6-Banner Sunday: IU football wins the College Football Playoff national championship
- Staff
- 1h ago
Welcome to another edition of 6-Banner Sunday, a joint production between The Assembly Call and Inside the Hall, where we highlight the five most essential IU sports stories of the past week. 6-Banner Sunday is written by Ari Shifron.
Football finished the job. Monday’s win against Miami (FL) gave Indiana its first national championship since IU men’s soccer in 2012.
Also, men’s and women’s basketball continued Big Ten play with mixed results. As usual, we will conclude with weekly shows and a look at the rest of the IU sports in action.
Here is what is in this week’s edition:
• IU football wins its first national championship
• IU basketball beats Rutgers to end four-game skid
• Hoosiers fall in wire-to-wire loss at Michigan
• Women’s basketball falls at Ohio State, 0-8 in Big Ten play
• Podcast on the Brink and Back Home Network shows
• Hoosier Roundup
Banner #1 – IU football wins its first national championship
IU fans have been waiting for a sixth basketball banner since 1987, hence the name of this publication. However, in an alternate way, that sixth major banner did come for Hoosier athletics.
While the next basketball championship will have to wait, this achievement is just as significant for Indiana fans. This is because the unthinkable happened as IU won the national championship after years at the bottom of the sport.
By beating the Hurricanes, the Hoosiers finished 16-0, winning IU’s 26th national championship as an athletic department and first in football. The school now boasts the most recent undefeated seasons in both football and men’s basketball.
The final game was a thriller. Indiana needed a blocked punt for a TD, a late Fernando Mendoza incredible scramble score and a game-sealing interception. In the end, though, the Hoosiers pulled out a 27-21 win on the Hurricanes’ home field and had roughly 2/3 of the crowd celebrating at Hard Rock Stadium with the trophy presentation afterwards.
For the state, despite some close calls, it was the first major championship since the Colts won the Super Bowl on the same field in February of 2007. Also, the celebration continued throughout the week and on Saturday with a celebration in Memorial Stadium despite the cold weather.
While IU should continue to be a newfound power in the sport as long as coach Curt Cignetti is in Bloomington, this particular version of the squad that galvanized Hoosier fans everywhere will change. Mendoza and D’Angelo Ponds, amongst others, are either declaring for the draft, leaving or out of college eligibility.
However, this football season was something Indiana fans will never forget. This was evidenced by the huge crowds and TV numbers throughout the fall of 2025 and into 2026.
Banner #2 – IU basketball beats Rutgers to end four-game skid
IU stopped its four-game slide in men’s basketball. As has been the case throughout the 2025-2026 season, Indiana continued to easily take care of basketball teams that are struggling, regardless of venue, as they went to Rutgers and dominated the Scarlet Knights 82-59.
The Hoosiers had three players score at least 20 points as Tucker Devries, Nick Dorn, and Lamar Wilkerson all had huge nights. The team also won easily by knocking down 15 three-pointers.
Afterwards, Ryan Corazza wrote The Minute After, Alex Bozich penned Five Takeaways and Quinn Richards put together a column about Dorn’s strong night.
Banner #3 – Hoosiers fall in wire-to-wire loss at Michigan
While dominating struggling teams has not been a problem, beating teams in the upper half of the Big Ten has been an issue for IU. This continued on Tuesday as Indiana was overwhelmed by Michigan from the opening tip, before making the score more respectable late in an 86-72 loss.
Afterwards, Darian DeVries spoke, Corazza wrote The Minute After and Film Session and Bozich penned Five Takeaways.
At 13-7 overall and 4-5 in the Big Ten, the Hoosiers continue to sit near the NCAA tournament bubble. They have a solid record but are in the midst of a tough stretch, hosting elite arch-rival Purdue on Tuesday (9 p.m. ET on Peacock) before a road matchup across the country at surging UCLA on Saturday (5 p.m. ET on Peacock).
Their NET sits around 35. While they have few, if any, bad losses, they lack the critical signature victories needed on an NCAA tournament resume. However, how they perform in the rest of conference play will decide if they make their first March Madness since 2023 or fall out of the postseason picture.
Banner #4 – Women’s basketball falls at Ohio State, 0-8 in Big Ten play
Things have gone much worse on the women’s side. While reinforcements appear to be on the way for a better future with a new recruiting coordinator and the best recruiting class in program history, the interim has been a massive struggle.
Currently, the team is paying for its previous recruiting issues, which have all come to a head this season. The record sits at 11-9 overall and 0-8 in the league.
This week saw a competitive loss at Ohio State. The Hoosiers’ first conference win could come today, however. This is because they head to arch-rival Purdue at 12 p.m. ET on BTN and the Boilermakers have had similar trouble finding victories this season.
Banner #5 – Podcast on the Brink and Back Home Network shows
Podcast on the Brink had a new episode this week. On it, Alex Bozich was joined by Inside the Hall’s Josh Pos to discuss football’s national championship.
Also, The Back Home Network has many shows. As a result, it was on air many times this week with programming, including several shows that talk about the national championship as well.
Banner #6 – Hoosier Roundup
• Water Polo upset top-10 UC Irvine and won three more times this week, including defeating ranked Brown, to improve to a perfect 5-0.
• Baseball put season tickets on sale.
• Men’s soccer had a player sign with a pro squad.
• Wrestling beat Maryland but lost to Penn State.
• Women’s tennis beat Kennesaw State and Butler.
• Men’s tennis fell to Mississippi State and Virginia.
• Track and field took part in the Crossroads Invite.
Now go enjoy yourself a 6-Banner Sunday.
Aaron (Ari) Shifron
Assembly Call Contributor
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