Kirk Herbstreit: Indiana fans have so much gratitude for this national championship (2:07)Kirk Herbstreit and Chris Fowler discuss Indiana’s win over Miami and what it means for the Hoosiers. (2:07)
Was no outright Big Ten titles since 1945. Was no appearances in the Big Ten championship game. Zero weeks atop the AP Top 25 poll. No Heisman winners. No Rose Bowl wins. No national titles.
People argue that the multiverse isn’t real. But we now live on a college football timeline where the worst program in the game’s history is now one of the most memorable national champions that history has ever witnessed.
The former captain of his team and honorary captain of this team paused and pointed towards the crowd as they serenaded that Heisman winning QB, Fernando Mendoza, with ABBA’s “Fernando.”
Like Harry Davis of Indianapolis, wearing a red and gold Hickory High T-shirt that he bought from the Hoosier gym in Knightstown, Indiana, where they shot the game scenes for the movie. In giant lettering on the back was Gene Hackman’s quote: “My team is on the floor.”
“But what the hell was I supposed to do?” continued Davis. “Wait and hope the prices came down next year? Do you know how long I’ve been waiting on next year to happen? You think I’m gonna wait for another one?”
Yes sir. What we thought — what everyone outside of the Indiana locker room thought — was just a Cinderella in high top sneakers, a one-season wonder, it now feels like the origin story of a Midwestern monster.
“I will have a beer and I will give myself a day to enjoy this. Maybe. A day sounds too long, doesn’t it?” Cignetti said as a smile finally cracked his now-internet-famous scowl. “No one expected this. Even if they are a believer tonight, I know they aren’t expecting Indiana to keep rolling. So, let’s get to work on that.”
It is also 715 losses, which was the most recorded by any team in the 156 years of college football. Was. It was an all-time bowl record of 3-8. Was. It was zero double-digit win seasons since 1887. Was. It was the promise of so many coaches hired — nine from 1982-2023 — brought to town with so much energy, from Lee Corso and Cam Cameron to Gerry Dinardo to Kevin Wilson to Tom Allen. All flirted with winning, all teased the fanbase with signs of success, but all ultimately left town as just another letdown with another folder full of losing records.
“I know Indiana’s football history has been pretty poor with some good years sprinkled in there,” said coach Curt Cignettil, who removed his team from the top of the all-time loss rankings with a 16-0 season. “It was because there wasn’t an emphasis on football, plain and simple. It’s a basketball school. Coach [Bobby] Knight had great teams. The emphasis [now] is on football. It’s on basketball, too. But you’ve got to be good in football nowadays. … We’ve got a fan base, the largest alumni base in the country, Indiana University. They’re all in. We’ve got a lot of momentum.”
“What I want to do right now is go back to the 1990s and tell everyone that this is going to happen, because they won’t believe it. And I know that because honestly, it’s hard for me to believe it, and I’m standing out here on the field right now,” said Adewale Ogunleye, perhaps the perfect one-man encapsulation of the Indiana football story. A three-time All-Big Ten defensive end and Indiana Athletics Hall of Famer who had an 11-year NFL career that included a first-team Pro Bowl selection. And yet from 1996-99, his four Indiana teams went 13-31 with zero bowl appearances and never finished higher than eight in the conference.
So many were. They made that 1,166 mile drive south over the weekend, many at the last minute and more than many without a ticket. A modern day version of those classic images in the film “Hoosiers.” A conga line of cars and trucks rolling down I-95 into South Florida like they were following the Hickory High bus to Indianapolis for the big game. Inspired by their teams postseason run through the throne rooms of college football royalty, beating Ohio State, Alabama, Oregon, and now a chance to topple The U it’s own backyard.
Davis politely told this nosy reporter that he didn’t want to talk anymore because, well, there was game going on. Same for the Indiana fraternity guys wearing vintage 1991 Final Four T-shirts. “I took mine from my Dad’s closet. The other guys got theirs on the internet.” Same for the Johnson brothers from Terre Haute, who wore the jerseys of the two greatest pre-Mendoza Hoosiers, the quarterback from Ogunleye’s era, pre-internet dual-threat QB sensation Antwaan Randle El and the pride of Terre Haute, running back Anthony Thompson, who finished second in the 1989 Heisman race. “We went with our Dad to Wisconsin and saw Anthony run for four TDs and almost 400 yards,” one of the brothers shouted over the crowd singing The Killers’ “Mr. Brightside.” The other brother added: “That team went 5-6. Welcome to Indiana football.”
Kirk Herbstreit: Indiana fans have so much gratitude for this national championship (2:07)Kirk Herbstreit and Chris Fowler discuss Indiana’s win over Miami and what it means for the Hoosiers. (2:07)
Kirk Herbstreit and Chris Fowler discuss Indiana’s win over Miami and what it means for the Hoosiers. (2:07)