One day, the college football world will do a collective case study on how Curt Cignetti was able to take a perennial doormat at Indiana and turn the Hoosiers into 16-0 College Football Playoff National Champions in two years' time. To say this rise to national superiority was unprecedented would be putting it lightly. It is why ESPN's Craig Haubert has Indiana as one of six locks to make the CFP again.
In his "Who loaded up for another playoff run?" section of his "12 teams that improved their 2026 CFP chances with their roster moves" post from Wednesday, Haubert has Indiana in the same breath as Georgia, Miami, Ohio State, Oregon, and Texas Tech as teams who will be back in the playoff next year, based on the combination of their incoming recruiting classes and their transfer portal classes.
ESPN has Indiana ranked with only the 28th best high school recruiting class, but the third best portal class in this cycle. In Haubert's blurb about IU, he shares the three-pronged approach in recruitment that has made Indiana so special. Cignetti identifies experienced starting quarterbacks with quick releases, hungry skill-position players in the portal, and going heavy on defense out of high school.
It is why "Cignetti is as godo as anyone at identifying the right scheme fits" to take IU over the top.
Curt Cignetti has recruited Indiana back to another likely playoff berth
From a quarterbacking standpoint, he is replacing Fernando Mendoza with former TCU Horned Frogs starter Josh Hoover. His release is one of his greatest separating factors, in addition to his in-game experience. These traits served Kurtis Rourke coming over from Ohio U two years ago, and helped Mendoza become the greatest player in program history. He won a Heisman Trophy because of this.
From a hungry skill-position standpoint, we are looking at guys like Turbo Richard coming over from Boston College and Nick Marsh coming over from Michigan State to replace former Indiana transfers such as Roman Hemby (Maryland) and Elijah Sarratt (James Madison, St. Francis) on offense. Richard and Marsh may have played Power Four football, but Indiana is cool and on top of the football world.
And finally, Cignetti is starting to make up the necessary groundwork on the recruting trails out of high school. Indiana may never get on the same level of traditional powers like Michigan or Ohio State in-conference in that regard, but Cignetti has the right idea in going about closing the gap. Defensive players are easier to get onto the field in a deep rotation than it would be for a young offensive player.
In the end, Cignetti choosing to sign proven starting quarterbacks out of the portal, up-and-coming skill-position players out of the portal, and defensive-minded guys with an edge coming out of high school, Indiana can win with this. Frankly, IU might be able to sustain its newfound place atop the sport with its three-pronged recruiting philosophy of experienced on offense and young on defense.
Indiana might not go 16-0 again next season, but the Hoosiers are approaching playoff lock territory.