On the heels of a national championship, Indiana coach Curt Cignetti’s reverence for the Big Ten this season continued in his final coaches poll top 25 ballot this week after he placed eight conference teams in his rankings, including significant postseason rises from Iowa and Illinois. Following Indiana’s national championship win over Miami, Cignetti placed his Hoosiers at No. 1, followed by the Hurricanes, Oregon, Ole Miss and Ohio State inside the top five.
The Big Ten dominated bowl season and placed three teams in the College Football Playoff, ending with the league’s third consecutive national title. The SEC is 1-5 in CFP games against non-conference competition since Georgia’s 65-7 win over TCU in the national title during the final year of the four-team era.
“I think it’s called paradigm shift,” Cignetti said after Monday’s win. “It’s kind of like people can cling to an old way of thinking, categorizing teams as this or that of conferences as this or that, where they can’t adjust to the new world.”
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Cignetti ranked seven SEC teams, including six in the top 13. But notably, Cignetti placed Iowa at No. 11 ahead of Alabama, whom the Hoosiers beat, 38-3, in the CFP quarterfinals. Illinois is No. 16 on Cignetti’s ballot. The Fighting Illini beat Tennessee in the Music City Bowl and lost to Indiana during the regular season, 63-10.
Michigan and Washington are ranked No. 17 and No. 18. The Hoosiers didn’t play either team this season. Michigan lost to Texas in the Citrus Bowl while Washington dominated Boise State, 38-10, in the LA Bowl.
This season was the Big Ten’s first three-peat since the 1940s. Indiana went unbeaten while beating six top-10 teams, strengthening its unprecedented finish.
“I would like to say our NIL is nowhere near what people think it is, so you can throw that out, and this team really overcame a lot on the road in a lot of tight games and found a way to get it done,” Cignetti said. “And we’re 16-0, and I guess we’re 27-2 since Indiana. But we’re 16-0, national champions at Indiana University, which I know a lot of people thought was never possible.
“It probably is one of the greatest sports stories of all time. But it’s all because of these guys and the staff.”
Curt Cignetti’s final coaches top 25
- 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
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