Success. It’s a noun Indiana football has been synonymous with ever since head coach Curt Cignetti took the helm two years ago.
After going undefeated last year to claim their first national championship, the Hoosiers have a target on their back heading into the 2026 season.
Indiana steps back into the national spotlight Saturday against the University of North Texas. Kickoff is scheduled for noon inside Merchants Bank Field at Memorial Stadium.
According to ESPN Sportsbook, the Hoosiers open as 40.5-point favorites. Simply beating North Texas shouldn't qualify as success. Indiana should dominate and look like a team capable of defending its national championship.
The Hoosiers have a checklist to accomplish. Here’s what Indiana must do to view the North Texas contest as a success:
Take care of business
North Texas’ roster will look entirely different this year.
Former head coach Eric Morris left for Oklahoma State University in the offseason, taking 19 players with him, including star redshirt sophomore quarterback Drew Mestemaker and sophomore running back Caleb Hawkins. Mestemaker led the country with 4,379 passing yards while Hawkins had the most rushing touchdowns in the nation with 25.
In fact, the Mean Green have only 44 returning players from last year’s 12-2 roster. They picked up 52 players in the portal. Yet, North Texas won’t be a pushover.
Morris' replacement is head coach Neal Brown.
Brown coached at West Virginia University from 2019-2024, leading the Mountaineers to a 37-35 overall record. Prior to West Virginia, Brown coached at Troy University. With the Trojans, he went 35-16 overall — guiding the Trojans to a 24-21 upset victory over then-No. 25 Louisiana State University on Sept. 30, 2017, inside Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Cignetti knows the Hoosiers must come out strong in front of their home crowd to avoid the same mistake LSU made nine years ago.
“Neal Brown is a good football coach,” Cignetti said in a press conference Monday. “He’s accustomed to a setting like this; he beat LSU when he was at Troy a while back. So, we got to go get ready.”
Slow down North Texas’ running game
Last year’s opening game against Old Dominion University showed that no team is perfect — even the best can stumble out of the gate.
Despite Indiana winning 27-14, Old Dominion posted 218 rushing yards, gashing a Hoosier defense that went on to hold opponents to an average of 77.2 rushing yards per game throughout the rest of the season.
The opening play of the game was a 75-yard rushing touchdown from then-Monarchs redshirt sophomore quarterback Colton Joseph. Joseph struck again in the fourth quarter, breaking a 78-yard touchdown on the same run-pass-option concept.
North Texas presents a similar challenge. The Mean Green brought in fifth-year dual-threat quarterback Tayven Jackson, a former Hoosier who also spent last season at the University of Central Florida, and senior running back Jahiem White.
White earned Freshman All-American honors in 2023 at West Virginia. The next season, he posted 845 rushing yards and seven touchdowns on 149 carries. In 2025, he picked up a knee injury after two games and missed the rest of the season.
Indiana can ill afford to let Jackson and White expose the same weaknesses Joseph did a year ago.
“He (Tayven) can run, he’s a good athlete,” Cignetti said Monday. “Jaheim White, in particular, he was injured, and missed some of last season, but he’s really fast and elusive. Great in space.”
Success doesn't necessarily mean holding the Mean Green's rushing attack to under 100 yards. It means preventing the explosive runs that plagued Indiana in last year's opener.
Limit turnovers and self-inflicted wounds
In the opener against Old Dominion last season, the Hoosiers made six trips to the redzone. They scored two touchdowns but also settled for two field goals and turned it over on downs twice.
Ultimately, Indiana finished the season with the eighth-highest redzone percentage in the nation.
Despite all the success last season, this year presents a different challenge. There are questions surrounding Texas Christian University transfer redshirt senior quarterback Josh Hoover, who threw 33 interceptions across three full seasons. Will he be able to take care of the ball for Indiana this season?
Hoover has the wiggle room to show he can settle into offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan’s system.
Like past quarterbacks Kurtis Rourke and Fernando Mendoza in the last two years, there may be a learning curve during the first game of the year. Yet, Cignetti is confident in the “brand of ball” he continues to preach to his group.
“I want us to play to a standard, play in, play out, from the first to the last play,” Cignetti said in a press conference Monday. “I want us to feel good about our performance walking off the field ... I’d like to see us play a nice, clean game.”
Hoover and the offense don't need to be perfect immediately, but they can't compound early-season growing pains by giving North Texas extra possessions.
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.
