Curt Cignetti opens up on the challenges of a layoff, getting bye in College Football Playoff: 'It is what it is'

As of today, No. 1 Indiana has not taken the field in almost three weeks, and won’t again for nearly another when they kick off in the Rose Bowl. That four-week span is quite the gap for a team, but one that Curt Cignetti says they just have to deal with based on how everything is set in the College Football Playoff.

Cignetti was asked about the time off for the Hoosiers during his press conference earlier this week ahead of their quarterfinal matchup on New Year’s Day. He simply said it is what it is as far as the scheduling, with IU trying to utilize it best by using the first half of it as the equivalent to their byes and the second half of it to begin preparations to play No. 9 Alabama in Pasadena.

“Well, you know, it is what it is, so you make the most of it,” said Cignetti. “The way we approached it until we knew the opponent? We treated it like two bye weeks, and now we have almost two weeks to prepare for the opponent.”

Again, Indiana has not played since back on December 6th, when they beat Ohio State to win the Big Ten Championship in Indianapolis. They, with that, would then earn the top overall seed in the bracket, which resulted in what’s nearly a month-long gap, with it totaling out to 26 days, between games for the Hoosiers.

This, of course, comes up based on what happened in the first edition of the expanded field for the College Football Playoff. All four teams with byes last postseason, albeit in a different seeding format as to who could earn those byes in the bracket, in No. 1 Oregon (13-0), No. 2 Georgia (11-2), No. 3 Boise State (12-1), and No. 4 Arizona State (11-2) lost their first game of the playoff, with seeds five through eight all advancing into the semifinals, after having won opening-round games as well at home, of the CFP.

With that, there’s been a question of rest versus rust with that kind of time off for the top-four seeds. It’s a small sample size through just one postseason, but it’s something that could be of benefit to Alabama, who had to play an additional game since playing in their own conference championship with a first-round road win over Oklahoma a week ago today on December 19th, against Indiana on January 1st.

Going from the three-month grind of the regular season to a month between games, especially in the postseason, isn’t ideal for any coach. It’s the circumstances of this current format of the playoff, though, and Indiana accepted them regardless as they go into the CFP.

“Would I prefer to play earlier? Yeah, I probably would, to be quite honest with you. But that’s not the case, so,” said Cignetti. “We’re excited about playing. We’re off to a good start. And, it’ll be a tremendous challenge.”