Postgame Quotes: No. 4/5 Ohio State

Postgame Quotes
Ohio State at Indiana
October 17, 2026

Curt Cignetti | Indiana Head Coach
Opening Statement
CC: Have to get ready for Michigan, prep for Michigan.

That was a tough one not to win. I thought our kids gave great effort and fight and hung in there and put ourselves in position to win the close game. [We] Had so many opportunities to get it done, not only at the end of the game, but throughout the game.

[We had] Just too many missed opportunities on offense; I thought our defense really played well. They had their backs against the wall quite a few times and maybe we kick a field goal or something of that nature.

Special teams, you know, obviously we had the field goal; 55 yarder was just a little bit out of his range with that wind condition. He hit it good. Would've been right down the middle.

Offense came out in the third quarter, turned it over the first two series. A critical moment in that game -- you know, there was a lot of them -- about four and a half minutes to go in the second quarter, we're driving, got a lot of momentum, take the lead, and we had it and couldn't make it happen.

That's when we hit the crossbar. And then they go down and score. I thought we did a nice job regrouping there at halftime, kind of similar to last week, and then had more adversity right off the bat in the third quarter but the defense just wouldn't give in.

And then the offense got it rolling. You all saw the last play. Fourth-and-four, we were expecting a house blitz. You never really know. You're rolling the dice.

And that's our blitz check that we ran. Just called it. They got us on it, that one other series in the third quarter on the fourth down where he got sacked down in the red area.

We had it and we just didn't make it happen. So it's a hard one to swallow. Learn from it and move on.

Q. On the struggles from the offense…
CC: I think most of it was -- we had a lot of pass game opportunities and we didn't take advantage of enough of them.

Q. On how the small mistakes added up…
CC: Well, at that point I was really surprised we didn't make that happen at the end of the half when we were down there on -- I don't know what down it was. Third and four maybe; about the 12th. [We] put our three receivers to the field on the left hash and they got all their coverage over there and something went wrong on it, but both guys are wide open and we didn't make it happen.

And then we hit the crossbar and they went down and scored at the end of the half. So really I thought the start of the thing the third quarter with us turning it over twice was just more of the same.

Finally we regrouped and defense just kept us in it. We started making a few plays. It's right there for the taking. Got to be able to take that one.

Q. On Josh Hoover's passing struggles…
CC: I'm going to defer on that today. I've got to watch the tape. I do have to watch the tape.

Q. On Amare Ferrell's play…
CC: Yeah, two big interceptions, yeah. And that first one led to points. Huge. And the second one was huge, too.

And really one of the ones they got, we got great coverage on the guy and the ball was underthrown into the wind and just misjudged the ball.

Those were two big interceptions certainly.

Q. On the early struggles throwing the ball…
CC: Execution. I mean, you got to execute. When all 11 guys do their job it tends to work. Every once in a while you may call plays not so great and get stopped.

So we had a lot of opportunities out there that we didn't cash in on, particularly in the second half, but there were quite a bit in the first half, too.

Q. On the message bouncing back after a loss…
CC: You know, I told the kids it was a tough one. Really proud of the effort. We gave ourselves a chance to win and certainly had the opportunity to. Sun comes up tomorrow, and get ready for Michigan. Learn from the things we got to learn from.

And it's still all ahead of us. We can accomplish anything we want, all our goals, except going undefeated.

Q. On Josh Hoover's performance…
CC: Yeah, I mean, when you play quarterback it's all about getting the ball to the open guy on time, accurately, as quickly as possible.

So that's the bottom line on a quarterback. If you can extend plays at plus, plus, plus on that. So we certainly had a couple misfires, but he made some nice plays, too.

I think it would be unfair for me to offer an evaluation without watching the tape. We all watched the game.

Q. On the philosophy of losing after a long winning streak…
CC: [Smiling.] I think we kind of learned our lessons before this game, and we just weren't good enough today to seize it.

Q. On the secondary's performance against Jeremiah Smith…
CC: [Ohio State] didn't target him much early in the game. I Knew we made some plays back there. [Amare] Ferrell had those two interceptions and we missed that first drive; they went right down the field and we I believe held them to a field goal. We had a couple missed tackles. But we had some good plays back there, yeah.

Be hard for me -- I think AJ [Harris] made it through the whole game, but they didn't target [Smith] as much as normal. Almost like early in the game he was sort of the decoy.

Indiana Student-Athletes
Tobi Osunsanmi / DL
On having so many chances…
TO: When two really good teams are playing you gotta capitalize on those opportunities. I feel like whenever it's a different opponent you can get away with those things, but in a game like this everything counts and matters, so we just need to do better at capitalizing.

On how he feels with the defensive line stepping up…
TO: It just feels like when it comes fourth quarter, that's really where it counts. You can make plays in the first half, or make plays in the beginning of the game but where it counts, the drives, the crucial drives, that's where you really need to step up. I feel like our defensive line with all the experience we have, everyone on that field has been in that moment before so it's not anything new to us.

Amare Ferrell | #1 | DB
On the second half adjustments by the defense…
AF: Just playing fast, communicating, and being aware of who the best players were. I feel like we could have done a lot better during the second half. I still feel like we did a good job overall. It's a team game.

On his own performance…
AF: I played decently, but that touchdown, I could have made a play on that. The missed play bothered me more than the two interceptions.

On how the team plans to respond after today's loss…
AF: I'm really hungry. I'm just trying to keep everybody's heads up. Tomorrow we will come in, fix every mistake that was made, and move on to the next week.

On how the defense played against Jeremiah Smith…
AF: Jeremiah is the best player on the field, so you always want to be aware. As far as [the touchdown], that was just the call and play design that allowed us to have four guys.

