ATLANTA — Doesn’t Indiana know that college football programs bursting onto the national scene are supposed to hit their once-in-a-lifetime peak and go back to where they came from?
That’s what the history of the sport says.
The blue bloods might wobble and even collapse, but over the course of time they bounce back and sustain. The new bloods? They come and go, usually because they got there with a special quarterback who can’t be replaced or a coach whose magic can’t be replicated. The stars don’t stay aligned forever.
But as No. 1 Indiana prepared for Friday’s College Football Playoff semifinal against No. 5 Oregon, we need to confront a strange reality.
This might be the new Hoosier normal.
See, Indiana hasn’t just been rolling through the postseason over the last month. The Hoosiers have also been crushing it in the transfer portal, landing what On3 has ranked the No. 2 transfer class so far. It suggests Curt Cignetti has done something this season just as hard as winning games: He’s transformed Indiana into a hot program for recruits.
“Football-wise, Coach Cig, you see the body of work that he has, the people that he develops, seeing the success he’s had all the way from where he’s been, it’s something that you want to be a part of,” Indiana receiver Elijah Sarratt said. “Then you come to this campus and meet him and what he’s saying, you really believe what you can do. The stuff you get in his office on a visit, he’s telling you this and that, but it’s actually true. You commit, you come in, and then what he’s preaching is actually what you’re doing.”
As we know, recruiting guarantees nothing. Portal classes go bust all the time. If talent projections automatically meant results, we wouldn’t have a final four of Indiana (preseason No. 20), Oregon (preseason No. 7), Miami (preseason No. 10) and Ole Miss (preseason No. 21).
But anyone who thought Indiana was going away after this two-year Cignetti spike is probably going to be wrong.
I’ll raise my hand as guilty on all charges.
I admired Indiana’s turnaround a year ago but thought it was at least somewhat a product of drawing a weak Big Ten schedule and opponents being caught by surprise. Once the Hoosiers got a target on their back, Cignetti couldn’t possibly do it again, right?
Yeah, this time around he did it way better.
The next knock on Indiana’s success, one that continues even now to an extent, is age. It’s true that the guys who came with Cignetti from James Madison are older, experienced, cohesive in a way that is difficult to build organically in an era when players are transferring in and out of programs at whiplash speed.
There are a lot of 22-, 23- and 24-year-olds on that Indiana roster, and the Hoosiers’ offense plays juniors and seniors almost exclusively. That probably explains, at least in part, why everything Indiana does looks so crisp and why it ranks No. 2 nationally in fewest penalty yards per game at 27.1.
“I feel like having veterans on the field makes our job easy because we have that sense to where we’ve been through it before,” said running back Roman Hemby, 23, who transferred in from Maryland. “We kind of have that mentality where we don’t flinch. Being older, I think it does help us to know that we’ve been through it. We’re battle-tested. We play for one another. I feel like that really helps us to experience that grit feeling. That helps us to win those games.”
It’s true that Cignetti’s job will get harder next year once most of those JMU transfers and a lot of the other high-impact transfers like Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza cycle out of the program.
But when you look at how Indiana is currently cleaning up in the portal with players like receiver Nick Marsh (Michigan State), running back Turbo Richard (Boston College), edge rusher Tobi Osunsanmi (Kansas State) and quarterback Josh Hoover (TCU) — all among the highest-rated transfers at their position — it suggests that Indiana has a dangerous combination of recruiting momentum and money to spend.
Given the track record, Cignetti probably isn’t putting it to waste.
“Coach Cig’s player evaluation is special,” Indiana linebacker Isaiah Jones said. “Obviously he doesn’t always go after the big shiny guys. He just wants guys that he knows can play. And if you can play, he wants you. And the second part of that is just the human being behind the pads. He’s going to bring in guys that mold well in the locker room, guys that are team players.”
Of course, even giving all credit to Cignetti’s brilliance as a coach and program-builder, none of this is possible without resources.
Indiana signaled it would continue being serious about football when it gave Cignetti an eight-year, $93 million extension in October shortly after the Penn State job opened up. And we know that Indiana’s heaviest hitters, including alum Mark Cuban, are helping fund the roster. Cuban, who has not offered a blank check for Indiana’s athletic wish lists over the years, told Front Office Sports in an email that he committed an amount for the transfer portal that makes the school “happier this year than last year.”
That’s what sustainable programs do. That’s what’s required now. And Indiana is clearly prepared to continue playing the game at that level.
“I feel like our culture has definitely changed,” running back Kaelon Black said. “We’re just going to keep getting better as we go.”
Of course, now that the semifinals are upon is, the future moves to the back burner for a few days. The Hoosiers have played the biggest game in the history of their program several times this season and will do so at least once more Friday night. If Indiana wins the national title on Jan. 19, it will stand out as a unique and cherished moment in a sport where few could have conceived of the possibility. For all the administrative messiness off the field in college sports, truly anything is possible on the field.
Including the likelihood that Indiana is here to stay.
Entering today, Cignetti was the only coach in college football history to have survived a first round bye in the College Football Playoff to advance to the Semifinals. Today, Cignetti became the first coach to win a rematch against a power conference opponent in the College Football Playoff.
On the first play from scrimmage, D’Angelo Ponds jumped a short route from Dante Moore for an interception that he returned 25 yards for a touchdown. The Ducks tied it on the following drive, but that was as close as things got for the rest of the night.
Heisman in hand, Fernando Mendoza put on a master class, completing 17 of his 20 passes for 177 yards and five touchdowns. Elijah Sarratt was his favorite target, catching passes early and often to move the chains in the first half. Sarratt ended the night with seven catches for 75 yards and two touchdowns.
After surrendering a touchdown and looking a little listless on the second drive, Bryant Haines unit did its part in the first half to put up a lopsided score, forcing two fumbles, two punts, and a missed field goal in the second quarter.
The Ducks showed a little fight in the third quarter, cashing in on a two-play, 75-yard drive that was mostly just one big Dierre Hill Jr. run for 71 yards. On the following four drives, Oregon would punt twice and turn it over on downs twice.
Following such a dominant performance, Indiana will likely enter the National Championship against Miami as heavy favorites. A couple of Hoosier players, including Mikail Kamara, left the game with seemingly minor injuries, but their absence next Monday will be felt if Indiana has to go any deeper in the depth chart.
The Indiana Hoosiers are the only 100-1 shot to have a chance at winning the college football national championship.
