President Donald Trump\u2019s early departure from the national championship game may have cost IU an touchdown while on defense in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n
The President\u2019s movement within the stadium causes all communication to be shut down, and Indiana coach Curt Cignetti says that happened in the fourth quarter during the College Football Playoff final at Hard Rock Stadium.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen President Trump left the game around the 7 minute mark of the 4th quarter, there were two or three plays we were on defense, we couldn\u2019t hear at all,\u201d Cignetti told Don Fischer on his radio show Thursday evening. \u201cAnd the second play was when they gave the ball to (Malachi) Toney, and they pitched it to him for the touchdown with 6:37 to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
Why is Cignetti talking about this three weeks into the 2026 season?<\/p>\n
The President is attending the Tennessee game this weekend, and that has generated discussion of the complications that come with his presence in a stadium.<\/p>\n
Texas is playing at Tennessee, and its head coach Steve Sarkisian suggested the communication went down at a different point in the championship game.<\/p>\n
\u201cA good friend of mine is Mario Cristobal,\u201d Sarkisian told the Longhorn Network on Thursday. Like Cignetti and Sarkisian, Cristobal also worked under Nick Saban at Alabama. \u201cLast year, when they were playing Indiana in the national championship, they had that drive at the end of the game; they had no communications because he was leaving early before the game ended. You get no warning; it just cuts out. You have to be prepared for that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cignetti heard what Sarkisian said.\u00a0 And on the radio show, Don Fischer asked Cignetti what he thought of Sarkisian\u2019s account of what happened.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo what\u2019ve we got?\u201d Fisher asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got a bunch of BS, that\u2019s what we\u2019ve got,\u201d Cignetti said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s floating around on social media is the communication went down on Miami\u2019s last drive of the game on offense.\u00a0 So I had to dispel that,\u201d Cignetti said. \u201cThe communication device came back right after the (Toney) touchdown.\u00a0 We had no problem the rest of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Multiple Miami sources corroborated with CBS Sports<\/a> Cignetti\u2019s claim the communication loss did not happen on the final drive of the game.<\/p>\n