'Anything's possible': Indiana wins its first B1G Championship Game, something long in the making

On Dec. 1, 1899, Indiana University Bloomington was officially introduced as the newest member of the Western Conference, a league later to be called the Big Ten Conference.

And 124 years later, to the exact day that IU joined the conference, a man by the name of Curt Cignetti was formally announced as the 30th Indiana head football coach. He went in front of the media, alongside athletic director Scott Dolson and President Pam Whitten, and laid out a plan for how he wanted to turn the losingest program in FBS history around.

And now he’s a champion.

A champion of that same league that Indiana joined in 1899, as the Hoosiers were finally on the mountaintop of a conference that they’ve been in for over a century. Yes, Indiana was Big Ten football champion in 1945 and 1967, but those are nothing compared to Indiana battling for the title in front of a record-breaking crowd at Lucas Oil Stadium on Saturday night.

The Hoosiers beat Ohio State 13-10 for what was a historic win for so many reasons, but none bigger than the fact that Indiana is the undisputed champion of the Big Ten.

Indiana’s Big Ten Championship victory was a testament to two forces coming together to achieve something special. Cignetti’s coaching staff, coupled with all the players he brought over from James Madison, have executed one of the more miraculous turnarounds in sports history, proving that anything is possible.

And Cignetti agrees.

“But when you get the right people and you have a plan and they love one another and play for one another and they commit, anything’s possible. And I think that’s what you saw happen here,” he said postgame.

‘We were playing to win’: Inside the final drive that sealed Indiana’s Big Ten Championship

So many key players contributed to the victory, most of them coming from the Group of Five ranks, as those who were doubted their whole careers came in and turned a program that had been repeatedly doubted into a champion.

“I’m proud of them. I’m proud of them and the coaches,” Cignetti mentioned after the championship victory.

The talent gap between Indiana and Ohio State was astonishing on paper, but unfortunately for the Buckeyes, the Big Ten Championship wasn’t played on paper — it was fought for on the gridiron.

And that’s exactly what Indiana does: fight.

All the Group of Five and FCS transfers had to fight to get their lower-level offers, and had to fight to secure a spot in the Power Four, while the coaching staff had to claw its way to the Big Ten ranks after winning at every stop along the way.

“It just reminded me of where we came from,” running back Kaelon Black said. “We were at FCS at first. Guys who were unranked in high school. This is just something you live for. This is what you play in video games. It’s just amazing. It just feels great.”

And for Cignetti, his story has been told time and time again, and it’s clear that he had to fight for every opportunity he’s gotten. He fought to earn a power-conference job, and Indiana was lucky enough to find a diamond in the rough.

After winning the Big Ten Championship, Cignetti said he’s a “what’s next” kind of guy, but the joy on his face was apparent. He and his team will go down in the history books as 2025 Big Ten champions, and it’ll stay that way forever.

For the first time in program history, Indiana football has earned a Big Ten title by winning the conference championship game. The first Big Ten Championship was played in 2011, which was the first year Cignetti was a head coach at IUP.

And 14 years later, Cignetti’s journey led him to Indianapolis. He had stops at Elon and JMU along the way, while the Big Ten Championship Game saw 10 different programs compete for a title during that span.

‘This Hoosiers are flippin’ champs’: Indiana knocks off Ohio State to win Big Ten title

But in 2025, a storybook program converged with the biggest game during the Big Ten season. The matchup between Indiana and Ohio State was the first instance of a 12-0 vs. 12-0 conference title game, and it lived up to the hype.

Each defense battled, but for Indiana, fighting for something was nothing new. Everyone on the Hoosiers’ sideline was doubted and questioned during their career, but all those doubts are gone now.

“I mean, for any of the doubters out there, I think this kind of was the final nail in the coffin for any of the Indiana doubters, Curt Cignetti doubters, the Hoosier doubters,” linebacker Isaiah Jones said after Indiana’s historic win.

“I think this was the last thing that needed to be proved. And I think we did it.”

The Hoosiers still have a long road ahead of them, but what they showed at Lucas Oil Stadium in the Big Ten Championship can’t be taken away from them. They earned it, and it was years and years in the making.

For an IU football program that’s been competing since 1887, and in the conference that’s now called the Big Ten since 1889, it’s the crowning achievement — and something that wasn’t imaginable just a few years ago.

But because of what Cignetti, his staff and his players have been able to do, history keeps being made.

“We’re going to go in the playoffs as the No. 1 seed. And a lot of people probably thought that wasn’t possible,” Cignetti mentioned after beating Ohio State.

Well, it was possible. And everyone in Hoosier Nation lived it on Saturday night in Indianapolis. There’s so much more to be accomplished for this team, but at this very moment, IU is something that it’s never been before.

Big Ten Championship Game winners.

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