MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — Curt Cignetti announced his arrival at Indiana loudly. A now-famous halftime introduction at a Hoosiers basketball game during which the coach derided rivals Purdue, Michigan and Ohio State endeared him to the fan base right away.
So what if he didn’t win? It wasn’t like IU had some decorated history on the gridiron. But Cignetti assured folks in Bloomington, Indiana, and beyond that he was, in no uncertain terms, a winner in a prescient press conference.
“I knew I was out on a limb,” Cignetti told reporters Saturday at the Miami Beach Convention Center. “I had to find out if the fan base was dead or on life support.”
Hoosier Nation is alive and well, as it turns out. Indiana fans have shown up in droves to support the No. 1 team in the nation and the best team in program history, flexing the full weight of the country’s largest living alumni base. Crimson and cream-clad fans have flooded Big Ten country on Saturdays since Cignetti arrived, and they took over the Rose Bowl and Peach Bowl, too, on IU’s current playoff run.
Just one game remains for Indiana, and it’s the big one. The Hoosiers are playing in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game on Monday against No. 10 Miami. And after three straight neutral-site postseason games that felt like home games, Indiana is essentially on the road again at Hard Rock Stadium, the home of the Hurricanes.
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“If you’re not sure you can make it down, find a ride,” said Cignetti, who expects another strong turnout in South Florida. “I have not been surprised the way they’ve traveled, because once we got rolling Year One, we were selling it out and they couldn’t get in, and it’s only grown and grown.”
It wasn’t always like this for Indiana. There weren’t playoff games — and rarely even bowl games — for Hoosiers fans to show up to until recently. But the passion has been there.
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Wide receiver Elijah Sarratt recalled a conversation he had with an Uber driver a year ago during his first season with Indiana after he transferred from James Madison to follow Cignetti.
“[He’s] talking to me the whole entire way about how he’s excited, how the whole town is excited, but we’re kind of scared because we don’t know if you’re going to be good or not,” Sarratt said. He remembers saying to the driver, “I hope we can live up to it for you.”
Tight end Riley Nowakowski came away impressed with his first visit to Memorial Stadium in 2023 when he was still at Wisconsin. Two years later, Nowakowski celebrated senior day with the Hoosiers with a rousing win over the Badgers, IU’s 15th consecutive home win.
“[The] stands weren’t as full as they are now, but I will say they were pretty loud,” Nowakoski said. “I was surprised by how loud they were. When I came here, I was like, ‘They got some spirit to them for sure.’ They’re just waiting for us to reciprocate, to get our act together.”
It’s safe to say Indiana has delivered on that front. No team has more wins since the start of the 2024 season, and the Hoosiers are on the verge of their first national championship in program history.
“I think this team, this whole city, all the alums, they been waiting for this moment,” Nowakowski said. “I think they just been sitting, waiting for our time to come.”
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It seemed as if Indiana’s dominant semifinal victory over Oregon was when Hoosier Nation officially announced its presence with a takeover in Atlanta. There was plenty for the fans to celebrate in a 56-22 romp that started with a pick-six by defensive back D’Angelo Ponds on the first play from scrimmage.
“It was so loud, probably the loudest I’ve heard in a stadium, just being in a dome and the noise being trapped in,” Ponds said. “It was all Indiana fans. They called it Indian-ta at that point.”
Linebacker Aiden Fisher said the fans were the difference-maker in a 38-3 playoff win against Alabama in Pasadena, California. Nowakowski drove home the importance of their noisy supporters, pointing out that opponents have had to go to a silent count against the Hoosiers.
“I feel like they’re our 12th man,” said running back Roman Hemby. “That’s something that a lot of teams say. But they really show up and show out for us every week. They give us that environment to where we feel like every game is a home game, almost.”
Several other Hoosiers players echoed the same sentiment. It might be difficult to replicate that environment at Hard Rock Stadium, which is a short drive from Miami’s campus — even in South Florida traffic. But then again, Florida is an easier trip from Indiana than California.
There will be plenty of crimson and cream in the crowd Monday night to counteract the sea of orange and green, making a road game feel, at worst, like the neutral-site atmosphere national championships are meant to be.