Despite brutally cold weather and an impending snowstorm, the Indiana Hoosiers football team celebrated their first national title with their fans Saturday at Memorial Stadium. The 35-minute event features speeches from the team and Indiana administration, and there was plenty of singing as well.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — The wind chill factors were the only negatives at Memorial Stadium on Saturday.
The Indiana Hoosiers celebrated their first football national championship with their adoring fans on a brutally cold afternoon with temperatures below zero. No one seemed to care.
It ''hurt so good.''
No one could imagined a celebration like this two years ago when Curt Cignetti was hired away from James Madison to take over the Indiana program had more all-time loss than anyone in 2023.
Yet here they were, celebration behind a bunch of trophies, the Big Ten Championship Game hardware, plus Rose Bowl and Peach Bowl trophies from their first two playoff wins to the biggest one of all — the national championship trophy they won Monday night when they beat Miami 27-21. Throw in Fernando Mendoza's Heisman Trophy, and it was all very overpowering
"From the bottom of my heart, thank you Hoosier Nation," Mendoza said. "Playing here has been one of the greatest privileges of my life. Thank you so much and again, myself, my teammates are forever indebted to you guys. God bless. Go Hoosiers!"
Heisman Trophy Trust chief executive officer Jeff Price brought the trophy that will stay on campus permanently. Indiana president Pam Whitten promised students that there will be more championships down the road.
There was singing, too, and a lot of it. Several Indiana seniors helped local legend — and prominent football booster — John Mellencamp belt out "Hurts So Good" before "We Are The Champions" rang out over the public address system. At the end of the 35-minute celebration, players and fans alike sung the school fight song in unison.
"The greatest university in the country is now the home to the greatest football team in the United States of America," Whitten said.
All-American linebacker Aiden Fisher was one of 13 players who came with Cignetti from James Madison and turned into a great team leader as the new players melded well with the holdovers and new recruits.
"First of all, I can't put into words what Indiana, the fans, my coach and my teammates have meant to me," Fisher said. "These two years have changed my life for the better and thank you, God, for making me a Hoosier."
The oft-stonefaced Cignetti smiled often through the celebration, but he's also ready to get to work on the 2026 season. As great as 2025 was, it is now in the past for the 64-year-old coach.
"Chapter 3 begins tomorrow," he shouted.