Charlie Becker / WR
On the loss…
CB: Yeah, it sucks. But the sun's gonna rise tomorrow. We're gonna get better. We're gonna watch the film, and we're gonna compete and get ready for Michigan.

On missed opportunities…
CB: There were a lot of opportunities, a lot of weight, a lot of areas that we could have capitalized on. I know we left a lot short here, but we're going to get better, and that is frustrating, knowing that I feel like we kind of beat ourselves in this game, but like I said, we're gonna get better.

On his message to Nick Marsh…
CB: We're gonna watch the film. That's what the game is. It's a game of inches, and we'll get better.

On the inconsistent passing game…
CB: As receivers, we need to get open more. We need to create better separation for our quarterback [Josh Hoover]. I think in all areas of the offense, there's minute details that if all 11 guys do their job, then we're right on target, right on time.

Josh Hoover / QB
On the final fourth-down play…
JH: [Ohio State] brought the house. We knew they were going to bring pressure right there and Nick [Marsh] ran a good route. I didn't have time to sit there and see where he was going, so I just had to put it up there, put it to a spot, and make sure it's a game of inches, right? Nick played awesome today, so proud of him, but unfortunately the last play didn't [go our way]. We had a lot of opportunities to score at other moments, so it's never about one play. Just proud of the guys who continue to fight.

On he feels physically…
JH: I'm feeling good. Obviously, it's a physical game. We knew they are a good football team. [We] gotta give credit to Ohio State. They played really hard. They had a great plan. They did a good job mixing it up. Gotta give them credit. So, now feeling good, we'll be ready for next week.

On the season moving forward…
JH: Everything we want besides a complete season still have, and this is a journey. I just think back on my journey in college football. It's been a wild ride, had ups and downs. Played four years before this, and I look back on those times. Those times have prepared me for moments like this, to stand up in the locker room and be that guy to help us move forward. I know that this game, this season, it's a journey. We are not our best right now. We're striving to know our best, and we're going to keep getting better every week. Our best football is ahead of us. I'm proud of this team. Proud of the brotherhood that we have. There's no pointing fingers. We're one team. It's never about one guy. We're gonna move forward.

Ryan Day | Ohio State Head Coach
On the team's plan in light of Sayin's injury…
RD: When someone goes down, someone's gonna step up. When Ja'Kobi Jackson went down and Austin Siereveld went down, we had some guys step up. The quarterback position obviously is different, but we'll regroup. We've got a bye week to figure that out. We have a good team and this is all bigger than just one person. Certainly, you don't want to see [Sayin] get hurt and we need him, but at the same time, we'll come together and figure this out.

On the team's growth throughout the season…
RD: When I think back on some of the years where we would find ourselves being in games like this, we didn't always know as much about the team as I think we do right now. They are much more comfortable, right now, playing in the fourth quarter than they were at the start of the season. I also think half the guys on the team weren't here last year. Every week we're getting more cemented as a team and the brotherhood is getting stronger. Years passed, when the guys were here for three, four, or five years, they spent a lot of time together. They have experiences together. Games like this, losses like we had at the beginning of the season, they bring you together in a shorter period of time. I think now more than ever, you gotta have a team that plays for each other, plays with spark, and plays with passion. And I think you saw that today. These guys, at the end of the fourth quarter, they came together. They just had a great look in their eyes, they played with great emotion, they played with great purpose today. I think they saw this as their opportunity to come together.

On how he felt in the fourth quarter…
RD: Our guys never flinched and they had a different look in their eye. Listen, if you catch the ball in the corner of the end zone and his foot is a yard in, we're all sitting here in a different spot. When you think about the Texas game, I can name about seven things where it came down to one play. We were able to find a way to win the game in the fourth quarter, that's the bottom line. So it was more about us.

Ohio State Student-Athletes
Jeremiah Smith / WR
On Luke Fahey coming in as Quarterback…
JS: I think he did everything the right way. Handled the pressure very well. I told Luke on the sideline. "We got you. Everybody's behind you. O-line, receivers, running backs, everyone."

On what winning this game says about their team…
JS: We're a very good football team. We knew it was going to take great focus to come in here and win this game for 60 minutes straight and win a game in the fourth quarter. That's what we did.

Luke Montgomery / OL
On the O-line stepping up with Julian Sayin's Injury…
LM: We've got to be leaders. We have experience up front, and once we get Austin [Siereveld] back here, we'll have a lot of experience [...] We're going to take some off his [Luke Fahey] plate for sure when it comes to some of the third down stuff.

Bo Jackson / RB
On how his role has changed with Ja'Kobi Jackson being out
BJ: The whole running back room had to step up. Me, Isaiah [West], Legend [Bey]. We said this game was for him. We played as hard as we can. With Julian [Sayin], now it's just the next man up.

On Ohio State needing this win
BJ: We needed this one a lot. Just get momentum going to the end of the season. Just keep building on it.

On his fourth quarter mentality
BJ: I feel like it's all in the mentality. You have to finish the last 12 minutes. You've got to go out there and try to get a win.

Jaylen McClain / S
On the run defense improving over the last month…
JM: I feel like our run defense has improved a lot. Obviously, a lot of stuff to work on, but it starts in practice. I feel like the d-lineman also stepped up to the challenge.

On the sack force fumble…
JM: Yeah, I feel like coach [Ryan Day] wanted people to be more aggressive on that play. Obviously, we gotta have a situation, so someone had to step up, and I stepped up to make that play.

On having the defense finally put the pieces together…
JM: Yeah, after the Texas game, obviously, we knew we weren't playing our best football. But over the last few weeks, we've started coming together as a unit.

Indiana University Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Charlie Becker

Amare Ferrell

Josh Hoover

Nick Marsh

Tobi Osunsanmi

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