected to go for it, but they ultimately couldn’t cash in and turned it over on downs. Four plays later, the Hoosiers were in the end zone.
Perhaps the outcome would have been different had the Tide converted that fourth down. Either way, Cignetti and the Hoosiers were ready for it.
“Coach DeBoer, he’s a great offensive coach. He’s a great football coach. Got a lot of respect for him. But in short yardage, they have a tendency to get a little tricky and cute sometimes,” Cignetti told ESPN’s Rece Davis, per AL.com’s Nick Kelly. “I mean, you’ve got to be ready for it. And they’ve had a lot of big plays doing that through the years and last year. So, we were ready for those types of things.”
Not much caught Indiana by surprise during the 2025 season. Thanks in part to Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza, it averaged 41.6 points per game and allowed just 11.6 as it cruised to an undefeated season and its first national championship.
The Hoosiers will have a massive target on their backs as they look to repeat. Meanwhile, Alabama, which hasn’t been the same since Nick Saban retired, will hope to re-establish itself as the standard-bearer in the sport.
Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.
