BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Tom Crean first coined the phrase, and it wound up on thousands of T-shirts. Way back on April Fool's Day in 2008, he was asked why he would leave his comfortable hoops job at Marquette for the Hoosiers basketball program that was a dumpster fire at the time.

"It's Indiana,'' he said. He paused for a moment, looked right into the cameras and then said it again. "It's Indiana.''

He coached for nine years in a building where five national championship banners dangle from the rafters. And he was right. ''It's Indiana,'' a basketball school in a basketball state with rabid basketball fans.

These days, we're hearing that ''It's Indiana'' phrase again, but it's the outside noise this time — and said more in a derogatory way. For the second straight year, Indiana is the talk of the college football world. The Hoosiers, who had lost more games than any school in America before Curt Cignetti arrived in late 2023, won a school-record 11 games a year ago and made the College Football Playoff.

They only lost two games all year, one at Ohio State after starting the season 10-0. The Buckeyes would go on to win the national championship. Indiana's other loss was at Notre Dame in the playoffs. The Fighting Irish won three playoff games — Indiana, Georgia, Penn State — before losing in the championship game to the Buckeyes.

Indiana's two losses? To the two best teams in the country.

But through the Hoosiers' historic season, a lot of shade got thrown their way. They can't be that good, critics would say, because they just saw Tom Allen go 3-24 in the Big Ten in his last three years at Indiana. No one can turn around a program THAT FAST!

They don't play anyone, they whined, even though they beat the two schools that played in the 2023 title game — Michigan and Washington — by a combined score of 51-32. They beat pedigreed Big Ten rivals Nebraska by 49, Michigan State by 37 and UCLA on the road by 29.

Losing to Ohio State and Notre Dame allowed the haters to say Indiana was good, but not great. Just a flash in the pan. Played over their skis all year.

A cute little story, but now say goodbye.

But first-year coach Curt Cignetti wasn't going anywhere. He collected his national Coach of the Year awards and then did the only thing he knows.

He went right back to work.

Indiana's dramatic encore in 2025

Cignetti talks often about having a process when it comes to building a program. It's worked for him at every stop, from small schools like Indiana-Pennsylvania and Elon, and a decent mid-major in James Madison.

He was firmly convinced he could turn things around at Indiana, too, but others were skeptical. Indiana has been playing football since 1887 and not a single coach has a winning record in Big Ten games.

Not one. It's a place where football dreams go to die. They won a Big Ten title in 1945, and shared another one in 1967.

They've won nothing since.

Winning seasons were even rare, just three in 30 years before Cignetti showed up. That's why going 11-1 was so shocking, to the outside world but even more so to the most loyal of IU fans who've followed bad football for years.

It was an incredible year, one for the ages. And then came 2025 — and it's been even better.

Perfect, some might say.

Indiana is 12-0 this year, their first perfect regular season in school history. No one expected that, either, considered they were ranked No. 20 in the preseason.

Indiana's over/under wins total before the season was just 8.5. Losses to No. 2 Penn State, No. 3 Oregon and No. 9 Illinois seemed inevitable, as did a game at Iowa, where the Hoosiers were 1-6 in the past 24 years.

Last year was a fluke, right?

Oregon never loses at home, 25-1 in their last 26 before losing to Indiana on Oct. 11. Indiana had never won at Penn State in 13 tries, but beat the Nittany Lions on Nov. 8. Sure it's been a tough year for Penn State, but they won three in a row after losing to Indiana and are bowl eligible. The Hoosiers won at Iowa and beat No. 9 Illinois 63-10.

Read that again slowly. They beat ... No. 9 Illinois ... by 53 points.

They've won six games by 45 points or more, and tossed their in-state rivals Purdue around like a rag doll last Friday, winning 56-3. They've outscored the Boilers 122-3 in the past two years.

After a bye week, Cignetti said he ''wanted to end the season with an exclamation point, not a question mark.'' 

Here you go — !!!

And now it's on to their first Big Ten Championship Game in Indianapolis on Saturday night. It's the first-ever Big Ten title game between No. 1 and No. 2 in the country, with Ohio State and Indiana set for an epic battle.

This time, Indiana seems much more ready to battle the best in college football. Ohio State has been No. 1 all year after beating then No. 1 Texas in Week 1. Some analysts are calling them the best college football team — ever.

Regardless, Cignetti feels like their plan is in place. They all trust what they do every day — from the top down. Everyone is bought in, players, coaches, administrators, wealthy boosters who pay for the whole thing in this NIL/transfer portal world that Indiana has quickly mastered.

And this 2025 Indiana team is different. It's also better.

"We recognize the challenge, and we respect Ohio State,'' Cignetti said Monday. "We weren't  pleased with the way we played last year. We went there, our first real big test on a national level. We've talked through that yesterday, the things that happened in that game. But this is a different team.

"Looking back a year ago, objectively speaking, you would have to say that it became too big for us at some point in the second quarter and into the third. And we're going to find out Saturday how ready we are.''

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"What I can tell you about this football team is that we've met every challenge up to this point because we prepare consistently the way you need to prepare and put it on the field, and all three phases have been very consistent. That's what it's going to take this week, detailed preparation, commit to the preparation, eliminate the noise and the clutter, put yourself in the best position to play your best on Saturday individually and collectively.

"It's my job to make sure that happens — and the assistant coaches, too. Get that done five days from now, and our guys will walk on the field with confidence that they will get the job done.''

Trying to close the gap with Ohio State

Ohio State claims nine national championships, including three since 2002. They've won or shared 39 Big Ten titles and haven't lost to Indiana since 1988, a span of 32 games and 30 straight wins since a tie in 1990.

