This is an opinion column.
When I say the mailbag column is open for any question, observation, drunken pronouncement, theory, treatise, idea, postulation or manifesto, no matter how tinfoil, I truly mean it.
Take, for example, this latest question and hunch from a reader. Now this is what I call a Hall of Fame college football X-file.
I had already planned to write a column this morning on Indiana coach Curt Cignetti, but I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to share the perspective of Indiana’s rise from a concerned citizen.
Stan the Man writes …
Will there be drug testing before the College Football Playoff championship in Miami next week?
I have read all the headlines and heard all the sports shows and podcasts proclaiming Indiana as this amazing team that went from the biggest loser to this grand stage. Good coaching? You bet. Older players? Yep. But why these guys and why now? Could it be the Barry Bond advantage?
Yes, I honestly don’t believe they got this good this quick — unless they cheated. MLB and UFC have drug testing in place. Does college football? If we don’t test them, then we will never know why these unheralded athletes made it to the big stage.
ANSWER: Stan does his research, but I’m hoping he reads beyond the headline this time. No, Indiana is not on gear.
The Hoosiers ain’t juice’n.
Coach Curt Cignetti’s team isn’t shooting up PEDs in the locker room before the national championship game.
We can all understand how a mystified Alabama, Oregon or Ohio State fan might be inclined to believe the Grand Indiana Chemical Conspiracy, considering everything we’ve seen over the last three games, but just because the Hoosiers have gone from awful to unbeatable in the span of two years doesn’t mean it’s because they’re cheating.
First, we’ll acknowledge the completely reasonable question in Stan’s email, and then we’ll consider some legitimate reasons — and not the sauce — that have led to Indiana’s unprecedented rise. Yes, there is drug testing in the College Football Playoff. Players are tested randomly and given a notice of 48 hours. Usually, about 20 players from each team are picked for the tests.
The NCAA tests for PEDs and masking agents throughout the season and in all the bowl games. The NCAA also tests for other drugs, but, notably, the players are no longer screened for marijuana during the bowl season. There have been instances in the past when players popped a positive test for marijuana and couldn’t play in a bowl game. Testing for marijuana ended in 2024.
Did Alabama and Oregon pass around the hot stick before playing Indiana? Now there’s a college football X-file I can get behind. It would explain the Tide and Ducks losing to the Hoosiers by a combined score of 94-25.
The real reason for Indiana’s success is much less entertaining.
The Hoosiers were college football’s best team in 2025 thanks to Cignetti’s modern approach to the changing landscape of college football. We’ll break it down, based on some of Cignetti’s remarks on Monday, so let’s hope Crazy Dan Lanning and Big Game Kalen DeBoer are taking notes.
Indiana plays for its first-ever college football national championship at 7:50 p.m. on Monday against Miami in the Hurricanes’ home stadium, Hard Rock Stadium. Even with home-field advantage, the Canes opened up as a 7.5-point favorite to the completely clean and totally steroid-free Hoosiers.
The game’s first news conference was on Monday. Indiana’s Cignetti was asked a series of questions about how he built his team. Everybody’s trying to figure out the blueprint, and Cignetti isn’t worried about giving it away for free.
Cignetti signs off on every transfer. There are always outliers, but, in general, he’s looking for older players out of the portal with game-time experience and what he calls “the right stuff.”
The “right stuff” includes high character and intelligence. He doesn’t want any dummies messing up the team culture or getting in trouble before a big game.
Cignetti was Nick Saban’s recruiting coordinator at Alabama, so he learned from the best. Saban had a very specific set of criteria for every recruit. Agility and strength were important and measurables were broken down by position. Saban wasn’t taking a short-armed defensive back, for example. He had a standard for arm length. All cornerbacks had to be rangy enough to play in any scheme. Cignetti has adapted that approach to the transfer portal, and he’s not shy about calling himself the “Portal King.”
Cignetti was asked how older transfers have contributed to Indiana’s success. He was hired away from James Madison in 2024. Indiana brought in over 30 new players that first season, including 13 from JMU. For this season, Cignetti added another 23 or so players out of portal, including quarterback Fernado Mendoza from Cal.
“No, I think it helps us a ton,” Cignetti of adding second- and third-year players, “but that’s what we look for, too.
“When I came, you know, it was a quick process, a three-day hiring process. When I got here, we had 10 offensive starters in the transfer portal, and we had one returner on defense. So, we were down to 40 scholarships by day three. So, we needed to hit the portal hard. And we signed 22 guys that all have been two- or three-year starters with consistent production. I knew we had flipped the roster.
“And then every year, as your high school recruiting builds up, you kind of start to wean down a bit from the portal … but I think getting older, mature guys that played a lot of football, if they’ve got the right stuff, which I’m not bringing them in if they don’t, it’s an asset.”
Cignetti was then asked about the perfect balance of portal transfers and high school recruits. Hugh Freeze at Auburn wanted a three- or four-year plan with all high school recruits. That’s why Freeze was dead on arrival. The old approach to team building is gone, and it’s likely never coming back.
“I think in college football, nowadays, you’ve got to win every year,” Cignetti said. “With social media the way it is, the pressure to be successful, you’ve got to put together a team that’s ready to compete for championships every single year.
“Now, the more success you have, the better you’re going to recruit from the high school ranks. And those guys will develop, and most of them will redshirt, but some of them will play as a freshman. We’re always going to bring in 20, give or take one or two, high school guys. I think we brought in 23 this year. Some of those guys are ready to help us right away in some capacity.
“But the portal guys, you’re bringing them in because you have a critical need, where you have to fill a hole on your football team. So, we’ve been successful doing it. College football’s changed a lot, obviously, still changing. You’ve got to adapt, improvise, be light on your feet if you’re going to survive.”
Indiana isn’t going away either. For the 2026 season, Cignetti has already landed a host of high-level transfers, including Josh Hoover, a rising senior quarterback from TCU, and running back Turbo Richard, who is a rising junior from Boston College.
A transfer running back? In this economy? Must be nice.
MAILBAG SOUND OFF
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