The 2025 Indiana football season has been nothing short of incredible. The Hoosiers are in the College Football Playoff and undefeated, with two more wins before the national championship. They are shocking the college football world under Curt Cignetti. The way Indiana has burst onto the college football scene has been dominant, and they will be a force as long as he is their head coach.
FOX Sports college football analyst Joel Klatt said on the most recent episode of his podcast that if Indiana were a different program, more like a blue blood, it would be in the conversation for the most incredible team ever. He brought up that if they had the Ohio State, Alabama, or Georgia logo, then it would be a much bigger discussion because they have a chance to go 16-0.
“If this were Ohio State’s logo next to this resume, next to this team in Indiana, Klatt said. “If this were an Alabama logo, a Georgia logo next to this team, we would all be talking about, ‘Is this the best team that we've ever seen in college football?' because no team in the history of our sport has ever been able to go 16-0. Now granted, that's a scheduling thing, but this team has a chance to do that. This team defensively has been one of the great defenses that we've seen in a long time.”
There is a scheduling aspect to it because the conferences are so big now, but the Hoosiers' chance at college football history should be celebrated, not overlooked.
Fernando Mendoza has had a fantastic season under center for the Hoosiers, and it was reflected in his winning the Heisman Trophy. Mendoza did not have a big spotlight on him when he entered college, but after starting his career at Cal, he has blossomed into an incredible quarterback.
While Mendoza gets most of the attention, other key contributors for the Hoosiers, like Elijah Surratt at receiver or D'Angelo Ponds at cornerback, were not highly rated either and make up the majority of the players on the Hoosiers, and how they were overlooked, but have talent.
