Embrace the momentum, dare to dream

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On Monday night, the Indiana Hoosiers raised the national championship trophy and completed one of the greatest stories in sports. Curt Cignetti helped lead one of college football’s worst programs all the way to the mountaintop. Now, Indiana sits atop the peak, staring down at some of the nation’s biggest programs that they have lapped in just two years’ time. Schools like Oregon, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, and Penn State have spent the last decade pouring millions of dollars into their programs to achieve the season the Indiana Hoosiers just had. Yet, their trophy case is still missing that national championship trophy. The trophy instead resides in Bloomington, Indiana, where basketball has always been king until this year, and crowds for football were almost always sparse.

This Hoosier season will be talked about for the next century plus, and deservedly so. It’s hard to think of a fair direct comparison.

What makes this season even more special is the timing of Indiana’s run to the top. It’s no secret that the new age of college football has felt very bleak and corporate for those not already at the top. NIL and the transfer portal were ideas presented as a way to even the playing field. Giving smaller schools a chance to build a winner that could compete with the blue bloods of the sport that had dominated the recent years. Travis Hunter was a prime example of what NIL could be when he shocked the college football world and chose to attend FCS Jackson State over Florida State.

This concept didn’t last very long. Without guidelines, the concept of a college kid making some money from their likeness from video games or shooting a commercial for a local restaurant turned into a fundraising contest that the goliaths of the sport have minimal trouble doing. Of course, then came conference realignment and the consolidation of money and power to create an even larger gap between the big schools and the ones just hoping for a shot. The rich pageantry, history, and tradition of college football quickly deteriorated, and the new age of semi-pro football was here.

Now it’s not like Indiana had this run by playing by the old school rules. They worked the portal hard to build a roster full of veteran players and got some significant help from a large increase in donations, notably from multi-billionaire Mark Cuban. So while Indiana’s program history would tell you these last two seasons were something only thought to be possible in a video game, Indiana still had to play the game like the blue bloods have been doing. Through a serious cash influx from alums who were willing to pay anything to help their alma mater reach the top.

But if this were really just a fundraising competition, then Oregon and Phil Knight would have broken through by now.

Indiana built a roster of veteran transfers, and zero of them were five-star recruits. They didn’t go out and throw millions of dollars at the highest rated players, they worked within their confinments and built a roster of their guys.

Their Heisman-winning quarterback was a three-star recruit coming out of high school that transferred in from Cal. He wasn’t on the minds of many, if any, NFL front offices when he made the decision to transfer to Indiana. Now he’s very likely to go #1 overall in the draft in April and be the namesake for many children in the Bloomington area in the future.

The job Cignetti has done is remarkable and one of the greatest coaching jobs in college football history, maybe even in sports history. He built a team that plays so fundamentally sound with a roster that wasn’t flooded with high-end, highly coveted talent in an era of college football where championships feel more bought than built.

3,000 miles northwest of Miami, Florida, where Indiana won the national championship, lies little Pullman, Washington, and a football program that has taken a beating from the changes in college football. If you’re here reading this, you probably know the story all too well at this point.

2026 marks a whole new chapter in Washington State’s history. A whole new conference, filled with old and new faces and being led by the 36th head coach in program history, Kirby Moore.

Moore enters the fold at a time when the program is in desperate need of a spark. WSU has spent the last few years getting the **** kicked out of them by the college football universe, and not entirely to the fault of their own. Things have been dark, to say the least. There hasn’t been much light at the end of the tunnel, and even when it seems like there has been, it feels like it gets even further away as WSU get closer to it.

Last season, when WSU emerged from a gauntlet of a schedule with bowl eligibility, it felt like for the first time in a while that they could relax and get excited about the momentum they were finally generating. Sure, it was only six wins, nothing too special, but it was a realistic goal that they were able to achieve in a season they weren’t expected to do so. It was a good foundation to grow off of heading into their next chapter.

That didn’t last very long.

It was back to floating around in the dark unknown without any direction.

Enter, Moore.

Hailing from Prosser, Washington, and spending his summers and falls at Martin Stadium, Moore quickly became beloved by the WSU community without even stepping on the field yet. The ability for fans to instantly relate to Moore’s upbringing inspired confidence that he understood exactly what WSU was, what the expectations were and how to build upon it.

What Moore has quietly been building behind the scenes has reignited that spark WSU has been searching for.

Moore has attacked the portal and brought in some very intriguing players. So far, On3 has rated WSU’s transfer portal class as the 39th best as of January 21st. The class is highlighted by some eye-catching athleticism, like wide receiver Tank Hawkins from the Florida Gators. While Hawkins only appeared in seven games over his two years with the Gators, his speed is jaw-dropping, with a reported 4.25-second 40-yard dash. They also went international, getting another athletic specimen in Nathaniel Salmon. Salmon is a former professional basketball player and spent time at the Los Angeles Chargers rookie camp last summer. At 6’5, Salmon is freakishly athletic and could be an incredible red-zone threat for Moore and company.

With the landscape of college football, to some fans the efforts of Moore to build a winner and bring in some coveted talent may still feel all for naught. WSU can bring in these great athletes and build a team that can win ballgames, but will they be able to capitalize on that momentum and keep guys around? Truly hang with the programs that are able to spend more money to tantalize some of these players and coaches away from Pullman?

Look what just happened earlier this week in Miami.

Alabama didn’t win the 2026 National Championship. Ohio State didn’t repeat as National Champions. The Indiana freaking Hoosiers won it. A program that had won just three bowl games in their program’s history prior to this year doubled their bowl win total just this season to claim the crown.

Indiana did what was promised in the new age of college football with NIL and the transfer portal. Upset the historic blue bloods and brought hope to programs that, like Indiana, never thought a season like this was possible. Yes, Indiana did receive great help from incredibly wealthy donors. But don’t get it twisted; this season was still a huge effort that started with hiring the right coach, recruiting the right players, and playing sound football.

I’m not here to say that Moore and WSU are next up on the list of remarkable turnarounds. There is still so much work to be done to even remotely think about that possibility. But it’s not as crazy as it seemed one year ago today.

A year ago, the college football world was dark. It was run by the historic elites, who looked poised to run college football for the next infinite years. Programs like WSU and Indiana (prior to Cignetti) were left for dead, never to be thought of or heard from again. Relegated. Forgotten.

Next season, Indiana could come back down to Earth, and a true blue-blood program like Alabama or Ohio State could go add another national championship to their trophy case. But for what WSU has gone through over these last few years, we’ve earned the right to dream a little. To embrace this newfound momentum that has been even more so fueled by the 2025 college football season. It’s ok to dream. It’s ok to buy in. You’re not that crazy for believing WSU can achieve something that lives on for generations. Embrace this moment, this momentum, and dare to get excited about the infinite possibilities it brings.

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