His frustration didn’t seem to be directed at his team, but at the officials for not penalizing Northwestern for making calls to throw off his team.
When play actually did get started, Indiana mounted a 15-play drive that resulted in the Hoosiers getting stuffed at the one-yard on a 4th-and-goal.
Even though Northwestern botched its first offensive snap, resulting in a safety, that sequence showed what type of night Indiana was going to be in for.
Nothing about it was going to be easy.
Every time Indiana seemed to pull away, Northwestern punched back, eventually closing the gap to just two points early in the fourth quarter after a failed two-point conversion.
Northwestern appeared to make two fourth-quarter stops that would have given it the ball back with a chance to take the lead, but a 15-yard facemask penalty deep in Indiana territory kept a Hoosiers drive alive that resulted in a touchdown.
Later in the quarter, a pass-interference call in the end zone on third-and-goal gave the Hoosiers a fresh set of downs that resulted in a touchdown that helped put the game out of reach.
But it was still a little too close for comfort for Indiana. That is rather unfamiliar territory for this group.
This is only the fifth time during Indiana’s 20-game streak that one of its wins was decided by six points or fewer.
Cignetti gave a very brief interview on Fox after the game, praising Northwestern for being a good football team and very harshly pointing out that he did not like how his defense finished the game.
After shutting out the Wildcats in the first half, Northwestern seemed to do whatever it wanted in the second half, scoring on each of its final four possessions.
Maybe this serves as a wakeup call for Indiana.
Winning has been pretty easy for the better part of three seasons now, and it really hasn’t had to get challenged or face much adversity.
Maybe it needed a game like this to show it can still scratch out a close game and make plays in tough moments.
Or maybe it needed a reminder that this season is very different from the 2025 season and there are still things that need to be improved on.
Its next two games are against Rutgers and Nebraska, which figure to be games they should win, before the schedule gets significantly tougher. Ohio State, Michigan and USC are still looming on the schedule. A performance like Friday might have been good enough against Northwestern. It might not be good enough against those teams.