The Indiana Hoosiers made it official on Monday night, claiming their first national title in school history after a dominating season in which they became the first modern era team to go 16-0 by running the table in the Big 10 and expanded playoff field.
In just two seasons, former Nick Saban assistant Curt Cignetti turned the Hoosiers from a program that was a perennial loser and in the basement of its conference for a century and turned them into a machine-like steamroller which flat out dominated everyone in its path.
Surviving in Miami and defeating the Hurricanes on Monday night to claim the title did not just etch Cignetti into forever college football lore, it puts this 2025 Indiana season into the category of best stories in the entire history of the sport. When Indiana hired Cignetti as the little-known coach from James Madison, he promised to change the brand of Hoosiers football and when asked for his plan of how he would raise the standard, he boldly told the press that it’s pretty simple because “I win. Google me.”
At the time, most chuckled at the bravado for a coach being hired for his first Power Four head gig coming to a place where it had never been done at anything close to a high level before.
Two years later, nobody is laughing now.
In fact, with the mastery of the transfer portal and utilization of resources that even still are dwarfed by the traditional powers in the sport, Cignetti may have already staked his claim as the best coach in the nation.
As the most unlikely national champion perhaps in history, for the next century it’s going to be impossible to tell the story of college football without talking about Curt Cignetti and his national champion Indiana Hoosiers. The program isn’t going anywhere either, already reloading in the portal and gearing up for another attempt at a title next season.
No matter how high he takes this thing though while he’s in Bloomington, the 2025 Indiana team has become immortalized with some of the greatest national champions of all time. They may not stack up talent wise with some of the teams we have seen this era, but that just makes the story even better.
Fans had better get used to seeing Cignetti and the Hoosiers on the national stage, because it appears they are here to stay after this year’s triumph.
