Indiana Brings Its Blue-Collar Swagger to the Rose Bowl - and Doesn’t Blink
PASADENA, Calif. - When Indiana stepped off the plane in Southern California, there was no fanfare, no flash, no fuss. Just a business trip, executed with the kind of quiet confidence that’s become their calling card.
No brass band. No bold proclamations.
Just a 13-0 team that acts like it’s still got something to prove - and maybe it does.
The Hoosiers have made the extraordinary feel routine this season. While the rest of the college football world scrambles to make sense of their undefeated run, Indiana just keeps showing up, clocking in, and doing the work.
They’re not here to make headlines. They’re here to win football games.
You could almost overlook them - if not for the giant mural of Heisman-winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza towering over their team hotel like a four-story monument to what this team has built. It’s a reminder that Indiana didn’t stumble into Pasadena. They earned every mile of the journey.
“This is the Rose Bowl,” linebacker Aiden Fisher said. “You’ve got to embrace the culture around it, the history. But you can’t take it for too much.”
That’s the mindset head coach Curt Cignetti has instilled - a balance between respect for the moment and relentless focus on the task at hand. Cignetti doesn’t do hype.
He does habits. He stacks practices like bricks.
He builds game plans like blueprints. And his team mirrors that approach - disciplined, prepared, and unfazed by the spotlight.
“He’s a professional,” said offensive lineman Pat Coogan. “We’ve followed him all the way here.
So, we need to keep following his lead. That’s the plan.”
Coogan’s words echo the tone of a locker room that isn’t overwhelmed by the pageantry of the Rose Bowl or intimidated by the name on the other sideline. Yes, Alabama is one of the sport’s bluebloods.
Yes, this is the most iconic bowl game in college football. But Indiana isn’t flinching.
“Nothing’s really changed,” Coogan added. “It doesn’t matter that it’s the Rose Bowl necessarily.
We know the opponent. We know how big this game is.
But at the end of the day, the game’s played between the white lines.”
And that’s where Indiana thrives - between the white lines. In the trenches.
In the details. In the daily grind that most teams talk about but few truly embrace.
That’s where Cignetti’s team has lived all season, and they’re not about to change now.
On Monday morning, they practiced in Bloomington. By sunset, they were chasing the Pacific.
Tuesday brings media day. Thursday brings Alabama.
The stakes don’t get much higher, and the stage doesn’t get much brighter.
But don’t expect Indiana to get caught up in the spectacle. They’ve been too grounded for that.
They’re not here for the parade. They’re here for the fight.
And if they have their way, they won’t just be part of Rose Bowl history - they’ll be rewriting it.