Historic Hoosier Turnaround: From Losingest Program to National Champs
- Washington County Times
- 2 days ago
- 14 min read
By Josh Lewis
715.
On the surface, that number might not mean much. Even in the vacuum of sports, that number could mean a lot of different things to a lot of people. But for a certain group of fans, they know exactly what that number means. That number belongs to Indiana University, and it is the number of losses that Indiana football has suffered all time.
That number, until this past season, was the most losses in the history of college football, meaning IU had lost more games than any other college football team. That honor, or dishonor rather, now belongs to Northwestern, a fellow Big 10 school, with 718. The Wildcats surpassed IU this year, leaving IU now in second place, with third place belonging to Rutgers with 708. In the defense of Rutgers though, they have been playing football longer than anybody else, playing in the first ever football game against Princeton in 1869.
Fans of IU have gotten used to losing, in fact for the most part it’s been an expected part of the fandom. Basketball was where fans expected to see wins and championships, although those have been lacking the last couple decades for IU as well.
There were glimpses of competitive seasons here and there, sprinkled with star talent. George Taliafero was the first African American drafted into the NFL in 1949. Bob DeMarco played on the offensive line for Dolphins during their Super Bowl runs in the 70s. Anthony Thompson is considered by many to be the greatest IU football player prior to this year. He finished second in the Heisman trophy voting in 1989, and spent a few seasons in the NFL.
Trent Green led competitive IU teams with Thompson and quarterbacked IU in their last bowl game in the Copper Bowl in 1991. He was drafted in the NFL and bounced around to different teams before finding his way to the broadcast booth. Antwaan Randle El was exciting, but never had much team success in the late 90s. He became the first player in NCAA history to reach 40 career passing and rushing touchdowns.
Tevin Coleman, James Hardy, and Michael Penix made for exciting times the last two decades. Penix led IU through an exciting 2020 Covid-shortened season that IU ended ranked in the top 25. But still, despite the flash in the pan success here and there, nothing remained for IU to hang their hat on for long term success.
While I was a student at IU from 2009-2012, a common phrase on shirts around campus was, “We might not win them, but we’ve never lost a tailgate.” Season tickets for football ran at the low cost of $25, because such a price was the only way to get students interested in attending most games. We had the occasional game against Ohio State or Wisconsin where the student section was filled to capacity. However most games the students were more interested in the tailgate scene and hitting the bars on Kirkwood than attending the game.
It wasn’t too long ago that IU was still scraping the bottom of the college football barrel. It was just 3 seasons ago that IU escaped with a win over Akron in 4 OT… at home. It took overtime the year before in 2022 to beat Western Kentucky, again at home. Seasons of being good were fleeting, while seasons of being bad were common, expected, and joked about. Sometimes as fans you had to laugh to keep from crying when it came to IU football. Let the Ohio States, Michigans, Texases, Georgias, and Alabamas of the world win the championships. All IU fans wanted was to make a bowl game. “Play 13,” as their late coach Terry Hoeppner used to say.
The 2025 season was different from any other season. IU entered with expectations. Last year, IU got a taste of success by making the College Football Playoff under first year Head Coach Curt Cignetti. It took sometime in 2024, but eventually the fan base rallied behind the stoic coach who wins everywhere he goes. It’s true, Google him. Just a few weeks into the season, the team sold out their remaining games. Despite that, fans still waited for the alarm to go off, and to wake up from the new dream of being a competitive college football program. This was Indiana after all.
Indiana was bounced in the first round by Notre Dame in the first round of the playoffs, and the season ended. There was a sense of accomplishment, after all who would have ever thought IU would make the college football playoffs? We were happy just making a bowl game. So we as fans turned over to check the clock, suspicious of how much sleep we were getting and that the dream hadn’t ended yet. But our alarm hadn’t gone off to wake us up just yet.
Then came this season. To start the 2025 season IU entered the preseason Associated Press Poll ranked #20. Expectations to be, if nothing else competitive, were placed on IU, and the question on everybody’s mind was how long before IU came crashing back to Earth?
