For the second year in a row, the Indiana Hoosiers are entering Week Nine undefeated.
In 2024, this perfect start was enough to take the previously unranked team and give them the 13-seed in college football.
One year later, Indiana’s 7-0 start has rewarded them with the highest national ranking in their program’s history, as they have been deemed the second-best team in the nation.
The correlation of these two seasons compared against their program’s history is clear, as Head Coach Curt Cignetti has drastically changed the program since taking the job ahead of 2024.
Now, despite only coaching 20 games, the Hoosiers have already rewarded Cignetti with an 8-year, $93 million extension.
At $8.3 million a year, this contract puts Cignetti in the top-20 contracts in college football.
For someone who just started his Head Coaching career four years prior at James Madison, there is not much for Cignetti to complain about.
However, will this extension be enough to keep him with Indiana?
The former West Virginia quarterback worked his way to becoming a Head Coach after years of working as miscellaneous position coach. From smaller programs like Davidson and Rice to NC State and Alabama, they earned his first Head Coaching opportunity in 2011.
Cignetti followed the footsteps of his father, Frank Cignetti Sr, not only by playing at West Virginia, but by leading the Indiana University of Pennsylvania as Head Coach.
His sustained success with IUP led him to Elon for a season before taking the James Madison position.
Cignetti helped guide the Dukes in their jump to the Sub Belt in 2022, where the team finished 19-4 in their first two years after elevation, awarding Cignetti the Conference Coach of the Year honors.
This opened the door at Indiana, following Tom Allen’s departure, to see if Cignetti’s winning ways would survive in a Power Four conference.
In year one, it is safe to say it did.
The 7-0 start shocked the college football world, but as the season progressed, so did the doubters’ speculation on how talented this team truly was.
With the expansion to the Big Ten ahead of the 2024 season, making the conference consist of 18 teams, it has allowed for fluctuation between the teams’ strength of conference schedule.
The Hoosiers were given a favorable draw last year, with Ohio State in Week 12 as their only ranked opponent of the regular season. By that point of the year, they had risen to fifth in the country, with their only one-score victory of the year coming against Michigan the week prior.
They ultimately lost to Ohio State, but still reached the CFB Playoffs in Cignetti’s first year, which had yet to be accomplished since the new playoff structure was adopted.
Despite this historic start to Cignetti’s Indiana tenure, Indiana was yet again not picked to finish atop the Conference in the preseason.
With the loss of quarterback Kurtis Rourke, their top-two running backs in Justice Ellison and Ty Son Lawton, and their top defensive tackle CJ West, paired with a more challenging conference sleight, regression was expected from the Hoosiers.
After a dominating win against Illinois in Week 4, which was ranked #9 at the time, followed by a road victory against Oregon, Indiana proved that their roster was not only as talented as last year, but potentially more talented.
At quarterback, Indiana turned to Cal-transfer Fernando Mendoza to lead the offense. In his first seven games, Mendoza leads the conference in touchdowns (21) and Quarterback Rate (191), to go with his 1,755 total yards and 73.5 completion percentage on the year.
Their most effective running back, Kaelon Black, has only played for Cignetti, being one of several Dukes who were recruited to JMU by Cignetti and followed him to Indiana.
On defense, senior Isaiah Jones has a conference-leading 11 tackles for losses, 4.5 sacks, and an interception to lead the second-ranked defense in the Big Ten.
The Hoosiers have all the makings of a National Championship contender. And with their most difficult games behind them, they should be favored in every game remaining in the season.
If Indiana continues to take care of business in the regular season, then it will be on a crash course with Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship. But even if Indiana does not win that highly anticipated matchup, they could likely still receive a first-round bye, depending on the resume of the four conference winners.
While the future seems bright for the program, and the Hoosiers’ faithful should be excited that their school already made a commitment to Cignetti, there is more pressure than most would like to admit this season.
It is not “championship or bust” for Indiana. But if Indiana were to win a playoff game this year, whether in the first round or after a bye, it would show how close the team already is to a National Championship.
This is paramount for college coaches of Cignetti’s caliber. Time and time again, we see coaches leave their teams in the coaching carousel for either more money or a better chance to win it all. And the two typically go hand-in-hand.
Every year now, it seems as though premier positions open up. This year, marquee programs like Florida, Penn State, and UCLA already have vacancies, and there is no question that Cignetti will be receiving calls for each of these positions.
While Cignetti does have ties to Indiana and seems to be capable of recruiting a roster fit to win a championship, will this be enough to keep him in Indiana?
To give the best chance of him staying, the Hoosiers need to take care of the sleight ahead.