Indiana fans stun college football world with massive Peach Bowl turnout

Indiana may not be known as a football powerhouse, but its fans definitely turned out to watch their Hoosiers take on Oregon in an historic College Football Playoff game.

Grace Hollars/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Curt Cignetti has Indiana poised to complete what would be the most historic college football season in 132 years as the Hoosiers take on Oregon in the Peach Bowl.

Just two wins away from becoming the first team since Yale in 1894 to finish a 16-0 season, the Hoosier faithful were loud and legion at the College Football Playoff semifinal game, where cameras caught what appears to be a massive Indiana crowd.

Here’s a breakdown of the crowd. You tell me the percentage but it’s a lot more red than green. pic.twitter.com/iT6LpfFY70

— David Ubben (@davidubben) January 10, 2026

“It’s a sea of Indiana crimson right now,” College GameDay host Rece Davis declared on the ESPN broadcast when surveying the site in Atlanta.

Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde chimed in by noting: “Judging by downtown foot traffic and MARTA riders, Atlanta might as well be Indianapolis today.”

“Bloomington must be deserted,” said ESPN broadcaster Scott Van Pelt.

What the Hoosiers have done defies the odds

Indiana playing this well at this level of college football may be something quite unprecedented, but seeing this many Hoosiers in one place probably isn’t.

Earlier this football season, it was revealed that Indiana University now boasts what is considered the single-largest living community of alumni of any school in the country.

Indiana can currently claim more than 805,000 living alumni around the world, with more than half that figure, some 417,000, residing in the state itself.

And faced with an opportunity to watch their Hoosiers take another massive step towards what would be their first national championship, they didn’t disappoint.

Indiana has dominated

Not only is Indiana on the precipice of winning its first national title in football, but the manner in which it’s playing on the way there is what’s also so remarkable.

No plucky underdog that made good, the Hoosiers have been transformed into a genuine powerhouse, loaded with proven coaching acumen and a roster full of, if not five-star prodigies, then some very inspired and determined players all around.

The job that Curt Cignetti has done in building Indiana, the school that owns college football’s record for the most losses, into a national power in just two seasons has to go down in history as one of, if not the, most remarkable coaching job in NCAA history.

More Hoosier history

Heading into the first half of the Peach Bowl, the Hoosiers had outscored its playoff opponents by a 73-10 mark, dismantling SEC blue blood Alabama in the Rose Bowl quarterfinal, and building a dominant 35-7 lead over Oregon in the Peach Bowl game.

Indiana became the first team in the 12-team College Football Playoff era to win their quarterfinal game after taking a first-round bye with a 35-point win over Alabama.

A win over Oregon makes Indiana the second team to beat the same team in the regular season and the playoff in the same football season.