Is This Indiana Team the Greatest Ever? Behind Curt Cignetti’s Stunning College Football Turnaround
Indiana football is 15-0 and one win away from a national title - and yes, that’s a sentence worth reading twice.
The Hoosiers, long considered an afterthought in college football's power structure, are now on the brink of immortality. They’ve stormed through the season like a team with something to prove - and then some - outscoring opponents by an eye-popping average of 42.6 to 11.1.
In the playoff, they dismantled Alabama 38-3 and rolled past Oregon 56-22. And believe it or not, those scores don’t even do justice to how dominant Indiana looked in those games.
So how did a program with one bowl appearance in three decades and just three winning seasons since 1994 suddenly become the biggest story in college football?
The answer starts - and maybe ends - with head coach Curt Cignetti.
From Afterthought to Alpha
When Cignetti arrived in Bloomington in 2023, Indiana football was in rough shape. The Hoosiers had just wrapped up three straight losing seasons (2-10, 4-8, 3-9), and the idea of competing for a Big Ten title - let alone a national championship - felt like a distant dream.
Fast forward to now, and Indiana has won 26 of its last 28 games, captured its first Big Ten title in 60 years, and is one win away from the program’s first national championship in 127 years of existence. That’s not just a turnaround - it’s a resurrection.
Cignetti’s overall head coaching record is now 145-37, and he’s done it the hard way: building winners at every stop, from Indiana University of Pennsylvania (53-17) to Elon (14-9) to James Madison (52-9), before taking on what looked like an impossible job at Indiana.
The Saban Coaching Tree Strikes Again
Cignetti is part of the ever-growing Nick Saban coaching tree - a fraternity that seems to be taking over the sport. Five of the 12 head coaches in this year’s College Football Playoff had spent time on Saban’s Alabama staff, including Georgia’s Kirby Smart, Oregon’s Dan Lanning, Ole Miss’s Pete Golding (and Lane Kiffin during the regular season), Miami’s Mario Cristobal, and Indiana’s own Cignetti.
After a season under Saban, Cignetti took the head coaching job at IUP - against Saban’s advice, no less. But that decision set him on a path that would eventually bring him to Bloomington, where he’s now leading what some are calling the most remarkable turnaround in modern college football history.
Smarter, Not Harder
So what’s the secret sauce?
It starts on the practice field - or, more accurately, off it. NCAA rules allow 20 hours of practice per week, and while most coaches gripe that it’s not enough, Cignetti uses only about six of those hours for on-field work.
The rest is spent in walk-throughs, film study, and situational prep. It’s all about maximizing mental reps and keeping players fresh.
“My practices have probably gotten even shorter through the years,” Cignetti said. “We do everything we can to prepare the team fully but keep them fresh and healthy.”
That approach is paying dividends. Indiana is the second-least penalized team in the country, averaging just 3.7 flags per game despite playing more games than most of the field. That kind of discipline doesn’t happen by accident.
The Hoosiers play fast, physical, and relentless - but they do it with control. Slogans like “Work smarter, not harder” and “Brain over brawn” aren’t just wall decorations; they’re the foundation of the program’s identity.
Built Through the Portal, Not the Rankings
Indiana isn’t doing this with five-star recruits. In fact, the roster doesn’t include a single one. The Hoosiers have just seven four-star players - far fewer than Oregon (52), Ole Miss (33), or Miami (40), the other semifinalists.
What Indiana does have is experience. For the 2024 season, Cignetti brought in 30 scholarship players through the transfer portal - including 13 who followed him from James Madison.
All but one starter on offense and one on defense have four or five years of Division I experience. This is a grown-man football team, with an average age of 23 - older than eight NFL teams this season.
By the time these players arrive in Bloomington, they’ve already been battle-tested. They may not have been five-star recruits out of high school, but they’ve developed into high-level talent through years of college football. And under Cignetti’s system, they’ve found a home where experience meets execution.
Culture Over Everything
At the heart of Indiana’s rise is a culture rooted in consistency, leadership, and belief.
“It’s been kind of surreal,” Cignetti said. “But you get it done with the right people, properly led. We’ve been fortunate to have great staff continuity, and then down in the locker room we’ve got a lot of older guys that have high character, great leadership traits.”
That leadership shows up every Saturday. The Hoosiers don’t just show up - they show out.
They play like a team that’s prepared, confident, and locked in. And that’s no accident.
It’s the product of a blueprint that Cignetti has refined over 15 years - one that values preparation, discipline, and experience over hype and headlines.
One Win Away
Now, Indiana stands on the doorstep of history. One more win would complete a perfect season and deliver a national championship to a program that, not long ago, was just trying to stay relevant.
Whether this team is the greatest ever? That debate will rage on.
But what’s not up for debate is this: Curt Cignetti has built something truly special in Bloomington. And if this is just the beginning, college football might need to get used to Indiana being a whole lot more than a basketball school.