Thoughts and musings on the IU-Miami national title game
Somehow, the Hoosiers are prohibitive favorites to win the Cig-natty. My world has been turned upside-down.
Emptying the Notebook before the National Title Game:
Here’s the crazy thing: Monday night will be something of a David-and-Goliath matchup, and Indiana – yes, Indiana, the second losingest program in college football history – is the Goliath when the Hoosiers meet Miami at Hard Rock Stadium for the national title.
Miami has won five national titles.
IU has never sniffed a national title, hadn’t won a bowl game since 1991 before knocking off Alabama in the Rose Bowl this season..
And at last check, the Hoosiers were a 7-to-8 1/2-point favorite over the Hurricanes who, by the way, are playing on their home field.
How in the hell did all of this happen?
How in the hell did IU become a wagon?
People’s brains are breaking, attempting to solve the equation. I mean, Indiana can’t be playing for a national title without some kind of unique, ground-breaking approach, or even by cheating, as was stupidly advanced on some Miami-based troll accounts. But let’s be honest: If the IU kids were wearing Georgia uniforms, we’d be talking already about how this is/was one of the greatest college football teams ever – assuming they win Monday night, in which case they will be favorably compared to 2019 LSU with Joe Burrow, Justin Jefferson, Ja’marr Chase and Clyde Edwards-Helaire.
Turns out, there’s no great secret. Every time I do a radio show these days, the host asks me, “How has Curt Cignetti done this?” and I throw my hands in the air. Honestly, there’s no secret sauce, nothing that every other coach in the country isn’t attempting to do. It’s just that when it comes to the simple things, the required things, IU does everything better than the rest of the crowd. Cignetti, clearly, is an amazing judge of talent, a keen recruiter and has developed his players to the point where they are wiping the floor with the likes of Oregon (twice), Alabama and others. He does what everybody else does; he just does it better, and he’s done it better for a very long time.
They don’t commit penalties. They are the best, or one of the best, tackling teams in the country. They don’t turn the ball over. They’re brilliant in the red zone, both offensively and defensively. They dominate third down on both sides of the ball. You’d be hard-pressed to find a weakness in this group.