Because why wouldn’t they? Cinderella stories are famous in Indiana, but that doesn’t happen to IU football. The movie “Hoosiers” is the immediate go to story when it’s an underdog against the big schools. “Rudy” is about the plucky walk-on who finally gets to play at Notre Dame in his 15 seconds of fame. If last season was not IU’s 15 seconds of fame when would it be? Because IU was historically nothing, if not the undersized and overlooked walk on just looking for a little success.
Things started a little rocky for IU. On their very first play from scrimmage in their opening game against Old Dominion, the Monarch QB scampered around the end for a 75 yard touchdown run. Indiana rallied to score the next 27 points to take the 27-13 win home in the season opener, but it was a less than the inspiring victory that IU fans had hoped to see to alleviate doubts of being a one hit wonder.
IU returned in the next two games to more of what was expected against lesser teams, thumping both Kennesaw State and Indiana State 56-9 and 73-0 respectively. The first test, and sign that this team might be different, came in week 4 when IU hosted #9 Illinois. Indiana blocked an early punt and D’Angelo Ponds scooped it up to put IU in front and they never looked back to rout the Illini 63-10.
In week 5 IU hit the road to Iowa to take on the notoriously sting Hawkeyes. And this one proved to be an actual measuring stick game. Indiana fell behind in the first half, but tied the game up at 13 in the fourth quarter. Driving to try and give IU the lead back, Fernando Mendoza was picked off and Iowa set up shop deep in IU territory with just over two minutes to play. A missed FG kept IU alive, and a few plays later Mendoza found Elijah Sarratt for a 49 score to help secure the win for IU.
On October 11, IU had yet another tough task, traveling to Oregon to take on the #3 ranked Ducks. A defensive battle ensued, but IU again showed signs that this season was different. A pick six in the fourth helped Oregon tie the game up at 20, but IU answered with a long scoring drive to retake the lead, and then tacked on a late field goal to seal the 30-20 victory and announce to the country that the Hoosiers were a force to be reckoned with this year.
Lopsided wins over Michigan State, UCLA, and Maryland ensued before another test on the road at Penn State, where an unsung hero would step up to help when his number was called. Charlie Becker burst on to the scene and would become a household name thanks to an all time call from broadcaster Gus Johnson.
“Charlie B from Nashville Tennessee!” he shouted into the microphone after one of his incredible catches to fill the void for an injured Sarratt.
The Hoosiers led 20-7 in the third quarter and looked like they might run away with it, but the Nittany Lions rebounded to take a 24-20 lead in the fourth. With less than two minutes to go IU was staring defeat in the eyes, but Mendoza had the first of several Heisman moments through the season. He found Omar Cooper for an early first down to get the 80 yard drive started. Facing third and goal Mendoza found Cooper for one of the most incredible catches you will ever see. Cooper elevated and just barely got his toe down in the back of the end zone to bring in the catch and help IU to the 27-24 win to stay undefeated.
Indiana topped Wisconsin 31-7 and then routed Purdue 56-3 to clinch an undefeated regular season and a spot in the Big Ten championship game to take on #1 Ohio State. The Buckeyes were the unanimous number one team, and posed as the toughest test for the Hoosiers to date. In the opening series for IU, Mendoza took a shot that left him on the ground in severe pain, and all of Hoosier nation held their collective breaths. “Here it is, the moment the wheels fall off that we’ve been waiting for.” But instead Mendoza pulled himself off the turf and onto the sideline. The next series there he was, back in the shotgun formation and leading the Hoosiers down the field to take the lead on an early field goal.
Ohio State responded with 10 unanswered points before the Hoosiers tacked on another field goal in the defensive slugfest. The big plays for IU again came off the arm of Mendoza in the second half. IU took the lead when he found Sarratt in the end zone on a perfect fade route to put the Hoosiers in front. He found Becker down the seam for a big gain to help ice the game, and the Hoosiers, for the first time ever, had won the Big Ten title game. This was just a taste of the success Hoosiers fans would experience.
