Curt Cignetti took a lot of heat on social media for his decision to punt with Indiana trailing Notre Dame 20-3 in the 4th quarter. The decision was viewed as Indiana waiving the white flag in a College Football Playoff, giving up on the season.

As expected, Cignetti was asked about his big decision after the game. The Indiana head coach said he “didn’t want to punt” but felt like it was the best option considering the situation and how his team had played.

“I didn’t want to punt, but I didn’t want to go fourth-and-10,” Cignetti said in his postgame press conference. “It’s like you’re wishing and hoping. You have nothing to base it on that you can convert fourth-and-10 at that point. And there’s still time to punt if you win the game.

“So that was the reason why. I didn’t want to do it. But I felt like it was the best move.”

The Hoosiers faced 4th-and-11 on the Notre Dame 48-yard line with 10:45 remaining. James Evans punted 26 yards to the Notre Dame 22-yard line, giving the Irish the ball with 10:34 on the clock.

Notre Dame went on a 9-play, 78-yard scoring drive. The Irish put the game out of reach by extending its lead to 27-3 while taking 5:44. The Hoosiers had just 4:50 of game time to try to score 24 points. They did their best, scoring their only 2 touchdowns of the contest to make it a 27-17 game.