Curt Cignetti Releases His Final Coaches' Poll Top 25 Ballot
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With the College Football Playoff officially over, Indiana coach Curt Cignetti has unveiled his final top 25 rankings for the 2025 season.
Indiana started the season ranked No. 20 in the country. It didn't take long for Fernando Mendoza and the Hoosiers to put their opponents on notice. However, countless people thought they'd get exposed in the Big Ten Championship against the Ohio State Buckeyes. Instead, they pulled off a gutsy 13-10 win.
Those same skeptics were convinced Indiana would come out rusty against Alabama in the Rose Bowl. They were quickly proven wrong considering the Hoosiers jumped out to a 17-0 lead at halftime. After Indiana dismantled Alabama by 35 points, Cignetti's squad dropped 56 points on Oregon in the semifinals.
Miami presented a legitimate threat to Indiana during Monday night's national championship, make no mistake about it. When the dust settled though, Indiana wouldn't be denied a perfect 16-0 season.
"It's a great story, tremendous story," Cignetti said after the 27-21 win. "Most people would tell you that are in the know, it's probably one of the greatest stories of all time."
As you'd imagine, Cignetti has Indiana as the No. 1 ranked team in the country. He has Miami, Oregon, Ole Miss and Ohio State rounding out his top five.
The biggest risers in Cignetti's rankings were a pair of teams that didn't even make the CFP, Iowa and Illinois.
Here's the full top 25 from Cignetti:
- Indiana
- Miami
- Oregon
- Ole Miss
- Ohio State
- Georgia
- Notre Dame
- Texas
- Texas A&M
- Texas Tech
- Iowa
- Alabama
- Oklahoma
- BYU
- Utah
- Illinois
- Michigan
- Washington
- Vanderbilt
- TCU
- USC
- SMU
- Arizona
- Houston
- James Madison
Fans sound off on Cignetti's top 25.
Most of the complaints about Cignetti's top 25 are coming from SEC fans. They believe he snubbed a few programs in the conference.
"Curt Cignetti is a Vanderbilt hater just like his fanbase," one fan commented.
"Iowa over Alabama is diabolical behavior, and I’m here for it," a second fan wrote.
"Not quite sure what Oregon did to be ranked ahead of Ohio State," a third fan said.
"You have to put Texas A&M over Texas given the head-to-head win. Oh wait, they lost. Whoops! Good list," a Texas fan commented.
We highly doubt Cignetti cares about his critics. Besides, he's busy trying to build a championship roster for next season.
This story was originally published by The Spun on Jan 21, 2026, where it first appeared in the College Football section. Add The Spun as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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