Indiana season preview

The Indiana Hoosiers, the sweethearts of college football are back. This year, led by their elite coaching staff of head coach Curt Cignetti, defensive coordinator Bryant Haines, and offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan. The Hoosiers have been able to maintain consistency with their staff throughout the chaos that is caused by the NIL era, making the Hoosiers' continuity rare in this age of college football. The ability of HC Curt Cignetti to keep his coaching staff together is one of the factors setting the stage to push for a third consecutive appearance in the college football playoff.

Last season, the Hoosiers had elite leaders and playmakers on offense such as; Fernando Mendoza, Kaelon Black, Charlie Becker, and Elijah Sarratt. With all but Becker leaving for the league, the Hoosiers have seemingly replaced their offense with new stars. The trio of Black, Becker, and Sarratt combined for a whopping 2545 yards a year ago in Bloomington. The transfers Cignetti brought in this offseason have big shoes to fill.

Some of these portal replacements include quarterback Josh Hoover, running back Turbo Richard, and wide receiver Nick Marsh. In the first game of the season against North Texas, Turbo Richard shined with two touchdowns and looked as if Kaelon Black had never left. Richard rushed for 900+ yards in two seasons at Boston College prior to transferring to Indiana over the offseason and looks to break out as RB1 in Bloomington for the rest of the season. TCU transfer QB Josh Hoover also had four touchdowns as he attempted to fill the shoes that Mendoza left for him. Marsh hauled in a touchdown reception in his first career game in Bloomington as well.

An Elite Receiver Duo: Hoover has an elite receiver duo with Marsh and Becker. The duo combined for 1341 receiving yards last season with Marsh at Michigan State and Becker at Indiana, and should benefit from Josh Hoover's gunslinging play style. However, Hoover is going to need to minimize the 33 interceptions he threw at TCU a season ago if he wants to maximize the output of his coveted receiver duo. In reference to Hoovers turnover mistakes in the past, Cignetti stated that "the way Josh was used at TCU would not be the way he is going to be used here", it will be interesting to see what that means for this offense. Regardless, both Marsh and Becker both have the potential to play themselves into first-round draft picks in 2026.

The biggest strength of the Hoosiers is that the defensive line is loaded. With Stephen Daley and Kellan Wyatt returning, the defensive line is loaded with experience and a clear edge. The duo of Daley and Wyatt combined for a whopping 66 tackles a year ago. Stephen Daley, who was injured after celebrating the B1G championship win, is a huge returner and should prove to be a tone setter on defense. Hosea Wheeler transferring to Baylor over the offseason greatly hurts this defense, however.

In the secondary, the Hoosiers return last year's two leaders. Safety Amere Ferrell and CB Jamari Sharpe (who clinched the Hoosiers the National Championship against Miami by intercepting Carson Beck) both return for a secondary that ranked in the top ten for almost all defensive categories a year ago. Penn State transfer and former five-star AJ Harris looks to replace D'Angelo Ponds on the outside for the Hoosiers after losing Ponds to the NFL over the offseason. Circle Harris as a potential breakout candidate.

This season will be a test for Curt Cignetti, it is the first year without the majority of the JMU players who are no longer eligible. Cignetti is leading the Hoosiers weekly into games with a new target on their back, but if anyone can do it it will be the Hoosiers. This season, Cignetti is taking a scheduling approach many fans will criticise. The Hoosiers will not play a power-four nonconference game, rather opting for three cupcake matchups to tune up for the season, becoming a glorified preseason before the B1G opener against Northwestern. 

The biggest test this year for the Hoosiers will be at home against The Ohio State University on October 17. All eyes will be on Bloomington for the biggest game in Memorial Stadium’s history. Ohio State will be coming with vengeance after the B1G championship game loss; this will be a clear test of where the Hoosiers will end up this year. Until then, making judgements about whether this team is legit will be difficult. Expect Hoover, Marsh, and Becker to light up the stat sheet in the meantime.

Overall, the Hoosiers are poised to make a run again this year. They will need to stay healthy and have luck in order to repeat. But with Curt Cignetti and the squad, they are a clear contender for the college football playoff if Josh Hoover can limit his interception problems, and if the Hoosiers whopping 56% returning production percentage can play at the same level of production as a year ago. The Indiana Hoosiers truly have the opportunity to repeat in 2026.