MIAMI – It’s been 786 days since Indiana fans had to watch Indiana go 3-9 and lose an Old Oaken Bucket game in heartbreak. They’re now national champions after beating No. 10 Miami 27-21 in Miami at Hard Rock Stadium on Monday night.
Since then, the Indiana Hoosiers’ head coach, Curt Cignetti, has come into Bloomington and gone 27-2. He led the losingest team in the history of college football to the promised land in two years. A playoff berth that went up in flames in his first season turned into a National Championship victory the next.
“This is only chapter two,” Cignetti said Tuesday morning.
Cignetti turned this team of “misfits” into killer robots, smacking teams throughout the College Football Playoffs. A 38-3 win at the Rose Bowl, 56-22 in the Peach Bowl, all capped off by a 27-21 win in the National Championship.
The team ends the season with a point differential of +479.
Indiana went from the trial and error of running RPOs with a quarterback who had a torn ACL into running a pro-style offense and bringing Bloomington their first ever Heisman Trophy Winner with Fernando Mendoza.
The Hoosiers defense was constantly at the bottom of the Power Five schools in the rankings. A net positive in points was a rare phenomenon for the Hoosiers. Now, it's their best phase and they’ve been a top defense both years of Cignetti’s era.
Even the special teams were ugly, blocked punts, missed kicks, just low scoring totals. Cig’s special teams block punts and score in the National Championship.
It’s only year two.
“I didn't think it was possible, I can't lie,” defensive MVP Mikail Kamara said Monday night. “But to be here today, it's surreal.”
Surreal was the best way guys could put it. Linebacker Aiden Fisher, defensive coordinator Bryant Haines, cornerback D’Angelo Ponds, wide receiver Elijah Sarratt had tears in his eyes saying it, they all called it surreal or couldn’t even put the moment into words.
Prior to Cignetti’s arrival, there were traces of NFL level talent in Jordan Howard, Tevin Coleman, Anthony Thompson and Antwaan Randle El to name a few.
Cignetti brought over 13 players from James Madison University who might’ve never sniffed the league.
Now the likes of Ponds, Sarratt, Fisher, Kaelon Black and Kamara are all guys in one class who could be on an NFL roster.
That doesn’t cover Carter Smith, Omar Cooper Jr. and EJ Williams Jr. who all are players who stayed at IU through the coaching change who are legitimate NFL prospects.
Cignetti brought coaches such as offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan and Haines, who were living on food stamps and welfare, to a program that is paying them seven figures a year in salary.
The Hoosiers have set records: most games won by 50+ in a season, most Big Ten conference games won by 50+ in a season and a plethora more from the Cignetti era.
Cignetti is extended through 2033 with reworks to come due to the College Football Playoff appearances and the national championship he just brought to Indiana.
The Hoosier fans’ ride at the top of the college football world is far from over.
The Hoosier Faithful have forgotten basketball season in the basketball state as a result. They took over Pasadena, Atlanta and now Miami. Hoosier fans have traveled roughly 5,776 miles round trip for the playoffs alone to commemorate and celebrate this football team.
It’s only year two.
This story of the Indiana Hoosiers is the best story in sports right now and potentially ever. Turnaround is a word that doesn’t do justice to what’s occurred at Memorial Stadium.
“It probably is one of the greatest sports stories of all time,” Cignetti said Monday night.
The Indiana Hoosiers are undefeated national champions in the second year of the Curt Cignetti era.
This story is far from over.
