Curt Cignetti’s Indiana: Four Burning Questions for 2026
Despite a spectacular start—27-2 record, Big Ten crown, and a College Football Playoff National Championship—Curt Cignetti still faces major unknowns as Indiana heads into 2026. First, he’ll have to rebuild without the wave of James Madison transfers who anchored the Hollywood-esque 2025 campaign. Second, he must prove the Hoosiers can survive true quarterback adversity if injuries strike again. Third, IU will need to replace coordinators who are bound to be lured away after sustained success. And fourth, with newfound fame comes unanticipated challenges: balancing football and basketball passions on campus, keeping Memorial Stadium rocking, and managing every national headline that follows.
Indiana fans everywhere can breathe easy—until they can’t. Sure, the Hoosiers have morphed into everyone’s favorite Cinderella, but now they must confront four gremlins lurking beneath the perfect season glitter. Will the post-JMU roster perform, or will the transfer portal turn into the portal-to-nowhere? If the next quarterback rolls an ankle, will IU’s playbook resemble Swiss cheese? And should Cignetti renew his coordinators, or watch them jet off to bigger paydays faster than you can say “Go Hoosiers”? All this, plus the horrific fate of having too many empty seats at home—Indiana now knows what it’s like to be a true Big Ten drama magnet.
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