Indiana’s national title has been sitting in the background for Marcus Freeman all offseason, and not exactly in a comfortable way.
The Hoosiers and Fighting Irish don’t cross paths often, even with both programs planted in the same state. Their football relationship is odd and limited - just 30 meetings since the first one in 1898 - and the schools have long lived in different worlds. Indiana’s rivalry energy has always pointed toward Purdue, while Notre Dame built its identity against the likes of USC, Michigan and Miami.
The divide goes beyond the field, too. Indiana is a public school.
Notre Dame is private. Indiana has far less football history.
Notre Dame has more than almost anybody. Indiana sits in the southern part of the state, while Notre Dame is about as far north as Indiana gets.
And then there’s the part Freeman can’t ignore: Indiana is a national champion, while Notre Dame is still chasing its first title since 1988.
Freeman was asked about that during a recent appearance on ESPN’s First Take, with Stephen A. Smith pointing out how close the two schools are. Freeman made clear he respects what Curt Cignetti has built in Bloomington, but he also didn’t hide the message it sends to his own program.
“It doesn’t happen by luck,” Freeman said. “It’s work, it’s put in.
And now I don’t love that being up the road a couple hours. We’ve gotta make sure we’re putting our program in a position to do that.
But you’ve gotta take your hat off and give credit where credit’s due.”
Freeman saw Cignetti’s team up close in the first year of the Indiana coach’s tenure, when the Hoosiers knocked Notre Dame out in the first round of the 2024 College Football Playoff. Indiana then turned that defeat into fuel, brought back several starters and rolled to a 16-0 season in 2025.
Freeman has already lived with big expectations since taking over Notre Dame before the 2022 season. Now, with Indiana beating the Irish to the championship punch, those expectations only get louder.
In Other News...
Big Ten Commissioner Just Said What Indiana Fans Have Waited To Hear
Tony Petitti spent Big Ten Media Days making sure Indiana heard the praise it has earned. The commissioner pointed to the Hoosiers 2025 national championship season as proof of how far the program has come under Curt Cignetti, and he framed the turnaround as one of the leagues better success stories after Indiana started flashing real momentum in 2024.
For Hoosier fans, the bigger takeaway is that the conference office is openly embracing what has happened in Bloomington. Petitti said the Big Ten is pleased with the way Indianas rise has played out and with the response it has created on Saturdays, a notable shift for a program that spent so long trying to break into the sports upper tier. [Read more 🡒]
Dan Lanning Just Raised The Stakes On Oregons Title Chase
Dan Lanning used the stage at Big Ten Media Days to frame Oregons title pursuit as less of a leap than a continuation, saying the Ducks are close after building a program that has already stacked up major wins and reached the College Football Playoff in back-to-back seasons. He pointed to the grind of assembling a championship roster and made clear that the Ducks recent run has created the kind of foundation coaches spend years trying to establish.
For Indiana, the larger takeaway is the company Lanning put himself in while talking about the sports current elite. He cited the small group of active coaches who have already won national championships and used Curt Cignetti as the outlier in that conversation, a reminder of how narrow the path still is even for a program with Oregons momentum. Lanning stopped short of promising a trophy, but he did make the stakes plain: the Ducks believe they are in the window now, and the next step has to be more than just getting close again. [Read more 🡒]
Curt Cignetti Is About To Address Indiana's 3 Biggest Fears
Curt Cignetti is set to take the stage at the 2026 Big Ten Football Media Days in Chicago, and for Indiana fans, the timing makes his session feel especially important. After a spring that was affected by injuries, the Hoosiers are still waiting for a clearer picture on health, while the program itself has moved into a new phase after a national championship season that changed the conversation around what comes next.
The questions hanging over Indiana are bigger than one summer appearance. Fans want to know whether the staff can get through the injury uncertainty, whether the mindset has shifted from building the program to sustaining it, and how much confidence Cignetti has in keeping the offense on script after major personnel turnover. Those answers are still to come, which is exactly why his Chicago availability figures to draw so much attention. [Read more 🡒]