The Indiana Hoosiers is a name not well known across the College Football world. You probably have heard about them in basketball where they were much better at. Indiana has seen years of struggle and failure from poor coaching and lack of support from the dear fans of Indiana, but can you blame them Indiana never had a 10-win season in program history. However, things look different today Indiana is currently in the top 5 of the College Football AP polls; but how did they achieve such a feat how the Hoosiers went from one of the most dreadful teams in the BIG 10 to one of College Football’s greatest Cinderella Stories.
To start we need a brief history of Indiana’s football program. The Indiana Hoosiers football program was founded in 1887 where they don’t have a recorded record of that season. However, in 1896, Indiana went 5-3 which was their first recorded season. Indiana never really found great success throughout these early years of the program. Their first great season was in 1945 where the Hoosiers went 9-0-1 and won an outright BIG 10 championship. The Hoosiers also had an impressive season in 1967, going 9-2 and reaching the Rose Bowl where they unfortunately lost to USC. The 1967 season ended up being Indiana’s last memorable season as Indiana started to struggle. From 1967-2023 Indiana only had 5 8-win seasons which is awful. Indiana seemed to be mediocre at best with predictors always having them towards the middle or bottom of the BIG 10 standing every single year. To add on to these sad times in Indiana they have not won a bowl game 1991. Since 1991 they are 0-6 in bowl games. Despite all these sad, horrible seasons that the Hoosiers kept having, they randomly find great success these past few years. This all starts with the hiring of a new head coach before the 2024 College Football season
Enter Curt Cignetti to take over for the Indiana Hoosiers but who is Curt Cignetti. Before he got hired to coach at Indiana Curt was the Head football coach for the James Madison Dukes where he saw great success there. He spent two years at James Madison where he went an incredible 17-2. Helping Kickstart the Dukes in the right direction in the FBS level. Back to Indiana the year prior to the 2024 season Indiana went 3-9 and because of this record they fired head coach Tom Allen. In December of 2023 Indiana made the official move and Hired Coach Cignetti. In his introductory press conference for Indiana Curt Cignetti said “I win. Google me.” Which in my opinion is one was the greatest quotes in sports history. When Curt Cignetti said this, it got Indiana fans fired up as they believed he could be the one to finally bring Indiana out of the trenches and find success. Entering the 2024 season Indiana was predicted to finish towards the bottom of the BIG 10 conference once again with critiques saying they would only win 5 games. Now here’s when thing start to go crazy in Indiana.
To start the season Indiana opened the season up against FIU where they easily defeated them 31-7. After this win Indiana seemed to not slow down they just kept on winning and winning thanks to a new revamped passing offense under QB Kurtis Roarke and a tough defense which helped lead Indiana to start 10-0 their first ever 10-win season in program history. After starting 10-0 Indiana ran into their first real test of the season The Ohio State Buckeyes who ended up winning the National championship that season. Ohio State would end up beating the Hoosiers 38-15, giving Indiana their first loss of the season. Despite this loss Indiana was still hopeful for the playoffs and Curt Cignetti wasn’t going to let this loss end their Cinderella season. The following week Indiana played their rival Purdue who was having an off season that year and Indiana took care of business and ended the regular season 11-1, their best record of all time. This shocked everybody, a team that was supposed to finish towards the bottom of the conference finished with 11 wins and earned themselves a spot in the first ever 12 team playoffs. Where the Hoosiers were set to face the fierce Notre Dame fighting Irish in South bend. To quickly sum up this game it went bad for Indiana they ended up losing this game 27-17 which sadly ended their Cinderella season. Despite this loss the 2024 season was everything Indiana could have hoped for they finally got their winning season and some hope.
In conclusion Indiana is now a well-known name across the College football words thanks to Coach Curt Cignetti who helped bring this team from the ruins and brought them to new heights. Right now, as of October 14, 2025, the Indiana Hoosiers are 6-0 and ranked 3rd in the AP poll. Indiana is now considered a National Champion favorite; just think 2 years ago they only had 3 wins now they are destined for greatness. Hopefully Indiana can continue to show they deserve to be known in the world of College Football.
