Don't look now, but the college football season is right around the corner. With the new campaign quickly approaching, predictions and projections for the 2026 season continue to make the rounds on social media at a rapid rate.
ESPN just simulated the entire 2026 season using the new EA Sports College Football 27 video game that was released earlier this month. ESPN ran the simulation 26 times and compiled all of the results to see what the game thinks will happen this season.
Sure –– video game simulations aren't the most ideal way to predict how a season will unfold. With that being said, it's still interesting to see how the popular video game thinks the Indiana Hoosiers will fare in 2026 coming off a National Championship-winning season. The creators at EA Sports aim to make the game as realistic as possible, and use advanced analytics to come up with these simulations. Unfortunately, EA Sports doesn't give the Hoosiers a good chance of repeating as national champs.
ESPN's college football simulation has Indiana in undesired territory
Winning back-to-back National Championships is on the minds of every Hoosier fan out there. Cignetti has already produced never-before-seen results in Bloomington, and IU fans are confident in his ability to keep the history coming.
However, EA Sports is not sold on the Hoosiers as a title-winning team in 2026. Specifically, Indiana won the national title in just one of the 26 simulations done by ESPN. "Curt Cignetti and Indiana did put together one season as back-to-back national champs," said Max Olson of ESPN. "The Hoosiers were the No. 1 seed in that season after avenging their lone loss to USC in the Big Ten title game."
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Ohio State is the clear favorite in the eyes of EA Sports, as the Buckeyes won National Championships in six of the 26 simulations. After OSU, Oklahoma and Miami each won national titles in four simulations. Ole Miss (3) and Oregon (2) also won it all in multiple simulations. Along with Indiana, other programs winning a title in exactly one simulation include Boise State, BYU, Notre Dame, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas A&M.
Furthermore, Indiana is not viewed as a lock for the College Football Playoff. The Hoosiers made the CFP in just 13 of the 26 simulations. Thus, it's fair to say that these simulations have Indiana as a fringe playoff team for the upcoming season.
When it comes to the Big Ten, Indiana won the Big Ten title in just two of the 26 simulations. Ohio State led the conference with 15, while USC won it in three simulations. UCLA (2), Michigan, Nebraska, Oregon, and Penn State, were also Big Ten champs in the simulations.
It's not smart to doubt Curt Cignetti and Indiana
Being the underdog is nothing new for Indiana. Few people outside of Bloomington even considered the Hoosiers to be National Championship contenders last season––even after going 11-1 and making the CFP in Cignetti's first season.
In ESPN's simulations prior to last season, Indiana never made it to the title game in any of the 26 simulations. Furthermore, Indiana made the CFP semifinals on just two occasions. But Cignetti and company proved all the doubters wrong in emphatic fashion all throughout the course of last season.
Looking ahead, fans of the Cream and Crimson are confident that Cignetti can get the Hoosiers back to the CFP and compete for another National Championship. At this point, doubting Cignetti is just foolish.
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