How Indiana's National Title Impacts Michigan State Football
In this story:
Indiana football just went 16-0 and won the national championship. Indiana football just went 16-0 and won the national championship.
No, that sentence being there twice is not a typo. The extra emphasis just feels necessary here, since, well, it’s Indiana. All of a sudden, everyone is looking around and thinking, “Why can’t my program do that?”
Why can’t Michigan State do that? Ceilings don’t feel like they exist in this sport anymore. IU is not a program that’s supposed to do this at all. Historically, for every Hoosiers win over the Spartans, there are more than two victories for MSU over Indiana.
If Indiana can win the national championship, anybody can now win it. Now, doing so is MUCH easier said than done, but the Hoosiers’ natty will have a giant ripple effect on college football, and it will have an impact in East Lansing.
Hope
Let’s go back to November 2023 for a second. Michigan State was facing IU in Bloomington in a battle of what felt like two bottomed-out programs. The Spartans had fired Mel Tucker a few months prior and were under interim leadership with Harlon Barnett. Redshirt freshman Katin Houser was the starting quarterback. Indiana was… Indiana.
That broken MSU team had enough to beat the Hoosiers on the road. It was a Maliq Carr legacy game, as he caught seven passes for 117 yards and one game-winning touchdown with 1:19 left in a 24-21 win.
Both teams went on coaching searches in the subsequent offseason. Michigan State went with the “safe” hire, picking Oregon State’s Jonathan Smith. Indiana went with the unorthodox one, picking James Madison’s Curt Cignetti, who was 62 at the time. Stating where the programs went from there seems a little redundant.
Criteria in coaching searches aside, Indiana hoisting the CFP trophy deserves a real reaction from Spartan fans. The Hoosiers literally began the 2025 season as the losingest program in FBS history (they were overtaken by Northwestern). Brands no longer mean very much. Any Power Four team not in the discussion for a title is either not doing a good enough job or is there at least somewhat willingly.
Access
The national championship is truly accessible to the programs that truly go for it. Cracks had shown a little bit in the past, like when TCU made the national title game during the 2022 season, but it was a “one step forward, two steps back” moment when the Horned Frogs were decimated (to put it nicely) by Georgia in the title game. Indiana is the program that broke through.
Being mad that it’s Indiana and not MSU is totally justifiable. Cignetti was never really a candidate back in November/December 2023, but the fact that he wasn’t is Michigan State’s own fault, as is the case for any other program who scratched his name off due to age.
Titles used to be won by stockpiling four- and five-star recruits, developing them, and then unleashing them as upperclassmen. That’s how the Nick Saban dynasty was built at Alabama, with some nuance thrown in, of course.
Hoarding blue-chip talent is no longer possible. Coaches don’t get to bury those blue-chip guys on the depth chart now, since they can just leave. NIL also encourages top players to see what they’re worth on the open market, for better or worse. Cignetti and Indiana are the first program to master this game, but that doesn’t mean they’ll be the last.
Much of this is out of the average fan’s hands, but so much of the sport is about money now. It was always kind of this way, but it’s so much more direct during the portal and NIL era. Money used to go to upgraded facilities to try and impress athletes and recruits. Any return on investment there is also unknown, since there is no way to determine which recruits came to school X because of those upgrades.
Nowadays, it’s so much more direct. Spending the money wisely might be just as important as accumulating it, but teams now can just pay these athletes directly now. That extra $1 million from a donor can get you a starting offensive lineman or two, rather than be used to upgrade the team’s lockers.
Downsides
There is also the fact that Michigan State and Indiana are conference rivals. MSU and IU are kind of serious rivals, given that the two schools play for the Old Brass Spittoon, but there isn’t exactly too much hatred spewed between the two schools and fanbases.
Alas, this cements the Hoosiers are another team the Spartans have to compete with for local talent. While high school recruiting isn’t as important as it once was, it’s still a key building block for building a roster. Michigan State already has to deal with Michigan, Ohio State, and Notre Dame in its general area, but now IU has entered the fold.
Its effects have already begun. MSU’s top wide receiver from 2025, Nick Marsh — a Detroit native — is transferring to Indiana now. At the end of the day, it’s still generally a safer bet that you’re going to win and develop more in Bloomington than in East Lansing right now. As the Hoosiers also show, though, a lot can change in a couple of years.
New Spartan head coach Pat Fitzgerald seems to be emphasizing recruiting players in Michigan and its surrounding states. IU’s rise just gives him one more team to deal with.
Keep up with all our content when you follow the official Spartan Nation page on Facebook, Spartan Nation, WHEN YOU CLICK RIGHT HERE, and be sure to share your thoughts on IU's title when you join our community group, Go Green Go White, WHEN YOU CLICK RIGHT HERE. Don't forget to give us a follow on X @MSUSpartansOnSI as well.
Never again miss one major story related to your beloved Spartans when you sign up for our 100% FREE newsletter that comes straight to your email with the latest news. SIGN UP HERE NOW
A 2025 graduate from Michigan State University, Cotsonika brings a wealth of experience covering the Spartans from Rivals and On3 to his role as Michigan State Spartans Beat Writer on SI. At Michigan State, he was also a member of the world-renowned Spartan marching band for two seasons.
Follow jacobcotsonika