A new national champion has been crowned in college football, and it once again has a home in the Big Ten. The Indiana Hoosiers completed college football’s first 16-0 season witha. 27-21 victory over the Miami Hurricanes in Monday night’s College Football Playoff national championship. It is the first national championship in Indiana’s program history and finishes a remarkable turnaround story for the ages in college sports.
Indiana’s incredible run is a testament to the importance of a coaching hire for a college football program. Curt Cignetti was hired just two offseasons ago and he immediately turned the Hoosiers into a winning program with two consecutive College Football Playoff appearances. After many considered Indiana a nice story that was destined for an early playoff exit in the 2024 season, Cignetti made sure everyone knew Indiana was not a one-hit wonder. From the day he was introduced as head coach of Indiana, the Hoosiers commanded respect and they now have it in spades.
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Indiana had national championship moments on offense, defense, and special teams in the biggest game of the year, and they were needed on a night where Indiana was vulnerable. But it was the leadership and winning mentality of its head coach that guided them from start to finish.
Indiana’s national championship is the third-straight College Football Playoff title won by a Big Ten team. Michigan won it all in the 2023 season, and Ohio State took home the championship for the 2024 season. And now, Indiana fulfilled the prophecy many national experts believed would be Penn State’s accomplishment in the 2025 season. It almost feels silly to even think Penn State was the team that was expected to be in Indiana’s position on Monday night when the season got underway. It was supposed to be Drew Allar leading Penn State to a long-awaited national title, not Heisman Trophy-winning Fernando Mendoza and the Hoosiers. Instead, Allar suffered a season-ending injury midway through the year as the prorgam underwent a drastic in-season change.
This was supposed to be the year James Franklin got over the big-game jitters and held the national title trophy above his head. Instead, Franklin was canned midway through the year and is now the head coach at Virginia Tech. Now, the hope in Happy Valley is that Penn State made the right kind of hire to deliver similar results to what Indiana just experienced.
Penn State will bounce back in 2026 under new head coach Matt Campbell, and the winning pedigree is in place. But to this degree? We will have to wait and see. If nothing else, Indiana’s turnaround should be inspiring for Penn State. If Cignetti can turn Indiana into a national powerhouse with help from the transfer portal, then why can’t Penn State do something similar?
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This article originally appeared on Nittany Lions Wire: Indiana wins College Football Playoff national championship
