INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — From the moment Curt Cignetti took Indiana’s head coaching job, he made it clear this would be a different program.
He refused to tolerate any moral victories or close calls and instead expected to win, to win big and win immediately.
In just 737 days, he turned what had been the Football Bowl Subdivision’s losingest program into the nation’s No. 1 seed heading into the playoffs, a legitimate championship contender and a Big Ten champion for the first time since 1967.
“I think we were a year late,” he joked as the trophy presentation began following Saturday night’s 13-10 win over No. 1 Ohio State.
To the rest of the college football world, Cignetti’s incredible turnaround has come so quickly, it’s likely to lift the expectations of every program in America.
He took over a team that had endured three consecutive losing seasons since qualifying for a bowl game and brashly dared anyone who thought he couldn’t win to Google him. The former Nick Saban assistant delivered quickly, winning a school record 11 games and taking the Hoosiers to their first playoff appearance in Year 1.
The doubters didn’t think Cignetti or the Hoosiers could come anywhere near replicating that kind of success this season.
But they’ve been even better in 2025. At 13-0, the Hoosiers are the last unbeaten team in major college football and have their first outright championship since 1945.
By beating the Buckeyes (12-1) in Indianapolis, they ended the nation’s longest active winning streak at 16 and the Big Ten’s longest winning streak in a series. When they beat then No. 3 Oregon (11-1) in October, they ended the nation’s longest active regular season winning streak and the nation’s longest active home winning streak.
In between they shed the label of FBS’ losingest program, gladly handing the title to Northwestern. And now they have their first win over Ohio State since 1988, snapping a 30-year losing streak by winning their first conference crown in more than half a century.
Not enough? Cignetti earned his second straight Big Ten Coach of the Year Award this week, Fernando Mendoza became the first Hoosier to be named the Big Ten’s top quarterback since 2001, and Mendoza also appears poised to become the first Indiana player to win the Heisman Trophy after adding two more signature moments to his resume.
His perfectly placed 17-yard TD pass to Elijah Sarratt on the sideline gave Indiana a 13-10 lead midway through the third quarter, and he sealed the win with an incredible 33-yard pass to Charlie Becker on third down with about two minutes to go — all after getting hurt on the first play of the game.
“Although I got hit, I never was going to stay down,” Mendoza said. “I’d die for my brothers on that field.”
Naturally, the brash-talking Cignetti went for it, too, and Mendoza made him look like a genius.
“I wasn’t going to play not to lose,” Cignetti said.
How good has Indiana been during his two-year tenure?
They are now 24-2, the only losses coming at Ohio State and at Notre Dame last season, the two teams that played in the national championship game. Cignetti and his players have each spoken about what they learned from those experiences and how it helped steel them for the mission they’ve been on this season, and he’s already had his contract extended twice.
Indiana heads into the playoffs with an offense and defense ranked the top five in scoring and that managed to beat Ohio State at its usual game — physically playing keep away, wearing down opponents and holding them out of the end zone.
Now a new journey begins for Cignetti and a school far more renowned for winning national titles in men’s basketball, men’s soccer and swimming and diving. Football has never come close — until now. And these Hoosiers believe they have what it takes to continue what seemed unthinkable just two years ago.
“It means a lot, we played for each other,” linebacker Isaiah Jones said of winning the championship. “For any of the doubters out there, this was the final nail in the coffin.”
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