The following weekend was the Heisman ceremony. IU has only ever had one Heisman finalist prior to this year in Thompson who finished second in 1989 behind Andre Ware. But there was Mendonza, sitting in anticipation of hearing his name called in New York, alongside the other heavy favorite Diego Pavia from Vanderbilt. It was expected to be a close race, but after the final votes were released, it wasn’t all that close. Mendoza won in a landslide and his acceptance speech went viral. It was a chance for America to see what Hoosier fans already knew, he had a bubbly personality, and had class in spades. He spoke to his grandparents in their native language of Cuban, he thanked his mom for being a role model as she fights MS, and told all the kids watching to never give up even when they are doubted like he was coming out of high school.
IU got the top seed in the CFP and awaited the winner of Alabama and Oklahoma, two college football heavyweights. They drew the Crimson Tide of Alabama in the Rose Bowl. IU hadn’t played in the Rose Bowl since 1968, and many IU fans took advantage of the opportunity to travel across the country to see their Hoosiers take the field in the historic venue. After all, how many times is IU going to get this chance? Who knows how many playoff games they will get?
On paper, the IU logo and Alabama A look mismatched. This game turned out to be a blow out. After the first series, it wasn’t much of a contest, but not with the usual suspect leading the charge. IU marched up and down the field and ran the ball down the Crimson Tide’s throat, and Becker made yet another big catch for a touchdown to close the first half. It turned into a blowout game everybody would expect, but just not with the same logo doing the demolishing. IU won 38-3 and the lopsided crowd made mostly of Hoosier faithful celebrated.
Next for Indiana was a Big Ten rematch with Oregon. If you thought there were a lot of IU fans at the Rose Bowl, the college football world would be shocked at the Hoosier turnout for the Peach Bowl, maybe even more shocked at how one-sided the game was once again. Generous estimates put it as a 90-10 split of the crowd in favor of the Hoosiers, but those in attendance have said it was more 95-5. Meaning 71,824 of the 75,604 were likely pro-Hoosier fans.
In what turned into a virtual home game despite it being in Atlanta, the Hoosiers once again dominated a tough team. On the opening play from scrimmage Ponds jumped an out route and raced to the end zone for the pick six to give IU the lead, and send the home crowd into an absolute frenzy. But the Ducks responded by marching back down the field to tie the game up 7-7, and it appeared as though IU might have a ball game on their hands. That would not be the case though, as the next 35 points were scored by the Hoosiers to turn the Peach Bowl into a game of Duck Hunt on the Nintendo. The Hoosiers rolled on 56-22, and secured a moment that even the most optimistic of IU fans never dreamed would happen: IU was headed to the National Championship to play for a title against Miami.
Before the Peach Bowl clock hit 00:00, IU fans were already looking at tickets to the title game in Miami, and ticket prices might have sent some into shock. If you found tickets for less than $1,000, you got a great deal. Some ticket prices were reported as high as $10,000 a piece, with many in the 2-3 thousand dollar range. Even taking on the Hurricanes in their home stadium didn’t stop Hoosier fans from once again converging on the game site turning it into Bloomington South.
One of the talking points leading up to the game was how do you block the Miami defensive line if you are IU? They were talented for sure, led by Rueben Baine who is considered by many experts a sure fire top 10 pick in the NFL draft. Miami also had studs on their offense led by freshman phenom Malachi Toney, and their big running back Marcus Fletcher. How was IU going to stop them? Miami had the history, they had the players, and they had Michael Irvin on the sideline beating trash cans with a belt (seriously, he did this after they beat Texas A&M in the opening round), how would IU compete?
Well, compete IU did. The Hoosiers never trailed and led 10-0 at the half. The Miami defense did pose some problems for IU though. For the first time in the post season, they struggled. Mendoza got his lip bloodied by a questionable hit, and the offense didn’t have quite its usual fire power. Then the second half hit and Miami answered like good teams do. Fletcher ripped off a long touchdown run untouched to put Miami right back in the game. How would IU respond to getting punched in the mouth? That’s what Hoosier fans were waiting to see. This team punched back all season, would they continue to get up off the mat?
