Curt Cignetti and Indiana have created a world of endless potential and hope for the rest of college football

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Still in his uniform, with battle marks all over his arms and legs, Indiana receiver Charlie Becker sat in his locker with a group of reporters huddled around him. While questions came flying, all trying to contextualize the miracle that had just unfolded inside Hard Rock Stadium, one of his teammates cut through the scrum and put a lit cigar in his face.

Becker grabbed it, avoiding ashes falling toward his leg. The Indiana receiver took a big celebratory puff, then proceeded to aggressively cough.

“I guess I needed a Cuban,” he joked, smoke coming out of his mouth.

Given we’re in South Florida and Indiana had just beaten Miami, 27-21, on Miami’s home field to capture its first national title in program history, the joke hit. The cigar wasn’t Cuban — remember, Cuban cigars are still illegal to import into the United States due to the long-standing U.S. trade embargo against Cuba — but it should have been.

Indiana didn’t just win a national title. It changed college football. Forever. Let one of the Hoosiers’ stars commit a little misdemeanor in celebration.

To Becker and the rest of his teammates, Monday evening was about Indiana. As they danced in the locker room, they celebrated one of the best stories in college football history and savored a year’s worth of sacrifice that culminated in the sport’s biggest prize.

But when the rest of the college football world zooms out, Indiana is the vessel of hope. This program, which was completely hopeless and irrelevant two years ago, broke through the college football patriarchy and did something no one thought possible, not only for Indiana but for countless other programs like it.

Even Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti — known for his confidence and bravado in public speaking settings — let the truth slip during his postgame news conference.

“I know a lot of people thought this was never possible,” Cignetti said.

For 20-plus years in college football, it wasn’t possible. This sport was for the big dogs. It was for the Ohio States, Georgias, Alabamas and Clemsons. It wasn’t for the Indianas. The way teams won national titles was by amassing elite recruiting classes, hoarding talent, stacking the leftovers on the bench and beating overmatched teams by 40 week in and week out. During that period, Indiana lost many games by 40 because it simply didn’t have the players to compete.

There were teams that would have occasional Cinderella-type seasons, but those stories always ended with the clock striking midnight. One of the more recent examples was TCU‘s run to the national title game four years ago, only for the final chapter of that fairy tale to be a 65-7 blowout loss to Georgia.

Yes, the sport has changed dramatically over the last few seasons. NIL and the transfer portal have made it harder for dominant programs to hoard talent at the same rate. There’s no telling how far Indiana’s story could have gone had Cignetti begun his run there in 2015, but now that this run is finally over and Indiana — yes, Indiana – is a national champ? The sky is the limit. For everyone.

In the postgame news conference, I asked Cignetti what message this Indiana program sent to the rest of the sport. Cignetti laid it all out.

“I think we sent a message, first of all, to society that if you keep your nose to the grindstone and work hard and you’ve got the right people, anything’s possible,” he said. “In our particular situation in the athletic world, college football has changed quite a bit. The balance of power, also. But we have the right people on our staff, in the weight room, in the locker room and we have great senior leadership and togetherness. We had a really good quarterback who played his best when the chips were down.

“If you prepare the right way, which this team did week in, week out, and put it on the field, we met the challenge every single week, and we’re 16-0. Are there eight first-round draft choices on this team? Probably not, no, there aren’t. But this team, the whole was greater than the sum of its parts.”

Had Cignetti, or any other coach, said the key to winning a championship is hard work and never giving up, it would have been met with an eye roll so dramatic it would have strained a ligament. Everyone works hard. But now? The right coach with the right backing can win the national title at Indiana.

What does that mean for Mississippi State? Purdue? Arizona? Maryland? Anyone else? It means it can be done, a complete departure from where we were three years ago, when this would have been deemed impossible.

That doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy. Nothing could be further from the truth. Cignetti has to be viewed as the best coach in college football now because nothing is more legitimizing than a national title. There is something to be said about the roster he built and the way his team played — was that one of the best-coached teams in college football history? However, what makes this one of the most remarkable stories in the history of American sports is where it happened.

Cignetti is right. He doesn’t have eight first-round picks on his roster. But he has a bunch of players who will play on Sundays, including quarterback Fernando Mendoza — the Heisman Trophy winner who carried the Hoosiers on his back all season and, most certainly, Monday night. Mendoza will be the No. 1 overall pick in the upcoming NFL Draft in April. But Indiana also had stud receivers like Omar Cooper, Elijah Surratt and Becker, who caught two crucial back-shoulder throws late in the game that helped the Hoosiers secure the win. It had stud offensive linemen like Pat Coogan and Carter Smith. It had one of the best cornerbacks in the country in D’Angelo Ponds. The list goes on.

Some may have seen billionaire Indiana alum Mark Cuban on the sidelines and just chalked this up to NIL bidding wars. Yes, Indiana invested in its roster — which is a must for anyone who wants to win — but it’s a lazy take to assume the Hoosiers just bought this thing. This roster was blended perfectly with players who followed Cignetti to Indiana from James Madison, other transfers and even holdovers who were on Indiana’s roster before the coach arrived in Bloomington. This was a MasterClass in roster assembly and coaching, not a spending spree that left everyone else in the dust.

“I know Indiana’s football history has been pretty poor, with some good years sprinkled in there,” Cignetti said. “It was because it wasn’t an emphasis on football, plain and simple. Basketball school. Coach (Bobby) Knight had great teams. The emphasis is on football. It’s on basketball, too. But you’ve got to be good in football nowadays. We’ve got a president who comes from the South and loves football. We’ve got an AD that is a tremendous fundraiser, people person.

“We’ve got a fan base, the largest alumni base in the country, Indiana University. They’re all in. We’ve got a lot of momentum. We’ve just got to keep working at getting better in all phases that influence the program’s success, including the things that happen within the program, stay humble and hungry, and work diligently toward improvement, buy into the process. What the outside public thinks, we don’t control. It’s a great story, a tremendous story. Most people would tell you that are in the know, it’s probably one of the greatest stories of all time in terms of a team that most people — we got it done.

“We’re going to enjoy this moment, take a day off tomorrow, get back at it Wednesday.”

Saving a program is about getting the right coach. Maybe Indiana was just insanely lucky to find one of the best coaches of our generation at James Madison.

But Cignetti isn’t the only good coach in America. Maybe Purdue, Arizona or UCLA will find the next great one, the next person who can assemble the puzzle pieces with the proper support and create a juggernaut out of nothing.

For most of the past 25 years, we had to pretend everyone had a seat at the table. TCU, four years ago, was supposed to be proof of that. Unfortunately, the Horned Frogs didn’t get hot at the right time and ran into the wrong Georgia team. In reality, the table was ridiculously small and seats were reserved exclusively for blue bloods.

In this era? It’s possible. Indiana proved that beyond a shadow of a doubt in South Florida.

Everyone else in college football who roots for non-traditional powers should have lit a cigar in celebration of Indiana’s title. It gives you a reason to dream about what could one day be true for your team. That wasn’t always possible in this sport.

And if your team finally gets over the hump and does the remarkable like Indiana?

Well, light up a Cuban.