Curt Cignetti slams refs over missed personal foul penalties against Miami
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Curt Cignetti’s face was as red as the jerseys his Indiana players wore in Monday night’s national championship game at Hard Rock Stadium.
The Hoosiers head coach didn’t want to hear about the scoreboard as Indiana and Miami headed to their locker rooms at halftime. IU had a 10-0 lead after a defensive slugfest of a first half in Miami’s home stadium.
But Cignetti, ever the perfectionist who was looking for his crowning moment as a head coach, wanted to talk about the officiating, or lack thereof. Sure, he knows the referees wanted to let the Hoosiers and Canes play, to decide the national title on the field. That doesn’t mean they should totally swallow their whistles though, was Cignetti’s point as he spoke to ESPN sideline reporter Holly Rowe on his way to the locker room.
“There’s three personal fouls on the quarterback not called on one drive that need to be called because they’re obvious personal fouls,” Cignetti said. “I’m all for letting them play. But when you cross the line, you’ve got to call it. They were black-and-white calls.”
Cignetti went on to speak to Rowe about other matters in the game, but his main point was made about the officials, as he was trying to protect his players.
Then he was onto the locker room to talk a little to his players, who had just finished the first 30 minutes in a 60-minute football fight that Cignetti just wanted to keep in check. His main point to Rowe was simple — let the players play, but don’t be afraid to make some big calls either.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
