As little as five years ago, if you told someone Indiana University football took the National Title, that person would probably respond by saying: “Don’t you mean basketball?”
But fast forward to 2026, and the Indiana Hoosiers just completed one of the best runs toward a National Championship. Coming into the season, the Hoosiers were the No. 19-ranked team, but by the end of the season, they were running away with playoff games.
Sermersheim_mug
Sermersheim
The story is something remarkable. For those who don’t know, Curt Cignetti came from James Madison University and brought most of his team with him. During his introduction to a school that has a deep basketball history, he told the students that Purdue, Ohio State and Michigan sucked and that he was going to beat them.
Cignetti did all that and more, as the Hoosiers took down No. 1 Ohio State, dominated Alabama and Oregon in the playoffs and took the College Football Playoffs. Now in two seasons, the Hoosiers went from the gutters of college football history to the very tippy-top of the mountain, sitting as the team to beat.
But something that may go without saying is this run isn’t possible without the changes of the transfer rules and the fact that players are paid in college now. Last season, when the Hoosiers made the playoffs, it opened the floodgates this season for donors to put a boatload of money into the team.
Led by a deep alumni base and namely former Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, this season, the Hoosiers had a $21.1 million roster and landed the first Heisman winner in school history in the transfer portal in Fernando Mendoza.
While Ohio State won last year’s title as one of the bluebloods of football, it’s now open season for any team to take the title. The days of bluebloods like Ohio State, Alabama and LSU dominating college football are over. The SEC hasn’t even won a title in college football in the past three seasons – something that was unheard prior to the new rules.
Going forward, there are teams that are going to try and replicate the magic of the Hoosiers – and it won’t be easy, but it will be possible.
Think of a team like Oklahoma State University, which has had some success but has fallen on hard times. They hired someone, I think, who is similar to Cignetti in Eric Morris. The former University of North Texas head coach was one of the best coaches in the lower levels of D1 football, and with him came a lot of his talent from his old team.
Those transfers might not seem like a big deal, but a key part of the Hoosiers’ success was having JMU players follow along with their head coach, and seemingly they had no problems adjusting to the top of D1.
A win like this is not only going to energize programs, but also engage the alumni and potential donor base for schools that haven’t had the best time in college football. Donors are going to try and see their former universities at the top of the football world.
If there are any people still against the transfer rules and NIL, I’ll say this is proof there are positive changes in the college football world.