Ohio State picks and chooses five-star studs on the recruiting trail. Indiana doesn't have any. Ohio State has dozens of four-stars sitting on their bench. Indiana has barely a handful in their starting lineups.

Picking the right players and then developing them when they get on campus is part of Cignetti's system. He's seen it work before, and it's working now. He's done a great job of hiring coaches who can teach well, and that's made the difference. 

These guys, many of them ignored by major schools on the recruiting trail, can play with anyone now. 

"Yeah, it's huge. Building a program and being successful used to be all about recruiting and development. Now you add retention to the mix, but development is what it's all about because there's a lot of good football players out there,'' Cignetti said. "There aren't many great unusual players out there. Ohio State's got a few of those, and we've got some really good players.

"But the development piece, and what you do with them in the weight room in the offseason program, both in the winter and the summer, your philosophy — offense, defense, special teams — the intangibles you create on your football team, the things you put in their head, the messaging, how you practice? Can you keep them healthy? Do you have a good culture? I mean, do they like it here? Do they like each other? Do you have good leadership?''

Yeah, it's all of that. To get to the top of the mountain takes total buy-in from everyone, and that's not just on Saturdays in the fall. 

It's all day. And it's every day. That's how 12-0 happens. That's how not being satisfied with 11-2 and vowing to be better happens.

It's happening right now.

"That's all part of development, and I think we've excelled in those areas,'' Cignetti said. "When I first took over as a head coach, I was fortunate that we turned the program around right away, but I was able to make some mistakes at that level — year 1, year 2, year 3 — and learn from them so that by year 6, year 5, it was kind of like I had hit my stride.

"We're always looking to improve what we do organizationally, and I think the organizational discipline that we have is really important here. Everybody's on the same page. Everybody's thinking alike. That's what it takes when you're the CEO of a program, a football program, P-4.''

Indiana started turning some heads last year, starting turning people into believers. This program, the laughingstock of the sport for years, is now ready to contend for a national title.

It sounds almost surreal. Especially at a basketball school.

"The bottom line is you've got to change the way people think. As the leader, you've got to get everybody to think alike and buy into the team vision and sacrifice personal goals sort of aside for the betterment of the team,'' he said. "Because when the team's successful, everybody benefits — more All-Conference, more All-American, more NFL draft choices, et cetera.

"So development is huge, and I give our assistant coaches a ton of credit for that. Coach (Bryant) Haines, Coach (Mike) Shanahan, Grant Cain, Coach (Bob) Bostad, Derek Owings, every single position coach. We've got great people upstairs, and we have great people in that locker room.''

Slowly earning respect from others

Two years ago this week, Indiana athletic director Scott Dolson hired Cignetti and brought him to Bloomington for his introductory press conference. They said all the right things.

Indiana had a basketball game that night at sold-out Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, and Cignetti was introduced to the crowd to a loud round of applause.

He took the microphone and said a few words. And when he ended his quick speech, he said, "Purdue sucks! And so does Michigan and Ohio State.''

Eyes rolled among even the most ardent of Indiana fans. It was bravado to some, arrogance to others. But Cignetti knew what he was doing — and didn't care one bit what people thought.

He had to change the culture, had to bring a wining mentality here, even if it meant ruffling a few feathers.

Ohio State coach Ryan Day admitted to snickering at Cignetti's first remarks at Indiana. And they certainly used it for bulletin-board material before last year's game. But he's also seen him go 23-2 now in the past two years. He's seen them go 17-1 in the Big Ten — which is actually a game better than Ohio State. Day knows what that takes.

The respect is there. It's come over time.

"One thing about Coach Cignetti, he grew up in a football family. I have a respect for the way he grew up,'' Day said during an interview on Sunday. "He just has a feel of the game. When you grow up in this game, you have a feel for people, you have a feel for situations. He's won wherever he's been.

"I know some people laugh at the comments, he's made, 'Google him,' but it's true. I've got a lot of respect for him. It's been great to see him as a competitor in the conference."

Day also appreciates how quickly Cignetti has turned around the Indiana program. Day knows the Hoosiers' history, too. He fully understands this worst-to-first overnight success story. 

"He's adapted to modern times,'' Day said. "He certainly has taken a roster and turned it over quickly and brought in some really talented players. He's been aggressive and he's been able to turn over his roster and bring in a lot of talent in a short period of time.

"They're well-coached. They have a plan of how they want to attack you in all three phases, and they're not going to beat themselves."

Ohio State has won the Big Ten Championship Game five times since its started in 2011, most in the league. This is their seventh game, also the best. It's the first trip ever for Indiana.

Quite an accomplishment. 

And on Saturday night, the Hoosiers will try to win their first Big Ten title in 58 years. The stage, this time, is not too big.

Or so they hope. That's the plan. It's No. 1 vs. No. 2, and the Hoosiers are ready.

"Ohio State's in a league of their own for a lot of different reasons,'' Cignetti said. "A big part of it is their tradition, their winning history, all the national championships that they've won, and the money that they've put into the program over a long, extended period of time.

"Are we closing that gap? Yeah, I think we're closing that gap. What would a successful performance do on Saturday? Well, it would do a lot, a whole lot.  There's no question there will be a lot of eyes on this game. It's a great matchup. I'm confident that we'll respond the right way.''

Can the Hoosiers actually pull this off against mighty Ohio State? The naysayers will say no way, because, after all, ''it's Indiana.''

Cignetti and his entire program have another answer. They're confident they can win. And why?

Because ''It's Indiana.''

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