The first Much Too Early College Football Top 25 preseason poll was released approximately 30 seconds after Curt Cignetti was handed the Championship Trophy, and then finished his acceptance speech, noting that the Big Ten, except for Purdue, of course, doesn’t suck.
Patience is a virtue, but is rarely observed in today’s wired, peripatetic world. And the folks casting for clicks know there are no bigger Fanatics than College Football (CFB) Fans. For CFB fans, there is no such thing as an off-season. Mr. FishDuck scoffed, but in agreement as he paused from his study of NFL public betting to pontificate about all the happens in the off-season. (Such as Oregon Baseball)
One of the best in the CFB reporting business is On3’s Andy Staples. Staples (behind a paywall) has posed ten storylines that will shape the 2026 CFB season. The Champion Hoosiers are appropriately the first of Andy’s storylines, and first for my comments that follow. Football gods willing, I’ll get around to discussing more of Andy’s storylines.
Forum Friends, please help me ponder these storylines, and please, add to Andy’s list as you so desire. Andy does have a Ducks storyline, of course, (No, it’s not – Will Oregon Again Look Like One of the Best Teams in CFB Before Laying a B1G Ducks Egg?) I’m saving the best storyline for last, hoping that The Last Shall be First.
Will Curt Cignetti Keep Indiana at an Elite Level? Andy’s storyline used the word Can, not Will.
Indiana fans are coming out of the woodwork, and rightly so. (Photo by Max Unkrich)
I believe 52-19 at James Madison University, with most of the losses coming when the Dukes duked it out with teams above their weight class, and 27-2 and an FBS National Championship, proves Cig has a plan for CFB success.
Most of the CFB world, while noting Indiana’s success in 2024-25, also noted that Indiana played a lightweight schedule, and against ‘real opponents,’ Ohio State and Notre Dame, was pushed around and beaten down. Nice while it lasted, Hoosiers, and in acknowledgement, the AP Poll voters are happy to rank you 20th heading into the 2025-26 season.
The AP voters ignored a coaching staff that had spent a decade together, were all staying in Bloomington, and that Indiana had the financial resources to use the transfer portal to beef up both lines of scrimmage. and a QB ranked 4th in the portal at his position, with starting experience, was transferring in from Cal.
After all, Indiana’s roster was not Blue Chip; the roster was not studded with 4* and 5* recruits, so “happy landings, Mr. Google-Me, and good luck finishing in the top 25.”
But when a coach and his assistants stay with a plan for success, properly evaluate players based on production in college football and not potential, inculcate players in their system, and transform a QB who only Yale and Cal wanted out of high school, and who was throwing to underdeveloped wide receivers, into the Heisman Trophy winner? What do you get?
Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza helped to make the Hoosiers special. (Photo by Craig Strobeck)
How about four consecutive wins over Ohio State, Alabama, Oregon, and Miami, 16-0, and a championship for the first team ever to win a BCS or playoff championship without a Blue Chip Roster; versus AP pollsters, Cig, you can rest your case.
Curt Cignetti and company won it all with a roster ranked the 72nd best coming into the 2025 season. Indiana, as determined by On3-Rivals, is bringing in the 2026 No. 1 Transfer Portal class. This group includes QB Josh Hoover, transferring in from TCU. Like Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza, Hoover is ranked the 4th-best quarterback coming out of the portal. And lo and behold, in 2026, Indiana signed an unprecedented seven 4* recruits.
In 2026, Indiana will again chow down on three Hostess Cupcakes out-of-conference: two G6 teams and an FCS team.
Indiana has five Big Ten home games with preseason-ranked Ohio State and USC visiting Bloomington. Of the four away games, one is in Ann Arbor against a ranked Michigan team, and the Hoosiers play UW in Seattle, not an easy place to pick up a win.
Every major sports book has the Hoosiers in the top-5 to win back-to-back titles. A bet on Cig, a guy who placed a big bet on himself, is worth a few bob and a quid.
The Hoosiers refused to disappear, and with Cig in charge, will always be one of the leaders of the CFB pack.
Jon Joseph
Aiken, South Carolina
Top Photo by Eric Becker
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Jon Joseph grew up in Boston, Massachusetts but has been blessed to have lived long enough in the west to have exorcised all east coast bias. He played football in college and has passionately followed the game for seven decades. A retired corporate attorney Jon has lectured across the country and published numerous articles on banking and gaming law. Now a resident of Aiken South Carolina, Jon follows college football across the nation with a focus on the Conference of Champions and the Ducks.