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The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/CptRonRico on 2026-01-22 17:03:46+00:00.
Towards the end of the season, there were several posts asking “what is it like to be an Indiana fan right now?”, and I silently nodded my head with all the comments from IU fans. To say that winning a National Championship has been cathartic doesn’t quite put it into words. I honestly believed up until Jamari Sharpe’s interception that we would lose that game. To have Lucy not only keep the football in place, but Charlie’s kick being good (it was always good), feels like a fever dream.
Life often boils down to incentives. During my tenure at IU, there was no incentive to go watch a losing football team. The administration seemed to not care, so why should I? Don’t get me wrong, I attended every tailgate and went into a few games, but the incentive to drink beers and meet girls was way better than watching us get stuffed into a trashcan by Michigan State. We won 14 games in 4 years.
After I graduated in 2007, I moved to Chicago and felt a desire to recapture the fun of campus life. That turned into watching IU games at a bar with friends, but slowly turned into closely following the football team specifically. Whether it was recruiting news, post-game breakdowns of a loss from beat reporters, or early iterations of the IU twitter burner-sphere with Kevin Wilson’s victory bacon bit - I consumed it all. To be clear, this was *not* well understood and even mocked. My favorite bit was to introduce myself as “one of the 6 Indiana Football fans”. For almost 20 years, I’ve been religiously watching this team mostly suck and smiling the whole time.
The amount of comical heartbreak this program has endured cannot be overstated, but THAT was the point and part of the charm. Improbable losses mixed with small glimmers of hope kept a small, and probably insane, fandom engaged. Demarlo Belcher dropping a TD pass against Iowa. Wilson’s CHAOS teams scoring 50 but giving up 60 in a loss. Dual possession going to the Defense(?) against Michigan - *cue Bill Lynch gum throw*. Giving up 30 unanswered to RUTGERS. Losing to Wisconsin by 63. Almost knocking off Ohio State with a 150lb son-of-a-soap star future-real-estate-agent backup QB. Oh, and one of our most promising coaches before Cig died of a brain tumor. There are plenty more, but all core memories of the Indiana Football Charlie Brown experience. I think we all enjoyed our lovable chaotic and terrible football team if we’re being honest. Like Sisyphus pushing the rock up the hill only to lose to Ball State and completely derail your season - then start it all again.
Hiring Curt Cignetti last year was awesome, obviously, but at the time I think we just wanted bowl games consistently. If anything, I thought “this is going to be so awesome to watch this yinzer bang his head against the wall trying to win 6 games and give us some great one-liners”. Would have loved that.
So, what does IU winning a National Championship mean? Its hard to say. I cried at the Hard Rock. Am I done now? What happens when Sisyphus reaches the top of the hill? It feels like the success we’ve had will be sustainable to previous IU standards, so the old charm of my lovable losers feels like its waning. Sports success comes and goes, enjoy the ride while you’re on it I guess. Go Hoosiers.