Kinda wild -- in the 15 game winning streak, only one game was decided by less than 14 points.

@tammany It definitely is wild.   Every week it seems like there's a new distinction (or a new "first") for IU's football program.  I don't think it's hyperbolic to argue that the sudden rise of IU football - previously a decades-long laughingstock - is one of the most remarkable stories in the history of American sports.

Im going to have to google this.

Posted by: @openwheel

↑

Im going to have to google this.

You’re going to find lots of winning. 

"In 2015, Athlon Sports ranked Big Ten stadiums based on atmosphere, tailgating, home-field advantage and other areas.  Indiana placed second-to-last.  'It's tough to draw Indiana fans to football games, plain and simple,' the publication wrote.  Yet under Cignetti, the Hoosiers haven't lost a home game in two years."

I covered an Indiana football game for the first time in 30 years – and I was amazed - The Athletic

Unsurprising how dead the atmosphere is when the faculty and the administration have no interest in a decent sports product. For a long, long time.

Once that changed...

I'll always be curious how the atmosphere would be at this point if we were had a successful but more traditional level of 'building mode', say had won 7 last year for a very successful first year, then were 7-4, or 8-3 now with Purdue left to play. We'd be excited with the progress.

This level is much more fun!

@openwheel Agreed that football was largely ignored by the administration for far too long.

That's only part of the story, though.  The other part is Scott Dolson/Curt Cignetti.  Plenty of schools with serious commitments to football struggle, or achieve only gradual success.  None of what's happening right now at IU would be happening if Cignetti wasn't at the helm.

What did Dolson see in him that other power conference ADs overlooked/ignored?  Was it exceptional insight on Dolson's part?  A gut instinct?  Dumb luck?  Whatever the impetus, he brought in someone who is not only a great gameday coach, but an outstanding evaluator and developer of talent.  And I know the speed of this transformation wouldn't have been possible without the portal, but the portal doesn't just belong to IU.  No other coach or institution has worked it as masterfully as Cignetti. 

I just did a quick search, using AI, for other huge, immediate turnarounds in major college football.  It's happened at Tulane and Miami (OH) and a few other places, but the only other instance I could find of it happening under a new head coach at a power conference school is Auburn, Gus Malzahn. Auburn was 3-9 in 2012.  In 2013, Malzahn's first year there as HC, Auburn went 12-1 (greatest single-season turnaround in SEC history) and made it to the national championship game, losing by three to Florida State (ending the season at 12-2). 

CCC didn't make it to the national championship in his first year (we lost to the two teams that did), but hopefully this season ends with the championship trophy in Bloomington.