FOX ANALYST SAYS CIGNETTI DID BEST COACHING JOB HE EVER SAW

 

Before you think JOEL KLATT has spent too much 

(air)time with GUS JOHNSON … which helps to 

explain a seemingly over-zealous take (that follows) on 

Indiana U., winning its first football championship … be 

advised the Fox analyst might not be far from the truth.

“This is the best thing that’s happened to college football 

in a long time. This could be the most consequential 

national champion in my lifetime,” said Klatt, 43, on

 COLIN COWHERD’s “The Herd” Monday. 

“What it has led to is a golden age of college football. The 

product has never beem better. There’s never been more 

parity. It’s remarkable … it’s profound … and only 

history will look back on this with the size and 

momentum it deserves. 

“I cannot remember a time in college football when we 

needed this more. Every fan base in America can wake up 

this morning and say, ‘Heck, we can do this, too.”

So, Klatt exaggerated (possibly for effect). And, of 

course, it’s all about money, like what MARK CUBAN

 has poured into IU coach CURT CIGNETTI’s program. 

It’s going to take some of us a while to get used to that, 

after all, but once we finally come to the realization 

amateur sports are no more, the easier it will be. That is, 

if we still care enough to be fans.

While he was at it, Klatt, a former QB, said, “I think what 

Curt Cignetti has done is the greatest single coaching job 

I have ever seen, any sport.”

Straight from the old “Latest is the greatest” playbook. 

Then again the best Cowherd could do was basketball’s

BRAD STEVENS, who worked at Butler before going to 

Boston as Celtics’ coach now director of operations.

Funny how things play out as advertised. Take the 

respective quarterbacks … Indiana’s FRANCISCO 

MENDOZA and Miami’s CARSON BECK.

A transfer from Georgia, Beck had a history of untimely 

interceptions that Hurricanes’ watchers finally hoped was 

a thing of the past after a masterful passing job in the 

national semifinal 

However, against IU, with the game on the line, Beck 

badly underthrew his target and the ball was an easy pick 

for DB JAMARI SHARPE.

Beck also could/should have been intercepted on other 

occasions, throwing into coverage.

Meanwhile, Mendoza lived up to his reputation for being 

unflappable. Having some equally cool receivers, 

catching balls despite close coverage – see CHARLIE 

BECKER’s fourth-down, one-handed grab to keep a 

drive alive in the final quarter – certainly helped.

Then to prove how tough he was … Mendoza ran 11 

yards on fourth-and-goal for the winning touchdown … 

when Cignetti called for a quarterback draw (of all 

things), and his Heisman Trophy recipient ran straight 

ahead, bouncing off several would-be tacklers before 

diving into the end zone while taking a vicious body 

blow.

Earlier, having handed the ball off, Mendoza was 

standing there, watching, when Miami’s JAKOBE 

THOMAS hit him under the chin with the crown of his 

helmet … a dirty play by any definition and should have 

been flagged for targeting and Thomas ejected...but 

referee MARK VANDERVELDE of the Big 12 let him 

play on.

Later Cignetti noted, “There were three personal-foul 

penalties that weren’t called on the same drive.”

Until next time ...