Nights like Monday night were never supposed to happen.
For context, I grew up in Indiana, one county east of South Bend (in the hometown of Rick Mirer, IYKYK). So the shadow of Touchdown Jesus and everything Notre Dame looms quite large in my childhood. But I’m the type to generally zig when everyone else zags, so I didn’t get into the Fighting Irish. As a child of the 80s, the games I vividly remember involved Notre Dame vs. Miami (Catholics vs. Convicts), Notre Dame vs. Florida St. (Game of the Century), and Florida St. vs. Miami (Wide Right, the trilogy). For whatever reason, my fandom lay with the Seminoles, which still exists today.
You’ll notice I didn’t mention Indiana football there. That’s because, well, there’s not much to say.
Sure, there have been great players. Names like Anthony Thompson and Antwaan Randle El are prominent if you are over the age of 35, but good luck filling out the rest of that Indiana Football Mount Rushmore. While they were great players and in the Heisman discussion for their time, their teams never made a dent in the Big Ten landscape that was usually dominated by the Michigans and Ohio States of the world. Randle El never even made it to a bowl game despite finishing 6th in the Heisman voting in 2001. And even 44-year-old me can barely remember Anthony Thompson. So I guess if you are Googling Indiana University football figures, add him to the list.
The winningest coach in Hoosier football history is Bill Mallory, who coached from 1984 to 1996. His win total? 69. While that is a very nice number, he also had 77 losses, so not even he was better than average. Success has been measured not in Rose Bowls but in Copper Bowls, a game that doesn’t even exist anymore. If you win the Old Oaken Bucket, you had a successful season.
All that to say, Indiana football was a way to pass the time until basketball season started. That is, until December 2023.
It started with an introduction during an Indiana basketball game, when this incredibly cocky sounding Italian came out on the court and proclaimed that Purdue sucked (true), but so did Michigan and Ohio State (very much not true). It was easy to treat it as another “OK Boomer” situation, but then Curt Cignetti doubled down with his infamous “I win. Google Me.” quote.
However, football games are not determined on Google. People in Bloomington needed to see proof of concept. I won’t rehash the schedule the last two years, but dominant wins over middle-of-the-pack conference foes left mainstream media unconvinced. Little did we know that a superpower was emerging, whether people liked it or not.
It was easy to look at an 11-2 season last year and expect a regression. But I was personally thinking 7, maybe 8 wins. Instead, Cignetti and the boys leveled up. I guess you can only hear “we don’t belong” so many times. Road wins at Oregon and Penn State, culminating with a Big Ten Title win over the Buckeyes, generally put an end to those comments, unless your name is Paul Finebaum.
So how did Indiana do this? Well, they took the changing landscape of college football and used it to their advantage. A transfer portal where anyone can go anywhere they want? Cool, Cignetti brought half the team that made him successful enough to be considered for this job in the first place. There was no guarantee it would work out, it was still a transition from Sun Belt power James Madison to the Big Ten. But continuity matters.
An NIL world that allows players to be paid? Bet. Indiana has one of the smartest investors in the world, Mark Cuban, as one of their graduates. (If you don’t know, Kelley School of Business is one of the most prominent business schools in the country.) Of all the dumb Shark Tank investments he has made, this is one of the best.
Players transferring as they see fit plus an ability to get paid equals the opportunity to turn things around pretty quickly. But it’s not enough to spend money, you have to do it wisely. Enter the lovable goofball that is Fernando Mendoza. Sure, his interviews are a bit cringe, but that man can spin a football. And getting him to commit (with thanks to his brother, who was enrolled at IU) took this team to the next level.
The good news for Hoosier fans — and bad news for the rest of the Big Ten — this is very much sustainable. We have former TCU QB Josh Hoover committed for next year, and we’ve reloaded among skill positions and the defense. Plus, we now have high schoolers seeing what is going on and committing. Don’t hate the player, hate the game.
Speaking of games, as far as this one will go, it is easy to say that Indiana is a freight train and Miami is just in the way. And a part of me feels that way. But the Hurricanes do have more pros on the offensive and defensive lines than anyone we have faced all season (Ohio State included). Not to mention freshman WR Malachi Toney being an absolute problem with his speed, the likes of which haven’t been seen all season. But there is something special about this Hoosier team.
You have Mendoza going back to his hometown for a chance to win a national title. That lends itself to a storybook ending on its own. But I also want to remind everyone what happened Week One of the college football season.
If you recall, beloved college football figure Lee Corso made his final appearance on GameDay. His health struggles have been well-documented, but you won’t find someone who loves college football as much as him. And where is he most known to have coached?
The Indiana Hoosiers.
He is not expected to be at the game. Ray Lewis and Michael Irvin couldn’t handle that much aura. But it just feels like a full circle moment to cap off his college football career.
I have been watching college football for almost 40 years. I grew up hating Miami. Running out of the smoke. A bird mascot for some reason. Beating my childhood favorite team time after time by a missed field goal. And I have recently seen teams like TCU and Washington come out of nowhere to make a national title appearance. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect Indiana to have their turn.
I know what the point spread is. But you will never convince me that Indiana is Goliath and The U is David. And maybe, just maybe, a perfect storm hits Hurricane country Monday night.