A few series later, Hoosier fans got their answer. Mikail Kamara swatted a punt deep in Miami territory like he was playing on the hardwood for the basketball team, and Isaiah Jones pounced on the football in the end zone to give IU some breathing room and new life. Miami answered again to make it a three point lead early in the fourth quarter. Would IU respond again?
There has been talk about how this season should be turned into a movie. It’s a rags to riches story that Hollywood loves. If that does happen, and a movie is made, this next drive will be the highlight of the film. The moment the music swells and hair stands up on your arms. You get chills thinking about it, even though it’s the predictable part of almost every sports movie. The part everybody can’t believe actually happened.
Cignetti wasn’t known for going for it on 4th down, bucking the growing trend among coaches across the country at all levels. He was more conservative, more reserved. Just look at him on the sideline, the man is a walking meme template for serious looks and stern faces. He sensed how important this drive was, so he broke his old habit. IU went for fourth down twice on this drive.
It was a had-to-have-it drive, and he drew up had-to-have-it plays. The first one came just past midfield. IU was staring at a 4th and five and they put the ball in their Heisman trophy winners hands. He threw a perfect back shoulder fade to Becker on the sideline to keep the chains moving. A few plays later, they were facing another fourth down four in the red zone. This is the play you’ve undoubtedly seen. I know I’ve seen it over 100 times now, and it will never get old. When they build a statue of Mendoza at IU it will be of this play. It was the perfect play call at the perfect time. Mendoza ran up the middle, spun off a tackle, and dove into the end zone full stretch to ensure he kept IU in front. That play will be etched in the minds of Hoosier fans everywhere as the highlight of the game, the season, and IU history.
Miami answered with another scoring drive, but IU did as well with a field goal with 1:42 left to play and the Hurricanes had to go the distance. Early in the drive, IU thought they forced a third and long, but a penalty gave Miami a fresh set of downs, and a little doubt started to creep into Hoosier fans’ minds. Is this finally when the IU of old resurfaces? Is this where hope fades? Of course not, but this isn’t the same IU. A few plays later Jamari Sharp cut off a pass down the sideline to seal the deal with the interception that sent Hoosiers fans from Bloomington to Miami into tears and jubilation.
16-0. A Heisman trophy winner, and a national championship with a perfect season. What a run it’s been for this Hoosier team. It’s been a season full of firsts. This team has been special not just because of the run they went on, but because of how they did it and who they did it with. This team did things the right way. They didn’t beat themselves with silly penalties or turnovers. They worked hard, representing much of the fanbase that followed them from coast to coast during the post season run. They were made up of cast-offs, and players who were overlooked. Mendoza couldn’t get a walk on offer from Miami, his dream school in high school. Seven players on the team, including many of the standouts, followed Cignetti from James Madison who just recently made the jump to the top level of Division 1 football. It was a team full of underrated players that were doubted every step of the way.
16 wins is a number that not many IU football players have seen in four years, let alone do it in one season. A stat that really jumped out to me after the season is that there have been 124 graduating classes that played four years as football players at Indiana. 75 of them won less than 16 games total over their four years. In my time as a student from 2009-2012, they won a total of 14 games, including a grand total of one win in 2011. We didn’t even make a bowl game my entire time there, and that only requires winning six games. It’s hard to put into words what this season has been like from watching this team get beat by anybody and everybody.
You can throw out a number of other stats to illustrate just how little success IU has had. Prior to this season, IU was 6-116-1 against Top 10 teams. This year they went 6-0.
In one of his first press conferences after taking the job, Cignetti gave the sound bite of all sound bites. “I win, Google me.” That one phrase has been repeated and joked about all across the country. He instilled a winning attitude and culture to a team that had the opposite. IU fans have always loved their Hoosiers, win or lose, and there were a lot of losses. Now they have some wins to show for it. So, when you Google Curt Cignetti, now it will tell you he wins. If you Googled IU it would tell you they lost more games than anybody. But if you Google Indiana University football now it will say something very different. It will say National Champions.
