The crowd inside the “Upstairs Pub” started to grow as the clock turned toward Friday night on the campus of Indiana, with students getting out of class and heading towards to local drinking establishments for what was going to be a wild 24 hours.
Obviously, the mood has shifted around this college town thanks to the Hoosiers winning last year’s CFP title, along with having a head coach in Curt Cignetti who has turned this program into a football juggernaut in just two years.
Whether it was the apparel stores that had fans waiting in lines for their chance to purchase Indiana gear, or the restaurants that were already filling up early Friday afternoon, it’s obvious that the attitude has changed around this college town that once glossed over the football season in anticipation for basketball.
Later today, it will be No. 4 Ohio State visiting No. 5 Indiana in what will be the most electric atmosphere Bloomington has seen in decades.
You can call it a “revival,” or the Cignetti effect, but it’s not hard to notice the culture change in Bloomington.
“We’re a football school now, and I hate to say that about the basketball program,” Edward, from just outside Indianapolis noted. “We spent years praying for some type of revival of college football within this fan base, and we finally have it during one of the craziest times in sports.
“A lot of schools are trying to pull off the Indiana magic of rebuilding a program in such a short time period. And those expectations are truly centered around what transpired here in Bloomington. That part is wild to me. We expect to win football games now, which is a wonderful feeling to have.
The last time a Hoosiers’ football team defeated the Buckeyes in Bloomington was in 1988.
It took thirty years for Indiana to snap a losing streak to Ohio State, which finally came to an end last season inside Lucas Oil Stadium in the Big Ten championship game.
Also, this will be the first time a top-five college football matchup has taken place inside Memorial Stadium since 1960, as Indiana rises a 22-game winning streak into their showdown with the Buckeyes on Saturday.
Essentially, there are a lot of firsts that could end up coming to fruition for an Indiana team that has defied the odds over the past two seasons, against plenty of odds and fans who might still be under the impression this was all just a fluke.
I’m here to tell you that nothing Curt Cignetti is doing on this campus, and opposing ones, is centered around some magical voodoo that the Hoosiers head coach has placed on the Big Ten.
Whether or not folks outside Bloomington believe Indiana can do it again this season is not the point.
The supporters who are lining Kirkwood avenue, or the thousands who made their way into town on Friday evening, are the true barometer of where this program has been taken in such a short time period that has other college athletic directors trying to replicate the Cignetti magic.
“I don’t think folks truly understood what we were going through as a fan base,” Thomas, longtime season ticket holder told OutKick. “I’ve been coming to games for thirty years, and I’ve never seen this type of excitement, and it’s hard to correlate it with basketball. Sure, we’re not oblivious to the narrative that followed our football program like a black cloud.
“But, why do you think we’re not taking these moments for granted? We’ve earned this sh-t, and I promise you this fan base isn’t cocky. We just expect to win now, which clearly wasn’t the case just a few years ago. So yea, I expect us to beat Ohio State.”
I’ve been around plenty of college campuses during my career, and the resurgent joy that you see in Bloomington is contagious.
This is no longer a loyal group of fans waiting for November to roll around so they can walk into Assembly Hall to watch the basketball program, which has also had its problems over the years.
But what Indiana football did for the school is provide hope that everything that has transpired over the last two years in one sport, can be done again across multiple venues across campus.
Curt Cignetti has not just provided a championship mindset for the passionate fans that were sitting through days of blowouts and small glimmers of hope in past years.
The man who told you all to ‘google’ him has reignited an athletic department and fan base that will make Saturday’s atmosphere on Indiana’s campus feel more like a cinematic backdrop that will host college football’s premier matchup of the day.
At the same time, since it’s happening here in Bloomington, there are programs across the country that now believe they can pull-off the same type magical story that we’re witnessing take place with Indiana.