2024
The first CFP berth
An 11-1 debut under Cignetti — the first playoff appearance in program history
Program prestige
Zeitgeist staturePower Program IIone line from Power Program I
Program outlook
Program outlook
Indiana won the 2025 national championship. The sentence still doesn't read like English.
Since Jun 14: W 20-17 at Nebraska; L 15-19 vs Ohio State; W 13-6 at Michigan; W 23-16 vs Minnesota. 8-1 this season.
Read the full essay — 3 more paragraphs
A basketball school. That's the permanent identifier, the 130-year context for everything that happened next: Bob Knight's banners, Assembly Hall, the Hurryin' Hoosiers. Football was the Tuesday afternoon commitment the other sport tolerated. Then Curt Cignetti arrived from James Madison, Fernando Mendoza won the Heisman, and Indiana went 16-0 — routing Alabama 38-3 in the semifinal and Miami 27-21 in the national final, never trailing once in the playoff.
The fanbase reaction was a specific kind of disbelief: the celebration of people watching something happen to someone else. Indiana fans know the long arc. They know the 11-1 Cignetti debut in 2024 felt like a miracle, and they know what the 130 years before it felt like. The title didn't fully land until months later, when the ring ceremonies started and the Heisman sat in Bloomington. The offseason truth is that disbelief is curdling into something new and unfamiliar: expectation. Cignetti's answer to questions about defending the title — roughly, 'total focus is 2026' — became the program's whole posture.
The 2026 question isn't about legitimacy — that argument ended in the fourth quarter against Miami. The question is whether a program with no muscle memory for this can defend it. Cignetti's blueprint — veteran transfers over recruiting-rank upside, players who absorb coaching immediately — is now the most-copied portal-era model in the sport. Indiana enters the season as the defending champion, favored to return to the CFP, still trying to decide what word describes them now. Not a basketball school. Not a Cinderella. Something new, something the last 130 years didn't prepare the fanbase to name.
On the field
Cignetti's process is the most-studied blueprint in the portal era: proven veteran production over recruiting-ranking upside, a roster built around players who absorb coaching immediately and execute at a high level in year one. The offense under Mendoza is pro-style with enough spread influence to create conflict for Big Ten defenses. The defense is physical and assignment-sound. Memorial Stadium — the Crimson Out — was the quietest big venue in the Big Ten for a century and is now the home of the defending champions.
Indiana has won 1 national title since 1936
2025
How titles are counted
The final AP poll from 1936 and the Coaches poll from 1950 through 2005, then the winner of the BCS and College Football Playoff title games. A program may claim others, named by selectors we do not count.
- 2025: playoff title game
Indiana has won 41% of its games since 1892 — 53% at home, 29% on the road.
517-697-38 all-time · 132 seasons · 1892–2026
Home
337-272-22
Away
171-412-16
Neutral
9-13
50%
1890s
55%
1900s
48%
1910s
40%
1920s
35%
1930s
50%
1940s
31%
1950s
34%
1960s
33%
1970s
42%
1980s
42%
1990s
33%
2000s
40%
2010s
61%
2020s
The CFP era
13 seasons inside the CFP era, no bids yet — the era the program is still trying to break into.
Trajectory · quality-score line · AP rank dotted · CFP bids marked · coach regimes ribboned
Program quality
AP rank (inverted)
CFP appearance
Swipe left for earlier seasons
Indiana’s 2014–2026 record is 84-73.
Curt Cignetti
Curt Cignetti is in year 3. The methodology is taking shape.
Era Curt Cignetti · 2024–presentPrev: Tom Allen (2016–2023)OC: Mike Shanahan / Tino Sunseri (co)Prev OC: Mike Shanahan / Chandler Whitmer (co) (2025)DC: Bryant HainesPrev DC: Chad Wilt (co) / Matt Guerrieri (co) (2023)
3
years · era
Indiana and Purdue, meeting by meeting
Purdue leads the series 75-44-6 (since 1892); Indiana has won the last 2
2025: Indiana won 56-3. After this game, Purdue led 75-44-6.
Last 25 meetings: ▲ Indiana won, ▼ Purdue won, by how much
Each step is one meeting: up when Indiana wins, down when Purdue wins, flat for a tie. Counts every game in our records since 1892. Tap the line for any season.
Indiana in History
Moments in Indiana history
- Indiana 13, Ohio State 10Big Ten Championship · Dec 6, 2025
- Indiana 30, Oregon 20Oct 11, 2025
- Ohio State 38, Indiana 15Nov 23, 2024
What this program never forgets
Most weeks vanish. These didn’t.
2025
The 16-0 title
Indiana beats Miami 27-21 for its first national championship, never trailing in the playoff — routing Alabama 38-3 and Oregon 56-22 en route
Moment of the year · 2026
Lost 15-19 vs Ohio State
Week 7 of 2026. The single game that defined the season's arc. It turned on one snap in Q4 — Josh Hoover to Nick Marsh, a 27-point win-probability swing.
