{"id":413703,"date":"2026-01-17T21:44:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T21:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/413703\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T21:44:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T21:44:11","slug":"kirk-herbstreit-on-indianas-surge-under-curt-cignetti-this-is-unprecedented","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/413703\/","title":{"rendered":"Kirk Herbstreit on Indiana’s surge under Curt Cignetti: ‘This is unprecedented’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Come Monday night, Indiana<\/a> will play for the national championship game against Miami<\/a>. It\u2019s a rise that no one predicted when Curt Cignetti was hired after the 2023 season.<\/p>\n

The Hoosiers have long since been considered a bottom feeder in the Big Ten, and Cignetti has turned them into a contender seemingly overnight. Kirk Herbstreit praised the work the IU headman has done to get Indiana this opportunity so fast.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re dominating. Right now, they\u2019re playing as well as anybody in the sport,\u201d Herbstreit said<\/a> during his media availability ahead of the national title game. \u201cTo see it happen so quickly, I think anybody has to be beyond words with what he\u2019s been able to do. \u2026 this is unprecedented.\u201d <\/p>\n

Herbstreit said that he was shocked to see Indiana perform the way they did in 2024. The Hoosiers finished the season with an 11-2 record including an appearance in the College Football Playoff last season.<\/p>\n

The Hoosiers would go on to lose in the first round, but that set the stage for an incredible run in 2025. Now, Indiana is 60 minutes away from claiming a national championship trophy in football. <\/p>\n

Much has been made of IU\u2019s 53rd-ranked recruiting class ahead of the 2025 season. Though, they also signed the 13th-best portal class last offseason. These groups combined, Herbstreit believes, addressed the few tweaks Indiana needed on both sides of the ball.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re probably as well coached as any team I\u2019ve watched. And all year, consistently, there are very few games where you see them make mistakes. You\u2019ve got to give them all the credit the world the way they do it. Lots of JMU guys, guys from smaller schools who have transferred over.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if anybody could have predicted a team who don\u2019t have any five stars would be in position to compete for an opportunity at all. So, as a fan, all you can do is be involved. Being objective, really impressed with what he\u2019s been able to do, and hopefully he can maintain that (success). I think it\u2019s a lot of fun to watch Indiana and the style in which they play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether Indiana can cap off their turnaround with the program\u2019s first national title remains to be seen. Regardless, Cignetti has created a new standard in Bloomington, and Herbstreit hopes the Hoosiers follow up on it in the coming season.<\/p>\n

Kickoff between the Hoosiers and Hurricanes is set for Jan. 19 at 7:30 p.m. ET. ESPN will air the national broadcast with Herbstreit on the call alongside Chris Fowler an Molly McGrath and Holly Rowe featured as sideline reporters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Come Monday night, Indiana will play for the national championship game against Miami. It\u2019s a rise that no…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":413704,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,398,396,397,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-413703","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-football","11":"tag-ncaafootball","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413703\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/413704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}