MIAMI – Picture yourself sitting in the office of a Hollywood film executive, staring them in the eye across their desk. The year is 2023. You are brought in to pitch an idea for a new sports movie.
“What if the losingest program in FBS history hires the perfect coach?” you propose confidently. “What if the new coach calls his shot and backs it up with the best season in program history in year one? What if the team shocks the world with overlooked players and coaches that shouldn’t have success at the highest level? What if the fanbase awakens, but the world calls the season a fluke when it comes up short?”
You devolve further into your fantasy story.
“What if the program comes back even stronger in year two? What if it proves everyone wrong again? What if the new quarterback wins the Heisman Trophy and the team wins its first conference championship game? What if it earns blowout wins in the Rose Bowl and Peach Bowl to play in the national championship? What if this program becomes the biggest story in sports?”
Why not go one step further? You’re already this far in.
“Call me crazy,” you say with hesitation. “But what if the once-losingest program in FBS history goes undefeated and wins the national championship in the second year of its new regime? What if the Heisman winning quarterback beats his hometown school that overlooked him as a recruit? What if it comes exactly 50 years after the school’s basketball team became an undefeated national champion?”
What kind of response would you get from the executive sitting across the desk? Is it too unrealistic? Is it too much of a sports fantasy?
Now, bring yourself back to the present.
This is no fantasy film. Welcome to reality.
The reality is so improbable that it's a struggle to fully make sense of it. Maybe reading the following sentence a few times will help.
The Indiana Hoosiers are undefeated national champions of college football.
Indiana football was never supposed to be in this conversation. It had five winning seasons since 1994. It had not won a bowl game since 1991. Indiana was chalked up as a free win on the schedule by most Big Ten teams year after year. Fans did not believe and had no reason to do so.
When head coach Curt Cignetti was hired in December of 2023, he inherited a program that finished 3-9 the previous season and felt like it hit rock bottom. Stadiums were empty, fans were apathetic. Indiana had won nine total games in the last three seasons combined. It felt like no matter the coach, no matter the situation, no matter the year, Indiana was stuck.
Cignetti’s first step: change the way people think about Indiana football.
From “Purdue sucks! But so does Michigan and Ohio State!” to “I win. Google me,” Cignetti’s flashy personality throughout his first few weeks of media as IU head coach made that change of mind easy for Hoosier fans. It was not as easy for everyone else.
First, the thought was that Indiana was an impossible program to fix. Then, it became Cignetti’s winning tendencies and his James Madison players would not translate to the Big Ten.
The thoughts evolved to fit the narrative that Indiana was still the same Indiana as before.
Indiana has not played anyone. Indiana cannot beat good teams. Indiana did not belong in the first place. Indiana will not be able to build another good roster. Indiana will regress. Indiana is only beating bad teams again. Illinois wasn’t good to begin with. Oregon wasn’t either. Indiana will get humbled by Ohio State. Alabama’s mystique will outweigh Indiana. Indiana can’t beat the same team twice. Indiana is stealing plays and cheating.
Now, as undefeated national champions following Indiana's 27-21 win over Miami in the title game Monday, the claims are irrelevant. Indiana’s success cannot be disputed. The only claim that has validity is that Indiana is the best team in the sport.
Cignetti, his players, his staff and everyone involved in the two-year run are now secured in college football immortality. He has orchestrated the greatest turnaround in sports history. It wasn’t perfect, but it was pretty darn close.
Indiana football will forever hold the title of national champion. A program that hit one of many rock bottoms three seasons ago is now atop the mountain. With the right people, the right culture, a blueprint, a plan and a relentless drive, Indiana became the greatest story in sports and redefined what is possible in college football.
In 2024, Cignetti said Indiana was an emerging superpower in college football. Indiana isn’t emerging anymore. Indiana is the superpower in college football.
Read it over one more time.
The Indiana Hoosiers are undefeated national champions of college football.
And it’s only the beginning.
Cut. Scene.
