On paper, it’s the most Cinderella story ever told.
Indiana’s meteoric rise from college football’s floor to its summit is straight out of a fairy tale. The advent of name, image and likeness, conference expansion and the transfer portal were supposed to eliminate the little guy. Yet, the basketball school in Bloomington used the changing landscape as steppingstones for the unimaginable.
The once-losingest program in the history of the sport is playing in the College Football Playoff National Championship.
As red and white confetti fluttered to a green canvas for the second time in 10 days, the Hoosiers celebrated their 56-22 decimation of Oregon in the Peach Bowl on Friday. For a program that hadn’t won a bowl game in 34 years, two such wins in two weeks seemed Cinderella enough.
But after the game redshirt junior quarterback Fernando Mendoza offered a contrasting sentiment.
“Although social media before the year was like, ‘Oh, Cinderella story,’ we all had the internal belief in the facility, behind closed doors,” he said. “I believe that's what helped us propel us to this moment.”
Put simply, Cinderella tells the story of a life of poverty that suddenly becomes one of remarkable fortune. The poverty part could easily apply to Indiana’s past; there’s over 700 losses to back that up. But it wasn’t fortune that dragged the Hoosiers out of the rubble. It was head coach Curt Cignetti.
Sophomore receiver Charlie Becker recalled him taking over the helm with a simple message: “Hey, we’re going to win.” It’s easier said than done, but that’s all that’s happened since.
It was a fun story when Indiana went 11-2 in Cignetti’s first season, some just chalked it up to a fluke. The Hoosiers’ win over Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship on Dec. 6 proved that David could beat Goliath. But just over a month later, a different realization has dawned on the college football world — David has become Goliath.
Factoring in its 38-3 win over the University of Alabama in the Rose Bowl, Indiana has outscored its last two opponents by a 69-point margin. That’s the widest margin of victory in a two-game CFP stretch since the format’s introduction in 2014. The Hoosiers aren’t just winning, they're making playoff teams look like non-conference tune ups.
Indiana is unbeaten, sure, but at this point, I’m convinced this team is unbeatable.
Mendoza is the best player in college football. If you disagree, I urge you to open your eyes. In the CFP, he’s completed 31 of his 36 passes for eight touchdowns and remained turnover-free. Mendoza was so pinpoint accurate against the Ducks that I questioned why I ever attempted to even hold a football, much less throw one.
The Hoosiers are the best coached team in college football. They won’t hurt themselves with self-imposed mistakes, and to make matters worse, consistently force opponents into mist. Cignetti leads the most disciplined team in the nation. Defensive coordinator Bryant Haines’ scheme haunts opposing quarterbacks in their sleep and may also have telekinetic powers — just ask Oregon’s redshirt sophomore quarterback Dante Moore, who was strip sacked by his own running back.
Yes, senior linebacker Aiden Fisher is going to tackle you in the backfield for a 3-yard loss and wag his finger. Yes, Becker is going to jump over you for a 30-yard highlight-reel touchdown catch. And yes, junior cornerback D’Angelo Ponds will send the stadium into a deafening uproar once a game with a momentum swinging turnover. Oh, what’s that? He’ll also line up as a receiver and play on both sides of the ball too. How wonderful.
Somehow, someway, Indiana is playing its best football 15 games into a grueling season. It doesn’t quite make sense, and yet, despite injuries and the wear and tear that comes with facing elite competition, it's the Hoosiers’ reality.
Everything I’ve mentioned is challenging enough to compete against, but Indiana fans have made it a habit to turn neutral site games into home ones. That was obvious among the 75,604-person crowd inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium, primarily wearing Crimson.
“Hoosier Nation is the best fanbase in the entirety of college football,” redshirt junior left tackle Carter Smith said. “They have traveled so well for us and they’ve been dying to see something like this.”
But beyond all else, the biggest piece of Indiana’s success — belief. Don’t take it from me, Mendoza expressed it, Becker said it too and even Cignetti admitted it’s the root cause of the program’s turnaround.
“The bottom line really in this business is you gotta get everybody to think alike,” Cignetti said. “And if you can get everybody thinking alike, focused on the same thing, you can accomplish anything.”
The Hoosiers have now accomplished almost everything. All that’s left is a showdown with the University of Miami on the game’s biggest stage. It’s almost unbelievable. Smith said the realization that his next game will be the national championship might set in on the bus ride back to the airport; sophomore defensive lineman Daniel Ndukwe said it might come when he wakes up in the morning.
Regardless, it's true. On Jan. 19, Indiana will play the biggest game in the program’s 127-year history. On paper, it’s the most Cinderella story ever told, but sometimes paper doesn’t do it justice.
“I don’t know that we’d call it Cinderella,” Smith said. “I’d start calling us the bell of the ball.”
Who would’ve thought it? Indiana football, “the bell of the ball.”
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.