2022–2026
Indiana has sent 11 players to the NFL Draft since 2022 — 2 of them in the first round.
Steady. Reliable mid-tier pipeline.
11
picks · 2 in round 1
#1
Fernando Mendoza
Quarterback · 2026 · 
Las Vegas Raiders · #3/146 final season
Las Vegas Raiders · #3/146 final season
Succeeded by Grant Wilson
#30
Omar Cooper Jr.
Wide Receiver · 2026 · 
New York Jets · #13/485 final season
New York Jets · #13/485 final season
Succeeded by Tyler Morris · 4★
#50
D'Angelo Ponds
Cornerback · 2026 · New York Jets · #37/364 final season
New York Jets · #37/364 final season
#55 all-time · 12 first-round picksthe talent factory →
More in this tab
Program facts
Program résumé
2CFP apps
Ladder finish
Season standing · 2026 · 8-1 · CFP #4 / AP #6
Season standing · 2026 · 8-1 · CFP #4 / AP #6Indiana is 4th in the CFP poll at 8-1 — a CFP contender.
Top 5 / CFP-contender. A real championship case is on the table.
CFP contender
Sub-FBSBuildingBowlRankedContenderPlayoff
Conference
Big Ten standing · 2026
2nd in the Big Ten
Indiana is 2nd in the Big Ten at 5-1. 1 team above — that's the direct path to the title game.
| # | Program | Record |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | UCLA | 5-0 |
| 2 | Indiana | 5-1 |
| 3 | Ohio State | 4-1 |
| 4 | USC | 4-2 |
| 5 | Illinois | 3-2 |
| 6 | Iowa | 3-2 |
| 7 | Minnesota | 3-2 |
| 8 | Northwestern | 3-2 |
| 9 | Oregon | 3-2 |
| 10 | Wisconsin | 3-2 |
| 11 | Michigan | 2-3 |
| 12 | Nebraska | 2-3 |
| 13 | Purdue | 2-3 |
| 14 | Washington | 2-3 |
| 15 | Penn State | 1-4 |
| 16 | Rutgers | 1-4 |
| 17 | Maryland | 0-5 |
| 18 | Michigan State | 0-5 |
Coaching history
Coaching history
- Hired Curt Cignetti
- Tom Allen departs
- Hired Tom Allen
- Kevin Wilson departs
- Hired Kevin Wilson
- Bill Lynch departs
- Hired Bill Lynch
- Terry Hoeppner departs
Coordinator lineage
Indiana’s offense and defense, by coordinator
FBS-relative efficiency percentile per season (2014–2026), same population as the Coordinator Mirror board. Dashed vertical lines mark a coordinator change.
Offense2014–2026
2014–2016 · Kevin Johns2017–2018 · Mike DeBord2019 · Kalen DeBoer2020–2021 · Grant Heard (co) / Nick Sheridan2022 · Walt Bell (co) / Adam Henry (co)2023 · Walt Bell (interim)2024 · Mike Shanahan / Tino Sunseri (co)2025 · Mike Shanahan / Chandler Whitmer (co)2026 · Mike Shanahan / Tino Sunseri (co)
Defense2014–2026
2014–2015 · Brian Knorr2016 · Tom Allen2017–2018 · Mark Hagen2019 · Kane Wommack2020 · Kane Wommack / Kevin Peoples (co)2021 · Charlton Warren / Kevin Peoples (co)2022 · Chad Wilt2023 · Chad Wilt (co) / Matt Guerrieri (co)2024–2026 · Bryant Haines
Elite (≥70th pct)AveragePoor (≤30th pct)
Gameday customs
Rituals
Three gameday rituals — the ones outsiders never quite catch.
Curt Cignetti Era (2024-)
since 2024
more
Curt Cignetti arrived from James Madison and produced one of the most-improbable back-to-back transformations in CFB history. Year one: 11-1, first CFP appearance. Year two: 16-0, national champion. Fernando Mendoza won the Heisman. Indiana beat Alabama 38-3 and Miami 27-21 in the title game. The basketball school never fully believed it was happening — even after the trophy arrived.
Old Oaken Bucket (vs Purdue)
since 1925 · trophy game
more
Indiana-Purdue plays for the Old Oaken Bucket — one of the oldest trophy games in CFB. The in-state Big Ten rivalry has produced 90+ meetings since 1925. The trophy's metal-letter chain (P-U for Purdue wins, I-U for Indiana) makes each season's outcome literally hung on the trophy.
Memorial Stadium Crimson Out
since 1960
more
Memorial Stadium (52,000 capacity) tailgates with the crimson-out fan dress code became season-changing visuals during the 2024 11-win run. The crimson-on-the-field aesthetic is uniquely Indiana — no other Big Ten program uses the same shade in the same density.
Cultural identity
2025 W
2025 W
2025 W
2020 LReddit blowups
r/CFB moments
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All-time top community posts
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