Kansas head coach Lance Leipold flashes a smile after a timeout during the fourth quarter on Friday, Sept. 4, 2026 at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium. Photo by Nick Krug

Kansas associate head coach Andy Kotelnicki has spoken in the past about combing through other teams’ film in search of new plays to add to his arsenal.

“We are the greatest thieves in the country,” he said back in 2023, during his first stint with the Jayhawks.

Last Saturday, he found himself on the receiving end of a very public theft.

A fourth-and-1 play-action pass out of a tight pistol formation in the Indiana-Nebraska game resulted in a 44-yard go-ahead touchdown — the eventual game-winner for the Hoosiers. It certainly bore a striking resemblance to one that Kotelnicki dialed up in Lubbock, Texas, on Nov. 12, 2022, also on a fourth-and-1, for a long touchdown to Jared Casey.

“That one there, Kansas made that one famous with that guy starting at quarterback for Tampa, and that guy’s a good coach,” said Indiana coach Curt Cignetti, who led the Hoosiers to a national title last season in his second year at the helm. “We stole that one about five, six years ago.”

Actually, Jason Bean was the quarterback for KU that day at Texas Tech in 2022, but of course the Jayhawks have used similar plays on other occasions. Jalon Daniels — who indeed continues to start at quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as an undrafted rookie — threw his own touchdown to Casey, albeit from five yards out, in the Illinois game in 2023.

“​​I don’t know, I might have stolen that from somebody else,” Kotelnicki said of the play Cignetti appropriated. “I can’t even remember when we first started running it.”

It’s apparently not the only time Cignetti has attempted to deploy it, either.

“Hit Northwestern on it, fourth-and-1 on the 1, but actually called the protection backwards,” he told reporters. “I mean, yeah, they covered the guy we thought would get the ball, and Nick flashed open, and Josh found him.”

Indeed, tight end Brock Schott had little space to operate at the bottom of the field, but wideouts Charlie Becker and Nick Marsh were wide open, and quarterback Josh Hoover found Marsh for the score. An interesting bit of irony: KU was a finalist for Marsh in his recruitment back in the summer of 2023, but he ultimately picked Michigan State before later transferring to Indiana.

Kotelnicki and Cignetti crossed paths once before, between Kotelnicki’s two tenures at KU.

“He obviously has done a great job, him and his staff,” Kotelnicki said. “When I played against them when I was at the other place (Penn State), we talked before the game, just briefly. Just mutual respect for guys who do a good job coaching ball.”

Head coach Lance Leipold appreciated the recognition from a title-winning coach and also noted that he had heard at one point last season that Lane Kiffin, then the coach at Ole Miss, liked to watch KU’s third-and-short calls.

“Even though we always don’t agree (with) everything that’s always called here, I guess some people like some of the stuff we do call,” Leipold said with a slight smile. “But as we know, when they work, we all love them.”

photo by: AP Photo/Rebecca S. Gratz

Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti paces the sideline as his team plays against Nebraska during the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026, in Lincoln, Neb.