Indiana Football Preview 2025: Curt Cignetti and the Hoosiers Can Do THAT Again

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It went 11-1 in the regular season from a Power Two conference. Its two losses came to the two teams that played for the national title, and two of those 11 wins came against the two schools that played in the previous national championship - one of those being against Michigan, which couldn’t complete a forward pass, and still beat Bama in the ReliaQuest Bowl.

Ohio State, Notre Dame, and Michigan were the only three teams the Hoosiers didn’t beat by at least 14 points, and …

WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE?!

It’s Indiana.

You know, gorgeous campus, Mark Cuban, overemphasized Greek system, Cutters, the Nebraska football of college basketball … INDIANA.

In 125 seasons of college football, Indiana cranked out as many double-digit win seasons as you did, and then Curt Cignetti came to town. He said the program would compete for massive things right away, everyone snickered, and boom came the improbable 11-win run.

It wasn’t just that Indiana won a lot of football games. It’s that it did it in such a dominant fashion.

And yes, the Hoosiers didn’t exactly push the envelope when it came to non-conference games, and yeah, nine of the 11 wins came against teams that didn’t finish with a winning record, and one of the others was against a 7-6 Nebraska, but 1) if it was so easy, why didn’t other teams with favorable schedules do it? And 2) that’s why the playoff expanded.

Now it’s about keeping it all going.

Between IU and James Madison, Cignetti has won 11 games or more in four of the last six years, and it would’ve been five in six but the 2020 team only played eight games. This wasn’t magic - his schemes work.

Like last year, the transfers are terrific, and also like last year, the schedule shouldn’t be all that horrible. But unlike last year ...

Indiana is a football school now.
 
Indiana Offense Breakdown
Indiana Defense Breakdown
Season Prediction, Win Total, Keys to Season