No. 1 Indiana is headed to their first-ever College Football Playoff championship after blowing out the No. 5 Oregon Ducks 56–22 in the Peach Bowl on Friday night.
The Hoosiers will look to bring a championship to Bloomington to cap a remarkable two-year run during which Indiana went from one of the worst teams in college football to the best in the country.
The team’s rise began in earnest in 2023 with the hire of Curt Cignetti, who had led the James Madison Dukes through their transition into FBS football. At Indiana last season, Cignetti led the Hoosiers to 11 wins and their first-ever CFP appearance, though they lost to Notre Dame in the first game of the 12-team era. Cignetti won multiple Coach of the Year accolades.
Cignetti and the Hoosiers had no intention of settling for just one CFP appearance. They tapped into trends in college football—specifically the era of “unrestricted free agency” created by a combination of the NIL era, revenue-sharing era, and the transfer portal—to build a championship-caliber roster. (One trend Indiana didn’t participate in: the coaching carousel. The Hoosiers signed Cignetti to a lucrative eight-year, $11.6 million per-year extension in October to ensure he wouldn’t get poached.)
To raise funds, they enlisted billionaire and Dallas Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban, who graduated from Indiana in 1981. Cuban, who is worth $6 billion according to Forbes, donated a “big number” in December 2024, his first-ever direct donation to the Hoosiers’ athletic department.
For an example of that portal-plus-NIL combination, look no further than quarterback Fernando Mendoza, who the Hoosiers landed from Cal in the offseason. All four programs in this year’s CFP semifinals used starting quarterbacks from the transfer portal, but Indiana arguably won the lottery; Mendoza won the Heisman Trophy in December before commencing his historic postseason run.
Cuban told FOS he donated an even bigger amount this year.
With that money, Cignetti and Indiana have already gone to work in the transfer portal. On Sunday, Indiana landed TCU quarterback Josh Hoover to replace Heisman winner Mendoza; they also landed Michigan State receiver Nick Marsh and Boston College running back Turbo Richard. They’ll likely make more moves, as the portal is open until Jan. 16.
In the meantime, The Big Ten is a major winner of this year’s Playoff. Not only will they have a team in the national championship yet again, but they’ll net $42 million in prize payouts thanks to Indiana ($20 million), Oregon ($14 million), and Ohio State ($8 million). Unlike the ACC, which is letting Miami keep 100% of the prize money it earned, the Big Ten splits the money equally among the conference.
For now, Indiana’s focus is on the national title game against Miami in the Hurricanes’ home stadium on Jan. 19.
