Just over a year ago, Indiana football embarked on a historic journey. The Hoosiers defeated Old Dominion University 27-14 in the 2025 season opener.
Despite the win, Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti left dissatisfied.
On the first play from the line of scrimmage, then-Old Dominion quarterback Colton Joseph scored a 75-yard rushing touchdown. The Cream and Crimson did not score their first offensive touchdown until 3:36 remaining in the second quarter. Indiana had two possessions end without a touchdown inside the Old Dominion 5-yard line before its eventual score.
But, this was one of the rare miscues of Indiana’s season.
A perfect season and a national championship followed.
It has now been almost eight months since the Hoosiers last faced an opponent on the football field. No. 6 Indiana officially begins its title defense against the University of North Texas at noon on Saturday. FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff will be in Bloomington for the occasion, as a sold-out crowd will pack Memorial Stadium.
Here’s what to know about North Texas and how Indiana is approaching the new season:
The new-look Mean Green
North Texas enters the new season after a successful 2025. The Mean Green were ranked in the AP Poll last year for the first time since 1959 after landing the No. 24 spot in the final poll.
But Indiana will face a retooled North Texas roster which returns zero starters from 2025. Its former head coach Eric Morris joined Oklahoma State University and took quarterback Drew Mestemaker — who led the FBS with 4,379 passing yards last year — with him.
The school hired former Troy University and West Virginia University head coach Neal Brown to replace Morris. Brown also served as a special assistant to head coach Steve Sarkisian at the University of Texas at Austin in 2025.
The Mean Green head into Saturday’s matchup against Indiana as heavy underdogs. But Brown has upset a ranked Power Four program as a head coach before. In 2017, Brown led Troy to a 24-21 victory over then-No. 25 Louisiana State University. Troy also nearly beat eventual national champions Clemson University in 2016, losing by a single score.
However, Saturday’s matchup presents a unique challenge for Brown. The first-year North Texas coach described Cignetti’s turnaround of the program as “the most impressive coaching job in any of the major sports.”
North Texas will look to pull off the upset with a transfer haul of about 50 players. Under Morris last season, North Texas owned an effective rushing offense. While the Mean Green lost leading rusher Caleb Hawkins in the offseason, Brown brought senior running back Jahiem White to replace backfield production.
Former Hoosier Tayven Jackson returns to Bloomington as North Texas’ starting quarterback. After starting his collegiate career at the University of Tennessee, Jackson transferred to Indiana, where he spent two seasons. Cignetti said Jackson “played really good football” as the Hoosiers’ No. 2 quarterback in 2024.
“He's very talented,” Cignetti said during a press conference Monday.
Jackson started in place of the injured Kurtis Rourke against Washington in 2024, helping the Hoosiers to a 31-17 win. The now-fifth year quarterback spent last season as the starting quarterback at the University of Central Florida, where he threw for 2,151 yards and 10 touchdowns.
North Texas will implement a new defensive scheme this season under recently hired defensive coordinator Matt Powledge. The former Baylor University defensive coordinator led the Bears to a top-35 passing defense and a top-30 mark in defensive touchdowns last year.
Handling success
The University of Georgia is the only program to repeat as national champions in the College Football Playoff era. With a retooled roster, Indiana faces an uphill climb returning to the big game for a second consecutive year.
But throughout spring and fall camps, Cignetti made it clear that last season’s success does not define this roster.
On an Inside Indiana Football radio show appearance prior to 2025’s opener against Old Dominion University, Cignetti said the key to a winning culture is “turning the page.” The Hoosiers were coming off the first CFP appearance in school history.
Cignetti echoed last August’s statement in another appearance on the show Thursday.
“Who are we?” Cignetti said on the Inside Indiana Football radio show Thursday. “We haven’t done anything. We haven’t won a game. We haven’t lost a game.”
While Cignetti is avoiding looking at the past, he wants to set an example out of last year’s opener against Old Dominion. The head coach said he wasn’t pleased with his teams performance following the win over Old Dominion.
Against North Texas, Cignetti said on Monday he “wants to feel good about our (Indiana’s) performance walking off the field.”
The Hoosiers added 17 players through the transfer portal. Indiana fans will get their first look at quarterback Josh Hoover in regular season play Saturday. Hoover enters 2026 with lofty expectations as Fernando Mendoza’s successor. But Hoover brings extensive experience to the Hoosiers, as the redshirt senior leads all active FBS players in career passing yards.
Hoover will be helped by an offensive line that returns four starters from last season and a wide receiver core featuring juniors Charlie Becker and Michigan State transfer Nick Marsh.
Indiana’s defense also returns a plethora of talent from last year’s roster, including defensive linemen redshirt senior Tyrique Tucker and junior Mario Landino, as well as linebackers redshirt senior Isaiah Jones and junior Rolijah Hardy.
After an offseason of anticipation for Indiana following its first national championship win, the Cream and Crimson are ready for a new chance at success.
“This is when it really counts,” Cignetti said in a press conference Monday. “I believe you learn about your team every week. Every time you go out there and play a game you learn a lot about your team. What's done is done. This is a new football team. We have a chance to be pretty good. We got to do it.”
Follow reporters Conor Banks (@Conorbanks06 and conbanks@iu.edu) and Nathan Shriberg (@NShriberg and naashri@iu.edu) and columnist Elakai Anela (@elakai_anela and eanela@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana football season.
