it was an excellent season for Cig, and can’t be diminished. But the reason it’s so hard to figure out how they could be championship-level so fast, is because championship-level is clearly lower in the NIL era.
In the past, 2-3 schools collected all the 5-stars and dominated with overwhelming talent advantage. They were paying their players and had other advantages that the rest of football didn’t.
NIL has brought potential parity for those willing to spend and smart in how they do it. It’s a different sport now, and Indiana and Cig were the first to crack the code. ND really isn’t far behind at all, IMO.
Jamie at ISD has a criteria list that shows what all championship teams have in common in the modern playoff era. I can't recall the list off the top of my head, but I'm pretty sure Indiana checked 5 of the 7 (or so) boxes, if memory serves me correctly. IU was really good this year. I don't want to diminish that. With that said, I agree that it's less likely they win it all in the prior eras where Bama, OSU, Clemson, and Georgia were absolute juggernauts. That's been ND's bad luck; to finally make a run only to get matched up against an All-Worldly team.
The absurdity of what Cignetti has done at Indiana probably doesn't happen in the pre Covid era before NIL and The Portal. It simply would not have been plausible. It's barely plausible in this era now when you consider how quickly this all happened.
I don't know if this is sustainable and what IU Football looks like going forward. You could argue that maybe he won one too soon ala Jim Tressel and Bob Stoops, but again, these are much different times. Part of me is sitting here thinking when ND makes another deep playoff run, their paths are going to cross with IU again. I'm actually looking forward to it.
Correct. The transfer portal and NIL allowed Cignetti to target his guys and go get them. He built his roster via JMU and then plugged holes with key portal additions. Pre portal and NIL era, this would've been literally impossible.
I also don't think it's sustainable, but I'm in "wait and see" mode. IU loses a gigantic amount of their roster, including their Heisman QB. It's unrealistic to think they'll reload/replace this roster and maintain the exact same high-level output as the 2025 team. Lets not forget, this same IU team almost lost to Iowa, PSU, OSU, and Miami. Without Mendoza, I think they lose all four of those games. They have another easy schedule next year, so I think seeing them in the playoffs is definitely in the cards.
