Indiana's Curt Cignetti Went After The SEC While Trying To Defend The Hoosiers Cancelling Virginia Series

Indiana coach Curt Cignetti decided to cause a little bit of a ruckus Tuesday afternoon at Big Ten media days by using the SEC as an example of why the Hoosiers canceled an upcoming series with the ACC's Virginia. 

Yes, this type of conversation occurred in Las Vegas, and it did not go the way Cignetti had probably intended, with his shot at the SEC's philosophy on conference scheduling. There continues to be a war of words between coaches from the two premier conferences in college football, as the ongoing conversation centers around a nine-game schedule. 

If you haven’t been paying attention over the past few months, the Big Ten and SEC are in the middle of some type of war of words when it comes to the latter playing only eight conference games per season, while the college football playoff format remains in limbo. 

On Tuesday, when asked about the Hoosiers deciding to buy-out of their game against Virginia for an easy win, Cignetti pointed out that he was just following in the SEC's footsteps when putting together a schedule for the future. 

"Look, here’s the bottom line. We picked up an extra home game and we play nine conference games. The two best conferences in college football, any football guy that’s objective will tell you, the Big Ten and the SEC. Twelve of the sixteen SEC teams play three G5 or an FCS game. Twelve of those teams play 36 games, with 29 G5 games and seven FCS games, and one less conference game.

"So we figured we’d just adopt the SEC scheduling philosophy. Some people don’t like it. I’m more focused in on those nine conference games."

Ok then. That's one way to go about the conversation. 

But the problem is that while this argument might work for some teams, the SEC is coming off a wild year that saw more than five teams fighting for a playoff spot, while also putting together a non-conference schedule that includes at least one premier game. 

This season, Indiana will play Old Dominion, Kennesaw State and Indiana State for its non-conference schedule, which doesn't exactly scream ‘don't miss these games!' to the fans buying tickets. 

I get what Cignetti is doing, and while I don't disagree that the SEC must do a better job at looking out for the fans when it comes to scheduling, Indiana's schedule is not something to base your argument on. 

It's talkin' season, and Curt Cignetti thought this one would probably be received better.