Indiana football keeps giving people something to talk about, and this week it was the Hoosiers’ decision to back out of a two-year deal with Indiana earlier this week. That move fits the program’s current identity under Curt Cignetti: unapologetic, unusual, and focused on its own path.
That approach is bound to irritate some fans, especially in a sport where traditional rivalries and marquee non-conference matchups still carry real weight. But Indiana is operating in a college football landscape that has changed fast, and the Hoosiers are making choices that reflect that reality.
The contrast with the program’s past is hard to miss. Indiana spent most of its history near the wrong end of the sport’s record book, and it took until last November for Northwestern to pass it for the most losses all-time losses by a single program.
Now the story looks very different. Over the last two seasons, Indiana has gone 27-2 overall, with its only losses coming to the two teams that played for the national championship to cap the 2024 season.
That kind of rise changes the conversation. Not to take anything away from the 1967 Indiana squad that went to the Rose Bowl, or the Anthony Thompson years, but this version of the Hoosiers is the program’s modern standard for major success.
And because Indiana doesn’t have the kind of deep football history that bluebloods lean on, it has to build its profile differently. Other powers once used out-of-conference games to broaden their reach and strengthen their national case. Notre Dame did it with Army and USC 100 years ago, and plenty of other programs followed that model.
Indiana, by comparison, has kept its non-conference slate lighter. The toughest non-conference opponent Indiana has played the last two seasons is Old Dominion, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.
The criticism picked up again as soon as the Notre Dame deal was reported as off, but for now, Indiana’s logic is easy to see. Curt Cignetti’s responsibility is to give the Hoosiers the best possible shot at competing for a national championship every season, and after what Indiana just did, the results speak for themselves.
Yes, Memorial Stadium may not be quite as electric when Howard or the next “Directional State A&M” shows up. But that isn’t the point. Indiana is building for something bigger, and with a 27-2 start through two seasons and one national title already in hand, the strategy is hard to knock.
In Other News...
Curt Cignetti Just Gave Indiana Fans A New Reason To Brag
CBS updated Big Ten head coach rankings gave Indiana fans another banner to wave, with Curt Cignetti climbing to No. 1 ahead of names like Ryan Day, Dan Lanning, Lincoln Riley and Kirk Ferentz. The move is striking not just because of the company he passed, but because it underscores how quickly Cignetti has changed the conversation around the Hoosiers since arriving in Bloomington.
In two years, he has taken Indiana to an 11-win regular season and a national championship, doing it without the kind of long Power Four head-coaching rsum many of his peers brought to the table. The rankings were shaped by recent performance and head-to-head results among Big Ten coaches, which makes Cignettis rise feel less like a novelty and more like a statement about where Indiana sits in the league now. [Read more 🡒]
Indiana Defense Suddenly Has New Faces Fans Need To Watch
Fall camp has opened for Indiana football, and the early story on defense is the influx of transfers who could reshape that side of the ball right away. The Hoosiers brought in a mix of proven experience and upside, headlined by EDGE rushers Tobi Osunsanmi and Chiddi Obiazor from Kansas State, cornerback AJ Harris from Penn State, safety Preston Zachman from Wisconsin and EDGE Joshua Burnham from Notre Dame.
For a defense looking for immediate help, that group gives Indiana several new names to monitor as camp unfolds. The appeal is obvious: more depth at key spots, more competition across the back end and the edge, and the chance for a few newcomers to step into meaningful roles before the season even begins. [Read more 🡒]