IU football national championship win ushers in ‘starting point for the dynasty’

Photos from IU football's 27-21 win against Miami (FL) in the CFP national championship game.

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – The aroma of cigars permeated the home locker room. Music blared as Indiana players, coaches and staff celebrated, donning their new ‘National Champion’ apparel.

The scene of emotional embraces after a program-altering win, unfathomable just two years ago, told the story. Indiana had just capped off a perfect 16-0 national championship-winning season with its 27-21 victory against Miami (FL).

The celebration on the surface was a jubilee for finishing the season as the last team standing. Yet, Monday night in the Sunshine State laid the foundation for what Curt Cignetti’s tenure in Bloomington looks like for years to come.

“It’s a great thing, Indiana winning the National Championship two years into our tenure,” Cignetti said postgame. “You do it with people and a plan.”

That plan has been central to his message since arriving in Bloomington.

Cignetti mentioned his “blueprint and plan” to change the way people think about Indiana University football at every turn. His brash remarks during his first season made headlines, but it was in the name of earning the trust and support of everyone around him.

That belief followed him from James Madison, where a group of under-recruited transfers chose to bet on Cignetti’s vision, regardless of where it led.

“It was a no-brainer for me,” linebacker Aiden Fisher said. “I owe a lot to him. He’s an unbelievable coach, but he’s an unbelievable person.”

Around that foundation, Cignetti assembled a roster built in his image. There were no five-star recruits and many players held zero Power Five offers out of high school — only a collection of athletes who fit the championship team he envisioned.

But even with a roster short on star power, Cignetti recognized that investment anchored success.

That investment arrived. President Pam Whitten and athletic director Scott Dolson backed the program, increasing Indiana’s football operating expenses to more than $61 million last season — a $32 million jump over five years.

With a desire to prove the 2024 season was no fluke, Indiana took another step in ensuring Cignetti had the tools to sustain success.

“We’re committed to the Indiana football,” Dolson said. “We’re not in it to be a one-hit wonder. We’re in it to consistently make certain that we can be highly competitive and do it the right way.”

The national championship only cemented Cignetti’s position as the top coach in the country. In turn, a flock of talent will migrate to Indiana to play for the program thrust into the national spotlight.

Though his playing days are now complete, safety Louis Moore spoke candidly about where the program he committed to in 2022 is headed.

With Cignetti at the helm, he envisions a program positioned to attract a different caliber of player than when he first arrived in Bloomington.

“I feel like that’s the starting point for the dynasty,” Moore said. “Indiana’s only gonna get better. We’re a team full of under-recruited, undervalued players, and with the coaches we’ve got, they’re putting together game plans. Just imagine when the so-called ‘Top Players’ start coming here — and what they’ll do then.”

Moore’s vision for the program mirrors Cignetti’s broader perspective.

In the game’s aftermath, Cignetti widened the lens, framing the program’s meteoric rise to college football’s Everest as something larger than wins and losses.

“I think we sent a message, first of all, to society that if you keep your nose to the grindstone and work hard and you’ve got the right people, anything’s possible.”

Even after completing the perfect season, an eager Cignetti desires more. The 24-hour rule applies, even if it’s only for himself.

His quest for back-to-back titles begins when he returns to Bloomington.

“We’re going to enjoy this moment, take a day off tomorrow, get back at it Wednesday,” he said.

That mindset stands in sharp contrast to Indiana football’s long history of failure, as expecting success was never the standard in the Hoosier state.

For 128 years, Indiana football served as the bridge to basketball season. Fans flocked to the tailgate fields, but not to the stadium, knowing the game’s result before the gates opened.

That perception permanently changed on Monday.

Inside the smoke-filled locker room, Indiana didn’t feel like a season had ended — it felt like something permanent had begun.

In Miami, Curt Cignetti and Indiana didn’t just win a national championship. They announced themselves on college football’s biggest stage and proved they belong at the table with the country’s top programs.

Indiana is no longer the sport’s afterthought. It’s not just a feel-good story. It’s the emerging dynasty that the rest of the country now measures itself against.

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