Not a lot to lead off with here. Look at the schedule below. That's a lot of Ws. Look at the picture above. That's the championship trophy. Look at the article title. That's Indiana. Vigorously slap your face. You're not dreaming. That's really Indiana.
What were the expectations?
Transient Buckeye: Indiana's 11-2 season in 2024 came pretty much out of nowhere. Maybe I should've Googled. No one was surprised that they were good in 2025, but I think the consensus view, which I shared, was that they'd fall off a bit from the 2024 peak. I didn't think they were going to be bad--far from it. I thought they'd be in the 9-3/8-4 range, which would've ranked among the greatest seasons Indiana has had in the last half-century. I did not have them pegged as a serious national title contender.
Kind of...: I thought the winner of the Indiana/Illinois game was making the CFP. Since it was in Bloomington, I gave the edge to the Hoosiers, had them splitting the roadies with Iowa/Oregon, and losing at Penn State to get an at-large at 10-2/7-2. That's about the maximum I dared imagine for the Hoosiers for last year.
IUinVA: The morans at the AP ranked IU #20 in their preseason rankings. As crazy as 2024 was, IU fans looked at the offseason roster additions and had a good feeling that the 2025 team would be better. We didn‘t know they’d be that much better. My optimistic, homer prediction was 11-1 with a loss at Penn State. Keep in mind that predicting a win at Oregon was grounds for being laughed out of the room. [AlmaOtter: Wait, who let this guy in here?!]
So, how'd it go?
HoustonBoiler:
Transient Buckeye: They were a serious national title contender. Obviously. Since the won the whole damn enchilada.
Kind of...: I mean they let Old Dominion QB Colton Joseph break a couple of long TD runs. And they failed to shut out Purdue...
IUinVA: Oh, I’m glad you asked. [AlmaOtter: Oh sweet jesus what now?]
What were the highlights?
Transient Buckeye: Can we just say "the whole season?" Indiana buzz-sawed through most (though not quite all) of their schedule. They beat Ohio State for the first time since the late 1980s. They won the Big Ten. They had a Heisman Trophy winner. Oh, yeah, and they also won the national championship.
Kind of...: As someone who is not an Indiana fan, I'd guess that the highlights, in order, were 1) winning the natty, 2) beating OSU for the B1G title, 3) detonating Alabama, 4) the last minute drive to beat PSU, 5) detonating Oregon, and there's still plenty left.
IUinVA: Ope, I jumped the gun on that one. The answer is everything. A thing of beauty is a joy for ever.
And the lowlights?
Transient Buckeye: Looking for lowlights in Indiana's 2025 season requires as much effort as coming up with highlights for 2025 Purdue. We're really nitpicking here. But Indiana did find itself in a few inexplicably tight scuffles with teams they should've trashed much more thoroughly. And since we are Nit-picking, the game at Penn State definitely needs to go at the top of that list. PSU wasn't as bad as their record last year, but a team of Indiana's caliber shouldn't have needed a literal last-minute drive to beat them. Even this "lowlight" probably worked to Indiana's benefit, though, as it provided the single most memorable play in Fernando Mendoza's Heisman campaign.
Kind of...: A possible lowlight may be the lightning speed with which Indiana football fans are starting to sound like Indiana basketball fans circa the 1980s. Enjoy the spoils you ingrates, but feel free to not go full Masshole Patriots fan.
IUinVA: Only that the season had to end.
Any memorable and or absurd moments?
Transient Buckeye: Indiana won a national championship in football. If that's not one of the most absurd things to happen in the sport within the past several years, I don't know what is.
Kind of...: It was absurd to me how many non-B1G types thought the front of the jersey was going to matter in the Rose Bowl. If you had them going 7-5 preseason, no big deal. If you thought that 13-0/9-0 Indiana still hadn't proven themselves then you're a dipshit, first grade (Pawl).
IUinVA: The whole damn thing is absurd. At the time, I was wondering if the drive at Oregon was the greatest drive in Indiana football history. A month later it was topped at Penn State, punctuated by Omar Cooper Jr. making the greatest catch in Indiana football history. Mendoza may have made the greatest throw in Indiana football history on a go route to Becker to ice the Big Ten Championship. He certainly made the greatest run and single play in Indiana football history against Miami to win the National Championship.
16-0 with no five stars and only one four star recruit on the entire roster that was a big contributor (Omar Cooper Jr.) It doesn’t get any more absurd than that. Indiana Football. 2025 Undefeated National Champions.
