ATLANTA, Ga. — “Google me. I win.”
It was Curt Cignetti’s iconic line when he was hired as the Indiana Hoosiers’ head football coach back in 2024 and was asked how he’d sell this program to recruits.
Google him now. He sure does.
The Hoosiers have what I’d describe as a pretty inauspicious bowl history. In their only previous trip to the Rose Bowl prior to this postseason, they lost 14-3 back in 1967. They’ve played in the Peach Bowl two other times, in 1987 and 1990, losing both. Overall, prior to this season, Indiana had a lifetime bowl record of 14-3.
And that’s why I thought the moment might be a little too big and the lights might be a little too bright for them at the Peach Bowl. I was wrong!
Alabama, the first team the Hoosiers knocked out this postseason, has more National Championships than Indiana has bowl appearances. Oregon’s got 37 bowl game appearances, and when Indiana does head down to Miami to face the Hurricanes, they’ll face a team with a 44-game bowl history. After what I’ve seen unfold tonight, I don’t believe those lights will be too bright for Cignetti’s squad either.
As I write this, I’m sitting in the press box at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Ga. watching Cignetti’s Hoosiers absolutely dismantle the Oregon Ducks in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. The Hoosiers’ scoring started literally on the first play of the game, as DeAngelo Ponds picked off Oregon QB Dante Moore and put it directly into the end zone for six, and that set the tone for a looooooong night for the Ducks.
I’ve sat in many a press box for many a game as time ticks away in the fourth quarter, furiously rewriting whatever I’d projected about the game’s outcome to that point as a lead changed yet again. That wasn’t the case tonight, and the Hoosiers turned their 35-10 halftime lead into a 56-22 victory to advance to the National Championship.
From the moment we walked out of the parking garage and into the area surrounding the stadium, one thing was clear: Indiana fans traveled. If I had to estimate, I’d put the crowd at about 85% Indiana fans, and 15% Oregon fans. It’s been a special season, and the fans we talked to pregame expected this to be a special game. They were right.
Part of the hope with an expanded playoff was that we’d see some teams outside of the usual suspects make some runs at a championship, and Indiana certainly did its part this postseason. Before the CFP began they dispatched Ohio State, the top team in the nation at the time, in the Big Ten Championship; they dominated Alabama to win the program’s first Rose Bowl 38-3, and they’ve turned Oregon into duck confit right before my very eyes. The third quarter isn’t even over yet, and I’m already getting emails about Indiana’s odds to beat the Miami Hurricanes in the National Championship on Jan. 19 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Fla.
Yes, they’ve got the best quarterback in college football, Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza. But they didn’t even need Mendoza to make much magic against the Ducks. Oregon’s defense gave up an average of 16.3 points per game this season, which is toward the bottom of the College Football Playoff field’s average, but is still a hell of a lot less than the 56 they allowed to Indiana Friday night. Oregon gave up an average of 271.4 yards per game during the 2025 season, and Indiana managed 362 total. Their passing defense was tough this season, ranking behind just the Ohio State Buckeyes among CFP teams and averaging 158 yards per game. Mendoza just needed to throw for 177 yards to beat the Ducks — it certainly helped that those throwing yards included five passing touchdowns.
Oregon absolutely put themselves in an impossible spot with that pick-six on the first play of the game, but this was no fluke win by Indiana, or a self-defeat by the Ducks. This was absolute scorched-earth destruction by the Hoosiers.
And you know what? It’s fun to see a different team win, especially when they do it in a way that leaves not one single question about whether that team deserves to be heading to the National Championship for the first time in program history.
I grew up in Ohio. I’m a Big Ten girl. So I can’t believe I’m typing this actual sentence earnestly, but:
If this Indiana team shows up like this in the National Championship — and I have not seen a single thing from Mendoza and company to think they won’t — I believe there’s going to be a National Championship win attached to Curt Cignetti’s name the next time you Google him.
