In just hours, two former West Virginia Mountaineers will square off for the College Football Playoff (CFP) National Championship – one as a player, and one as a coach.
The Indiana Hoosiers will take the field against the Miami Hurricanes tonight on the biggest stage in college football. The Hoosiers enter the game coached by former WVU quarterback Curt Cignetti while the Hurricanes are anchored in the trenches by defensive lineman Akheem Mesidor, who began his collegiate career playing for the Mountaineers.
Curt Cignetti, Akheem Mesidor represent the West Virginia Mountaineers in College Football Playoff National Championship
Cignetti is the son of former WVU head coach Frank Cignetti Sr., and was recruited to the program and played one season under his father. After his father was fired, Cignetti decided to stick out his career with the Mountaineers under head coach Don Nehlen, and was with the program from 1979-1982.
Cignetti rose through the coaching ranks after his career, getting his first big break as a head coach with at Indiana (Pa.), a Division 2 program where his father had previously spent 20 years as head coach. Cignetti would then serve in the same role at Elon and then James Madison before being hired by Indiana. In two years, he has led the Hoosiers, who have an all-time winning percentage of 42 percent, to a 26-2 record, two CFP appearances, and one Big Ten Championship. They are currently 15-0 ahead of the title game.
Trying to disrupt Cignetti's Cinderella story on the opposite sidelines will be Akheem Mesidor. Mesidor. Mesidor played for WVU from 2020-2021, and recorded 70 tackles and 9.5 sacks during his time with the Mountaineers. He transferred to Miami (FL), where he has spent the past four seasons developing into a player who was a First-Team All-ACC selection this season and is projected as a Day 2-Day 3 draft pick. He has played in 14 of Miami's 15 games this season and currently has 60 tackles, 10.5 sacks, and four forced fumbles, and has played a crucial role for the Hurricanes in two playoff wins.
Fans are hoping for an exciting game tonight, and who each person outside of the fan base of the two teams playing is rooting for can boil down to a multitude of different reasons. But West Virginia fans can rest assured that at least one former Mountaineers will be ending the night with the greatest prize in the sport – a national championship.