Key Highlights
- They had never enjoyed a double-digit win season in program history, and had gotten close to the benchmark only about a half-dozen occasions.
- Indiana football was, by just about any measure, one of the least successful teams in the sport for most of its existence ...
- until Curt Cignetti arrived. Hired at the conclusion of the 2023 season, it took Cignetti virtually no time to reshape the Hoosiers.
- Indiana raced to an 11-2 mark in the head coach's first campaign and then, in case there were doubts about that being a fluke, followed it up with an undefeated national championship run in Year 2 -- the first team to finish a season 16-0 since Yale in 1894. The Hoosiers' triumph quickly inspired a lofty yet reasonable question: Was this the greatest story in sports history?A definitive answer seems impossible.
- But we were intrigued about which other squads compare alongside 2025 Indiana in the pantheon of unlikely champions. So, we asked our experts to offer the most Hoosier-like title team in other major team sports -- with answers ranging from groups that overcame unfathomable preseason odds, to those that ended century-long droughts and more. Here are some of our experts' picks for Indiana's company in the all-time sports championship story Hall of Fame (with the caveat that some sports don't have a clear argument for a comparable run):The case for: 2016 Leicester CityHow improbable was Leicester City's run to the Premier League title 10 years ago?
