2025 College Football Playoffs

IrishLax

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Indiana isn’t located in Florida. Lots of schools have large alumni bases and plenty of money. Cignetti is clearly an excellent coach but he won’t be there forever.

I’m not saying they go back to being old doormat Indiana, necessarily. But they benefited from some wrinkles in the rapid evolution of the game this year, and the big powers will catch up. I’m not clear what advantages Indiana has that keep them at the top of the sport once that happens.
What Indiana is doing is not year-in-year-out sustainable but no team really is anymore. Bottom line is that:
1. They stayed almost comically healthy across the board this year and maybe that's just luck but it's also possible they're doing something we could learn from in S&C + injury prevention. Cig is on record about targeting veterans with proven production + durability, too.
2. Their evals were incredibly good with who they added in the portal.
3. They developed a lot of lowly rated players from JMU/Indiana and showed that a "solid" 22+ year old player is better than an "elite" 19-20 year old.

People will try to copy them moving forward but there are only so many of these guys to go around.
 

Dale

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Uh guys, I just looked and we are currently tied with OSU as the betting favorite to win the 2026-27 natty.

What a thing to type.

Yup on FDs first release +650. Locking up futures for 12 months is dumb but +1000 was a funky line you couldn’t pass on
 

LOVEMYIRISH

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Football is 100% about ego

Competition is about ego

Grow a sack, I hate Cig, I hate IU

Miami is a rival and a football school at least. IU is shit
Miami a rival? Please... They are 14th on our all-time list of who we played. There's a list of far more deserving teams than them on that list.
 

IrishBoognish

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Miami a rival? Please... They are 14th on our all-time list of who we played. There's a list of far more deserving teams than them on that list.


Alright, "Old Timer"

We'll see next season when we play em if you don't think they're a rival
 

Bane

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the amount of sour grapes here is pathetic
To be clear, I was pulling for IU tonight. I don't really care one way or the other. It's pretty clear that something is going on in Bloomington beyond just excellent prep work and whole milk. It's a dirty game and IU found a way to game the system, good for them. I was only trying to console the people here who ready to fold the football program over IU winning a title.
 

Bane

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At first take, nah.

But with a few minutes to think about it, it’s hard to argue this isn’t true. Wild times we live in.
First take, no way. After a few minutes, it's even dumber than when it was first posited. Anyone who thinks this IU team the greatest team of all time, I challenge you to go look at the stats for the 2019 LSU Tigers and the 2001 Miami Hurricanes. Not even in the same ballpark.
 

LifelongFan

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2019 LSU and 2001 Miami are special cases but I am for sure taking this IU team over 23 Michigan, 24 Ohio State, and 21 Georgia.
 

IrishinSyria

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It's actually VERY easy to argue it's not true.

I would argue that every title winning team since 2018 beats this IU team, minus maybe Michigan.
I mean based on vibes maybe but I doubt there’s a team that’s (a) gone undefeated, (b) beat as many top 10 teams, and (c) demolished two of them and the rest of the field the way Indiana just did.

There’s an argument to be made that the top of the college football stack is just weaker in the portal era than its ever been, but it’s hard to imagine a team with a more impressive season relative to the field than the season this Indiana team just had.
 

Crazy Balki

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2019 LSU and 2001 Miami are special cases but I am for sure taking this IU team over 23 Michigan, 24 Ohio State, and 21 Georgia.
23 Michigan, sure.

24 Ohio State and 21 Georgia? Nah.

Georgia had ungodly amounts of talent, especially on defense. You hate having to go up against Bain and Mesidor? Well how about Jordan Davis, Travon Walker, Jalen Carter, Nolan Smith, Nakobe Dean, etc. That defense had SIX first round picks on it.

Ohio State caught fire at the right time and you had Jeremiah Smith, Emeka Egbuka and Carnell Tate with Tre Henderson and Quinshon Judkins and an elite defense. Indiana struggled at times to defend Toney and Marion, but they're going to handle Smith and Egbuka?
 

Crazy Balki

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I mean based on vibes maybe but I doubt there’s a team that’s (a) gone undefeated, (b) beat as many top 10 teams, and (c) demolished two of them and the rest of the field the way Indiana just did.

There’s an argument to be made that the top of the college football stack is just weaker in the portal era than its ever been, but it’s hard to imagine a team with a more impressive season relative to the field than the season this Indiana team just had.
I mean, LSU literally did that 6 years ago. They didn't just beat a bunch of top 10 teams, they absolutely embarrassed them. LSU beat Oklahoma 63-28. They clowned Georgia 37-10. They dominated defending national champ Clemson by 17. It wasn't even close.

Alabama in 2020, beat A&M by 28, beat Georgia by 17, beat Florida by 6, beat ND by 17 and beat Ohio State by 28.

Georgia in 2022, beat Oregon by 39, beat Tennessee by 14, beat LSU by 20, beat Ohio State by 1, beat TCU by 58.
 

laughingirish92

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i don't hate IU but wanted Miami to win because now i have to hear so many IU fans at work or elsewhere that i know here in central Indiana brag all spring and summer about how they are the champs and how they are better in football than our irish
 
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