MIAMI -- What began with an "irrational belief," Indiana center Pat Coogan said, ended with the Hoosiers' first football national championship on Monday, and perhaps, a new world order in the typically staid sport of college football.
Coach Curt Cignetti called Indiana's championship a "paradigm shift," one that opens the door to any program willing to invest to climb to the top of the sport, just as the Hoosiers did.
People can cling to an old way of thinking, categorizing teams as this or that or conferences as this or that," Cignetti said, "or they can adjust to the new world, the shift in the power dynamic in college football today."
Indiana became college football's first first-time national champion in 29 years with a 27-21 victory against Miami, but that hardly begins to capture just how unexpected this climb has been. Entering this season, Indiana had the most losses in the sport's history, and the Hoosiers won it all despite a roster that featured just eight blue-chip recruits and a host of contributors who'd followed Cignetti from James Madison two years earlier.
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