By Cyote Williams | Times Vedette

I find it easy to complain or bemoan most things. This is not one of those things. Sure, college football is played on Saturday’s 99% of the time, and then the most important game of all gets played on a Monday. A Monday I somehow managed to get food poisoning during. But, besides those factors, the national championship game played between Indiana and Miami was one I will remember for a lifetime.

Two years ago, Indiana University hired Curt Cignetti to run its historically terrible football program. If there was a college football program across the major conferences that had been as historically bad as Iowa State, it would have been Indiana. That did not discourage Cignetti. In his opening press conference in 2024, he dropped one of the best quotes from any college football coaches of all time: “It’s pretty simple, I win. Google me.”

And, he wasn’t lying. Cignetti has been a head coach since 2011, starting in NCAA DII. In that time, including his now two incredible years in Indiana, Cignetti is 146-37. That’s a 79.8% winning percentage. For reference, Nick Saban’s winning percentage is 80.6%.

So, they’ve got the head coach. But, what about the roster? Well, by all accounts, the roster didn’t seem very good. Even heading into this season, coming off of an 11-2 campaign the year prior, 247Sports had Indiana’s roster ranked 18th, dead last in the Big 10. They were also picked to finish sixth in the Big 10. Clearly, the experts thought they were a one-season wonder. But, the Hoosiers sure didn’t think so.

Indiana made plenty of moves in the transfer portal, most notably adding Fernando Mendoza to the roster. Mendoza, originally a two-star prospect from Miami, had spent the last three seasons at the University of California. Now, the Heisman Trophy winner, playing in his hometown, essentially sealed the national title game with one of the greatest plays the sport has ever seen. Fourth down, QB draw, breaking tackles, spinning, diving, scoring. Incredible. In the highlight, the camera cuts to his parents in the stands. His mother, bound to a wheelchair due to multiple sclerosis, celebrates.

If that was not enough of a storybook moment, and to add even more context to the incredible run, Mendoza had played most of this Miami team the year before while at Cal. That game ended in part due to a Mendoza scramble when the Hurricane’s linebacker, Wesley Bissainthe, laid the boom, cracking Mendoza, effectively ending the game. Who did Mendoza steamroll and spin off of before heroically leaping into the endzone? Miami’s No. 31, Wesley Bissainthe. Hollywood couldn’t dream of a script this perfect.

I found some other fun facts about Indiana’s crazy two-season run. One month ago, Indiana’s most recent bowl win came in the 1991 Copper Bowl. Indiana had three bowl wins to its name in its entire history. They won three bowl games this January. Before 2025, Indiana’s record against AP top-10 teams was 6-116-1. In 2025, the Hoosiers went 6-0.

This was truly a remarkable turnaround of a program by Curt Cignetti, even if part of it was fueled by several, multi-million-dollar donations by alum Mark Cuban. All of the best teams are receiving some sort of major funding from one direction or the other. All the money in the world does not mean you make the right coaching hires or find the best diamonds in the rough. This team was clearly well-coached, found the talent no one else wanted or valued, and won one of the most improbable national titles in college football history.

Reach out with comments, complaints, story ideas and more to cyote@dmcityview.com.