Indiana didn’t get the preseason respect that usually comes with wearing the national championship crown, and that puts the Hoosiers in a strange spot before the 2026 season even kicks off.
On Monday, the Associated Press slotted Indiana at No. 6 in its first Top-25 poll of the year. That leaves Curt Cignetti’s team just outside the Top 5 despite coming off a perfect 16-0 season and a national title, and despite a 27-2 record over Cignetti’s two years in Bloomington. With a re-tooled roster, a top-ranked transfer portal class, and key returners on both sides of the ball, Indiana still enters the season as one of the favorites to win it all again.
The problem is the history attached to that No. 6 spot. In the CFP era, the reigning national champion has been left out of the AP preseason Top 5 only three times, and just four times since 2008. And in every one of those four cases, the defending champ finished the next season unranked.
Those teams were Michigan in 2024, when it went 7-5; LSU in 2020, which finished 5-5 in the COVID-shortened season; Auburn in 2011, which ended 7-5; and LSU again in 2008, also at 7-5. That is the lane Indiana is now being compared to, whether it likes it or not.
Still, there are reasons to think Cignetti’s group can avoid that kind of drop-off. The natural regression that follows a title run is real: talent leaves for the NFL, rosters get reshuffled, and championship staffs usually get raided. Indiana has already dealt with plenty of turnover on the roster, and there are a lot of new faces in the mix this fall.
But the Hoosiers are bringing back something that matters just as much. Cignetti has his entire coaching staff intact.
Both coordinators return, and that kind of 100% continuity is rare in today’s college game, especially after a national title. Usually, winning staffs get picked apart.
Indiana didn’t have that happen.
Cignetti’s track record also gives Indiana some cover here. He has already pulled off the greatest turnaround in sports history at Indiana, and even after all that, the doubt still seems to follow. The AP ranking only adds another layer to that.
And the schedule gives the Hoosiers a workable path, even with a few difficult matchups on the slate. Put the talent, the returning staff, and the favorable layout together, and Indiana has a real chance to dodge the ugly precedent that comes with a preseason Top-5 snub.
For now, the Hoosiers sit at No. 6. The bigger question is whether they’ll spend the season proving that number wrong.
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Indiana Just Sent A Clear Message About Scott Dolson
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Indiana Just Sent A Clear Message About Scott Dolson
Indianas athletic department has made its confidence in Scott Dolson plain. The Hoosiers extended the athletic directors contract through 2031 and raised his base salary to $1.15 million a year, a move that reflects how much ground the department believes it has gained under his watch since he took over in 2020.
Dolsons rise has tracked with a broader lift across Indiana athletics, including notable financial and programmatic improvements and a football resurgence that has helped change the conversation around the department. Add in his recognition as NACDA Athletics Director of the Year, and the extension reads less like a routine personnel note than a clear signal that Indiana sees him as central to what comes next. [Read more 🡒]