The Hoosiers pulled off their most impressive win in team history on Monday night. Indiana football defeated Miami in the 2026 College Football Playoff National Championship 27-21. It is the first national title in Indiana football history and ends an undefeated season for the Hoosiers. Some are even arguing that Indiana's huge victory transcends college football itself.
College football analyst Joel Klatt declared that the team's undefeated national title run transcends the sport itself.
“College football is not set up for parody. We don't give the best draft picks to the worst programs. In fact, if you're the worst program in the history of college football by overall losses, that generally means that you're going to have a lack of funding, a lack of facilities, a lack of interest,” Klatt said on Monday via The Joel Klatt Show. “It's harder to compete. And he turns it around right away. 27 and two. Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? This is the greatest coaching job in the history of college football. And I think it's going to rival any great coaching job that we've ever seen in any sport ever. And Curt Cignetti has just authored it in Bloomington at Indiana.”
It is difficult to overstate the importance of Monday's win for the Indiana football program. Head coach Curt Cignetti deserves a ton of praise for turning around the program.
The Hoosiers were perennial losers in college football for decades before Cignetti joined the team back in 2023. Now Indiana is the first major college football team since 1894 to go undefeated (16-0) and win a national title.
But now the challenge for Cignetti and Indiana football will be reloading and going back to square one in 2026.
“We’re national champions,” Cignetti said after the game, via On3's Brett McMurphy. “I know Indiana’s history was pretty poor w/some good years sprinkled in there. It was a basketball school. Emphasis is on football now. Have to be good in football now.”
Hoosiers fans have to be excited about what the future holds for their football program. But for now, they should celebrate Monday's historic victory.
