If you told a college football fan three seasons ago that powerhouse Indiana, the No. 1 team in the country and sole undefeated team left would be taking under underdog Alabama in the 12-team College Football
Playoff, they might pass out.
At the end of 2023, the Hoosiers were on the heels of a hard-to-watch 3-9 season and with little hope for the future of their football team. IU was historically one of the worst high-major programs in the entire sport, and had experienced losing seasons in eight of the previous ten seasons to that point.
As head coach Tom Allen’s tenure was coming to an unsavory close, the program simply wasn’t going anywhere exciting. But, hey: Indiana is a basketball school anyways, right? Who cares if the football team isn’t all that good?
Enter: Curt Cignetti.
A little-known head coach who had been working his way up for decades through the ranks of the football world finally got to the highest stage of the sport — even if it was for one of the most laughable programs in the nation. After his impressive success with FBS newbie James Madison, he was hand-plucked over to Bloomington, Ind., in a cautiously hopeful attempt to get Indiana back into the Top 25 again, perhaps.
Cig had higher hopes than that, though. Just days after being officially hired, he went on Big Ten Network’s preview of the 2023 B1G Championship and precariously claimed that his Hoosiers would be in that very game in one year’s time. Everyone laughed it off, but Cignetti got his conference title game and more, winning the Big Ten and competing for a national title.
And as the Hoosiers reached a historic 11-0 with a 31-7 win over Wisconsin, they absolved themselves of a moniker that had kept them in the cellar of the college football world up until that point. No longer was Indiana the losingest team in the country.
Replacing it? Northwestern.
Alongside fellow Big Ten foe Indiana, the Wildcats’ football program has had its fair share of tough times. Northwestern hasn’t cracked the Top 25 since its miraculous 6-1 season in 2020. Although it hasn’t been quite as hopeless as IU once was, with Friday’s matchup versus Central Michigan marking its sixth bowl appearance in the last 10 years, NU has remained locked out of the upper echelon of the ferocious Big Ten.
But if Indiana is any model for the ‘Cats, there is a path to be followed. And with David Braun looking like a potential coach of the future after leading his teams to two bowl games in his first three years in Evanston, he could be the man to lead that charge.
So, what’s the blueprint?
Well, firstly, there’s the culture aspect. Since his arrival at Indiana, Cignetti’s operation has been directed by a singular phrase: “Google me.” Wherever he’s gone, he has won. And he knows it.
That quiet confidence and assurance has been embodied not just by the coach himself, but has trickled down onto the play of his team on and off the field. Despite being disrespected by other teams, fanbases and media outlets as a “fraudulent” team that couldn’t really win big games, Cignetti and Indiana have done everything possible to disprove that. They currently sit at 13-0, the only undefeated team left in the FBS, and already have marquee wins over No. 5 Oregon and No. 2 Ohio State.
Northwestern currently sits in a very similar position. The ‘Cats are rarely given a seat at the table in discussions for contenders in the conference or the country, and any wins over those in that upper level of the 18-team conference are seen as “complete failures” on their end, rather than an impressive win for Northwestern. Changing that starts with building a culture that blocks out that noise and aims for the top, even if it seems unlikely. And Braun has already begun to express that sentiment.
“None of us want to hear, ‘Hey, good effort guys,’” Braun said postgame following a heartbreaking 24-22 loss to then-No. 18 Michigan back in November. “This program isn’t like, ‘Hey, we’re gonna give it out best and see what happens.’ The expectation is to go win a Big Ten Championship.”
The next obvious question is then: well, how do you actually get there? A strong fighter’s mentality can go a long way, no doubt, but talent will always prevail in one way or another. Northwestern won’t just suddenly be competing with IU, Oregon and Ohio State by “wanting it more.”
For Indiana, the key has lied in development. Cignetti might be in just his second year with the program, but he has done a heck of a job getting the most of the guys he’s got; and more importantly, retaining the talent which he develops. Take Elijah Sarratt, for example. Two years ago, Cignetti brought the wide receiver over from JMU, and has since turned him into a No. 1 option and one of the pass-catchers in the country.
Indiana has yet to compete with the “big boys” in the high school recruiting battle. It isn’t getting top-10 classes littered with five-star recruits year in and year out as the Buckeyes and Ducks do; instead, Cignetti has managed to find the hidden gems and bring them to a stage where they can shine brightest. Fernando Mendoza might be the poster boy for that — coming from 6-6 Cal, he took off from the get-go this season, playing himself into a Heisman Trophy and potentially the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.
For Northwestern’s purposes, that talent development is easier said than done. Firstly, Braun is going to need to do a great job of recruiting in the Midwest and lure recruits in with a culture and coaching staff that they’ll want to truly play for. And when that talent eventually rises, NU will need to be a program that successfully keeps its stars, rather than becoming nothing more than a jumping-off point to get to a higher-profile program.
Of course, talent development and culture can only take you so far. After all, we’re in the NIL era. Luckily for Cignetti and Co., donors at IU took notice of his early success and promised significant contributions to the program to help support and sustain long-term success. Their financial commitment to the program was enough to convince Cignetti to ink an eight-year extension with the school when he would have otherwise been the most highly-coveted name in the coaching market.
That same NIL money hasn’t been so easy to come by for Northwestern. We’d all love to say that money isn’t everything and sports and that success and wins can still be found through hard work and great coaching. But the reality of this new era is that money talks; and Northwestern is going to need to listen. Getting investment from potential donors and building a true backing for the program will go a long way in getting it to truly compete. Time will tell, but the new Ryan Field, an estimated $850 million project set to be completed by next fall, could do a lot to make that vision a reality.
Ultimately, Cignetti is a great success story, not just for sports but for the world. An overlooked coach never truly given the mass respect that his resume had shown he deserved, he has ascended the heights he knew he was capable of once given the chance.
Cignetti could have easily folded under the decades upon decades of disappointment from the program he took over. He could have let all those who negated his early achievements in Bloomington get to his head and struggle to focus on what really matters — winning. And he could have jumped at the first opportunity to use IU as a springboard for an even better coaching job, where he might make more money or garner more fame. Instead, he chose to stick to his guns.
Indiana and Northwestern both remain two of the most historically overlooked programs in the sport. Both are quick to become the laughingstock when they struggle, and have had tremendous trouble garnering respect from the public when they do legitimately succeed because of the logo on their helmets. But Cignetti and IU aren’t letting that get to them; they’re controlling their own narrative and winning in the same way they always have. For Braun and Northwestern, that’s truly the next step in becoming a real contender.
