Starting to see a guide book here.
Thankfully we weren’t basically the youngest team in the P4.
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Is 25 Indiana better than 95 Nebraska?
- Thread starter HughJanus
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Thankfully we weren’t basically the youngest team in the P4.
Short answer: no—not even close.
Long answer: this is a fun take, but if we strip the hype and talk football history, 2025 Indiana cannot be compared to 1995 Nebraska in any serious “best team ever” conversation.
Absolutely not.
That team is widely considered the greatest college football team of all time, and that isn’t nostalgia—it’s dominance:
They weren’t just winning—they were breaking the sport.
Even if Indiana blows out Miami:
Indiana can be very good, maybe even great for a season. That’s not the same thing as being immortal.
No. Not remotely.
To even enter the conversation, they’d need:
Even then, they’d still be behind:
At best? Best Indiana team ever. That alone would be historic—and enough.
This is where you’re 100% right.
If Nebraska had hired Curt Cignetti:
Nebraska didn’t fail because they hired bad football minds.
They failed because they refused to get out of their own way.
Your grandpa’s quote is crude—but painfully accurate.
Indiana winning big would be fun.
Calling them the GOAT would be pure recency bias.
Long answer: this is a fun take, but if we strip the hype and talk football history, 2025 Indiana cannot be compared to 1995 Nebraska in any serious “best team ever” conversation.
1. Is 2025 Indiana better than 1995 Nebraska?
Absolutely not.
1995
That team is widely considered the greatest college football team of all time, and that isn’t nostalgia—it’s dominance:
- 12–0, national champions
- Average margin of victory: ~39 points
- Beat four teams that finished in the top 10
- Didn’t trail in the second half all season
- NFL talent everywhere (Frazier, Phillips, Green, Peters, etc.)
- Faced loaded Big 12 defenses weekly
They weren’t just winning—they were breaking the sport.
2025
Even if Indiana blows out Miami:
- That’s one big win, not a historic résumé
- The Big Ten landscape + modern parity ≠ 1990s Big 8 grind
- No sustained dominance over elite teams yet
- No structural impact on how football is played
Indiana can be very good, maybe even great for a season. That’s not the same thing as being immortal.
2. Should Indiana be considered one of the best teams ever if they beat Miami?
No. Not remotely.
To even enter the conversation, they’d need:
- Undefeated season
- Multiple dominant wins over top-5 teams
- Championship game blowout
- Statistical separation from peers (not just wins)
Even then, they’d still be behind:
- 1995 Nebraska
- 2001 Miami
- 2004 USC
- 2019 LSU
At best? Best Indiana team ever. That alone would be historic—and enough.
3. The
This is where you’re 100% right.
If Nebraska had hired Curt Cignetti:
What Cig needs to win
- Total roster control
- Zero donor meddling
- Culture-first, scheme-second buy-in
- Ruthless evaluation (no legacy scholarships)
What Nebraska historically does
- Booster interference
- “Nebraska Way” politics
- Fear of offending former players
- Administrative drag
Nebraska didn’t fail because they hired bad football minds.
They failed because they refused to get out of their own way.
Your grandpa’s quote is crude—but painfully accurate.
Bottom line
- 1995 Nebraska: untouchable, all-time titan
- 2025 Indiana: potentially awesome, historically Indiana-awesome
- Cignetti at Nebraska: probably strangled by the system before Year 3
Indiana winning big would be fun.
Calling them the GOAT would be pure recency bias.
No one in power or the fan base even would’ve let Cig succeed here. Nebraska fans would rather ride with a loser that makes them feel tingly on the inside versus a brash winner.
We dealt with an actual insane person in Pelini so pretty sure we would’ve been just fine.
The recency bias is strong with this one.
So far I've been sort of rooting for Indiana just because of how insane the story is, but the longer they go and the more they just absolutely destroy other top teams I can't help but wonder wtf is REALLY going on. Having older players isn't nearly enough to explain it.
Either Cignetti is LITERALLY one of the greatest coaches in the history of sports who is able to turn "less talented" players into a juggernaut, beyond the wildest dreams of even the known cheaters of the sport, while practicing less than other teams and being his own fulltime GM/recruiting coordinator/talent evaluator... or something fishy is going on.
I'm happy for their fans and I'll be rooting for them against Miami, but I won't be surprised if something gets revealed at some point that makes everyone say "well DUH that makes more sense" haha.
Either Cignetti is LITERALLY one of the greatest coaches in the history of sports who is able to turn "less talented" players into a juggernaut, beyond the wildest dreams of even the known cheaters of the sport, while practicing less than other teams and being his own fulltime GM/recruiting coordinator/talent evaluator... or something fishy is going on.
I'm happy for their fans and I'll be rooting for them against Miami, but I won't be surprised if something gets revealed at some point that makes everyone say "well DUH that makes more sense" haha.
Cig would have won a lot of games here. The administration sold a lot of people on Mike Riley and we all knew he sucked from day one. If Rhule keeps failing hire another coach. All programs have been through down times.
The only reason anyone would hate Indiana is because of jealousy. The AD made one hell of a hire. He deserves a lot of credit.
Oh yeah I have nothing against them! What they are pulling off is just such an outlier that it is totally bewildering haha. It's not hate, it's like suddenly seeing Bigfoot cross the road and thinking "...that HAD to be a hoax, right??"
It’s probably the best coaching job I’ve ever seen. I would definitely hire one of his assistants as my head coach. The Saban tree has worked out for a lot of programs and Cignetti has a lot of the same traits.
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