Seemingly Made-Up — But True — Facts Behind Indiana’s Improbable College Football Championship

Posted on: January 20, 2026, 09:24h. 

Last updated on: January 20, 2026, 09:43h.

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  • The Indiana Hoosiers weren’t supposed to win the College Football Playoff National Championship
  • Against all odds, Curt Cignetti scripted a true story seemingly out of a movie

The Indiana Hoosiers completed the perfect college football season on Monday night with a 27-21 victory over the Miami Hurricanes. Led by Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza, Indiana’s 16-0 run came just two years after the Hoosiers went 3-9 in 2023, the school’s third straight losing season.

Indiana Hoosiers college football championship
Indiana Hoosiers Head Coach Curt Cignetti lifts the National Championship Trophy following the Indiana Hoosiers versus the Miami Hurricanes College Football Playoff National Championship Game on Jan. 19, 2026, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla. Indiana’s college football championship was a most unlikely feat. (Image: Peter Joneleit/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Indiana’s quick turnaround and improbable ascent to the top of college football just two years after Curt Cignetti arrived was historic in many ways, including in terms of sports betting.

Before the 2025 college football season kicked off last August, most sportsbooks had Indiana at 100/1 or longer to win the College Football Playoff (CFP) National Championship. The +10000 line implies a likelihood of less than 1%. The long odds came despite the Hoosiers reaching the 2024 CFP appearance, though they lost in the First Round to in-state rival Notre Dame 27-17.

Historic College Football Odds

At 100/1, the Indiana Hoosiers easily set the record for the longest preseason odds to win the National Championship. Before Monday night’s victory, the Auburn Tigers winning the 2010 title at 50/1 odds held the claim.

Indiana overcoming 100/1 odds is the second-longest odds for a title team in the six major US sports (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, NCAAF, NCAAM) behind only the 1999 NFL St. Louis Rams, who went on to win the Super Bowl on 150/1 odds.

Indiana’s turnaround is seemingly out of a movie. Between 1899 and the start of the 2025 season, Indiana had the most NCAA Division 1 Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) losses of any school at 715 defeats. The Hoosiers won three bowl games in 2025 alone during their CFP run. Before this year, Indiana had a total of three bowl game victories in program history. Indiana football’s first season was in 1887.

Before 2025, in 138 seasons, Indiana football had never won more than nine games, and nine wins had only happened twice. At 27-2 through two seasons, Cignetti could lose the next 32 games and still have a better winning percentage than the Hoosiers did in the five seasons before him.

A lot of people thought this wasn’t possible,” Cignetti said Monday night. “It probably is one of the greatest sports stories of all time, but it’s all because of these guys and the staff.”

At 100/1 odds, a bettor who put just $10 on Indiana before the season won $1,000.

Big Ten Three-Peat

Indiana’s title marks the third year in a row that the CFP National Championship winner emerged from the Big Ten. In the age of name, image, likeness (NIL), it could appear that the SEC’s reign is done.

The all-too-early odds for the 2026 college football season suggest a Big Ten four-peat is likely. DraftKings has Ohio State and Indiana co-favored with the shortest odds at +700. Texas and Notre Dame are next at +750, and Oregon rounds out the top five at +850.