COLUMN: Jake's take: Indiana's National Title win proves changes in football are positive

Key Highlights

• For those who don’t know, Curt Cignetti came from James Madison University and brought most of his team with him.
• During his introduction to a school that has a deep basketball history, he told the students that Purdue, Ohio State and Michigan sucked and that he was going to beat them. Cignetti did all that and more, as the Hoosiers took down No.
• 1 Ohio State, dominated Alabama and Oregon in the playoffs and took the College Football Playoffs.
• Now in two seasons, the Hoosiers went from the gutters of college football history to the very tippy-top of the mountain, sitting as the team to beat. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementBut something that may go without saying is this run isn’t possible without the changes of the transfer rules and the fact that players are paid in college now.
• Last season, when the Hoosiers made the playoffs, it opened the floodgates this season for donors to put a boatload of money into the team. Led by a deep alumni base and namely former Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, this season, the Hoosiers had a $21.1 million roster and landed the first Heisman winner in school history in the transfer portal in Fernando Mendoza. While Ohio State won last year’s title as one of the bluebloods of football, it’s now open season for any team to take the title.