Last month, a guy on the internet broke a world record by beating Super Mario Bros. in just a shade over four minutes and fifty-four seconds. It was, by all accounts, the envy of online speed runners, who make a sport of beating games as quickly as possible. According to the fine folks on Reddit, the new mark is just nine frames away from a theoretically perfect game. I’ll take their word for it. I have no idea how to do that math.

I bring this up because Curt Cignetti just completed college football's version of a speed run, and unlike the Mario guy, he did it with real players. Two years ago, Indiana football was a joke. Last night, they beat Miami 27-21 in Hard Rock Stadium to win their first national championship. 

If you're searching for a simple explanation for this turnaround, you're not gonna find one. Of course, the transfer portal is a great equalizer and makes stories like this remotely possible, but Cignetti’s the only one to pull it off at the losingest program of the last 156 years. There are a lot of teams loading up on transfers, but not all of them are ripping through a gauntlet of Ohio State, Alabama, Oregon and Miami. And though the internet has been aflutter with conspiracy theories about a clandestine cheating operation, the harsh reality might just be that Cignetti himself is the cheat code.

No, the Indiana story is more complex than saying “transfer portal” and giving a dismissive handwave. Getting talent is important, but turning it into a team is a whole other conversation. With a million players coming and going every portal cycle, being a coach in 2026 requires a lot of cat herding to make things work. It’s harder than ever to build an actual culture. But Cignetti’s managed to do that, too. His process is different, from practicing a little less than his competition to manically focusing on communication and discipline. (We can even lump in the fact that he eats the same Chipotle burrito bowl every day. What a psycho.) Right now, college football is pure chaos; Cignetti has built an anti-chaos machine.

Never was his process on greater display than last night. Indiana’s offense was outgained, Fernando Mendoza was under constant assault from a ferocious Miami pass rush, and the Canes were able to make key adjustments and rile up their hometown crowd. (There’s also this wonderful clip of a 6’9” offensive lineman trucking 5’9” DeAngelo Ponds.) Bill Connelly, our good friend from ESPN.com, ran the game through his SP+ computer and found that Indiana’s postgame win expectancy was just 14.1 percent. And yet, the Hoosiers got it done in the moments that mattered most, with a combination of clutch players, calculated schemes, and critical adjustments. 

On a pivotal fourth-and-five in the fourth quarter, up just 17-14, Cignetti called a timeout and kept his offense on the field. In what he later described as a dice roll, the Hoosiers spread out the Canes and surprised everyone with a quarterback draw. Mendoza later described the sequence to Scott Van Pelt. Indiana only partially got the matchup they were looking for, but Mendoza recognized it almost immediately, made a bet on himself, and found his way into the end zone for a gritty 12-yard touchdown, which gave Indiana a 10-point cushion.

Take a look at what Indiana did on defense. It wasn’t always perfect, and Miami did finish with more yards, but that’s only part of the story. The Canes had been money on third downs in their last two games, converting 18 of 33 against Ohio State and Ole Miss. Their ability to string together long, clock-killing drives was one of the biggest reasons they made it here in the first place. On Monday night, they started 0-for-8 on third downs and didn’t convert their first until late in the third quarter. Carson Beck spent the majority of high leverage moments staring into zone coverage with nobody to throw to. Miami finished just 3-of-11 on the night and went three-and-out five times.

And though the Miami defensive front seemed to get the better of the Indiana line, Cignetti counteracted a relentless pass rush with quick, RPO passes to get the ball out quickly. Mendoza had just 2.27 seconds to throw, almost half a second less than usual, but made the most of it until the Canes tightened up their coverage. That’s when the Hoosiers adjusted again with a collection of back shoulder throws against man coverage that, let’s be honest, are impossible to stop.

There was no panic or desperation. Just hitting the right buttons at the right time.

Before the game, every single person on the College GameDay set, with the exception of Pat McAfee, picked Miami to win outright. (In hindsight, we should’ve known the Canes were doomed when Nick Saban, the greatest coach and worst picker of all-time, predicted a triumph for Mario Cristobal.) College football talkers, even those of us who picked Indiana, are gonna need a minute to unpack this one. It just doesn’t usually work like this. It’s supposed to take a decade of blue-chip recruiting, cartoonish facilities, and seven or eight years of building a culture. Just ask James Franklin. Cignetti got to Bloomington 26 months ago, now he has 27 wins and a national championship.

The miraculous speed run is complete. Indiana went punchline to powerhouse faster than anyone thought possible. Cignetti would be the first to admit that his win over Miami was far from flawless, but the first 16-0 season in the history of college football will do just fine.

We’d love to get your feedback on this newsletter. Reply back with your thoughts!