On Jan. 19, Indiana football will play in the College Football Playoff National Championship. Imagine saying that sentence to someone three years ago. Any sane person would laugh at you or maybe even cackle at the ridiculous nature of the absurd scenario.
But it’s true.
The Hoosiers are set to suit up against the University of Miami at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, in the national championship. One of the best stories in the history of sports can potentially conclude with a storybook ending — with Indiana hoisting college football’s most coveted prize.
The stakes couldn’t be higher. It’s the school’s biggest sporting event since the Hoosiers’ basketball program capped off its 32-0 undefeated season in the 1976 NCAA Tournament championship game. Fifty years after Indiana cemented perfection on the hardwood, it has a chance to do the same on the gridiron.
For Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti, that line of thought is dangerous.
“The biggest mistake our guys can make — and I'll talk to them tonight in the team meeting about this — is making this game bigger than it is and going down that road,” Cignetti said during his media availability Monday. “That would be detrimental to our preparation and our performance. This week is no different than any other week.”
Making this game bigger than it is?
For goodness’ sake, this is the biggest game Indiana football has ever played. This game is the difference between riding off into the sunset as the sport’s most unlikely champion and ending the season with a bitter taste of what could’ve been. This game is everything.
And yet, in spite of that, Cignetti knows the best way to prepare his team is to ignore the circumstances. It’s hard to believe a player could match that expectation. But ask any Hoosier, and they’ll live up to their head coach’s request.
After Indiana’s win over Oregon in the Peach Bowl on Friday, I asked sophomore wide receiver Charlie Becker about the team’s mindset heading into the final game of their season.
“At the end of the day, it’s just another game, and we’re going to prepare the exact same way,” Becker said. “We’re not preparing to play in the national championship; we’re preparing to play Miami.”
That’s a pretty incredible level of tunnel vision for a sophomore, but I believed every word of it. It’s a reflection of Becker, sure, but also of Cignetti. That mindset isn’t built overnight, it's a message the Hoosiers’ head coach has relayed time and time again since he got the job in Fall 2023.
In some ways it's true, the gauntlet that is a Big Ten schedule makes routine a necessity. It's tempting to overdue preparation ahead of a ranked matchup, a tough road environment or a rivalry game, but that leads to overthinking, which results in slip-ups.
In other ways, approaching all games the same is the biggest lie ever told.
It's absurd to assume Indiana will prepare for Miami the same way it did ahead of its 56-3 rout of Purdue on Nov. 28. It’s a lie — one that’s led to a 15-0 record and a spot in the national championship. But you won’t hear any Hoosiers confessing it. Well, maybe all but one.
Maybe it’s because he transferred to Bloomington from Maryland midway through Cignetti’s tenure, or maybe he just has a love for the sentimental, but redshirt senior Roman Hemby couldn’t help but reflect on Indiana’s biggest game.
“To be able to leave my college career with that being my last game,” Hemby said, “it’ll be something that I’ll be able to tell my kids one day.”
It’s a contradiction that will be key for the Hoosiers. It’s a game that Indiana’s players will remember long after they hang up their cleats. It’s a game they’ll tell their kids and grandkids about. It’s a game that means everything. But to win it — they have to pretend it doesn't.
“Just another game” is a lie — and it might be the most important one Indiana football ever tells itself.
Follow reporters Conor Banks (@Conorbanks06 and conbanks@iu.edu) and Dalton James (@DaltonMJames and jamesdm@iu.edu) and columnist Quinn Richards (@Quinn_richa and qmrichar@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana football season.
