The Magical Ending

We moved to Indiana in the summer of 2003. IU basketball was one year past an unexpected run to the national title game, where they lost to Maryland. It seemed like they were coming out of a lean period and would reclaim their place amongst the game’s elite. While not inevitable, it felt like the 2000s could bring another national title banner to Assembly Hall.

Nearly 23 years later the Hoosiers haven’t sniffed a Final Four and are on their seventh coach over that span. And, somehow, someway, the football Hoosiers are national champs. The program that, until the second week of November, had the most losses in the history of college football. The most amazing and dramatic turnaround in the sport’s history, all due to the arrival of coach Curt Cignetti.

The craziest thing about Indiana winning a football national championship? That it actually has seemed inevitable for about three months. Ever since they went into Eugene and beat Oregon. If you didn’t fully buy in then, their miracle win at Penn State should have converted you. Facing Ohio State in the Big 10 championship game? The Buckeyes did not seem like the prohibitive favorites they had been over the Hoosiers since pretty much the beginning of time. Outside Columbus, OH, did anyone really consider it an upset? And after that? It didn’t matter who popped up in their path, IU was going to roll through their three CFP games and claim the title.

Alabama and Oregon provided little resistance. But Monday Miami actually kept the result in doubt until the final seconds. Well, kind of. While tense, I never felt the Hurricanes would actually pull out the win. Part of that is because I think Carson Beck is the most overrated player of this decade. He delivered on that reputation when he short-armed a pass that turned into an IU interception that sealed the game. Throw that ball five yards longer and he might be wearing a national championship shirt today. But he Carson Beck-ed it and the Hoosiers were champs.

That’s not fair. Beck alone wasn’t the reason Miami lost, and he made a few nice plays.[1] There was that brutal, unforgivable blocked punt that turned into an IU touchdown. That, as much as anything, might sum up this IU team. Cignetti’s Hoosiers would never let a rusher get to the punter untouched like that. They almost never make mistakes. On the rare occasions they do, they quickly make up for them. Cignetti’s offense isn’t some ultra-modern, cutting-edge scheme that is tough to prepare for. It relies on intelligent, experienced players executing in concert to precision. They just run smart shit, over and over and dare you to stop them. And if you stop them on one play, they’re probably going to beat you on the next one.

The biggest moment of the game was Fernando Mendoza’s amazing, immediately legendary, touchdown run on fourth down that clinched the game. The perfect cap to an amazing year. The play that will appear on magazine covers, posters, and t-shirts that IU fans will display for decades.

While I think Hoosiers would have loved another blowout, that was a hell of a title game. At least the second half. Both teams made runs, both teams answered. Massive individual plays. Some nice adjustments by the coaches. A few major gaffes. It had all the drama you want from a game that determines a champion.

Now we will see if this two-year run was a fluke or the beginning of a trend. I don’t see any reason to bet against Cignetti.[2]