Indiana football’s rise from perennial doormat to national championship game is one of the most unlikely turnaround stories in college football history.
What was the losingest program in FBS history as recently as three months ago has quickly transformed into a juggernaut, going 25-2 in two seasons under coach Curt Cignetti.
This season, the Hoosiers are the lone remaining undefeated team in the FBS, a distinction they kept after a shellacking of Alabama in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1 and a beat down of Oregon in the Peach Bowl in the semifinals of the College Football Playoff on Jan. 9. The championship game is a once unimaginable destination for a program that went 113-204 in the 27 seasons before Cignetti was hired.
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Among the many factors that have led to Indiana’s No. 1 ranking this season has been a dynamic offense that’s averaging 41.6 points per game, the third-best mark in the FBS, and features quarterback Fernando Mendoza, the first Heisman Trophy winner in Indiana history.
