No. 6 Indiana takes one last championship victory lap before opening season against North Texas

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — The Indiana Hoosiers took one last victory lap before Saturday's season opener against North Texas.

And while coach Curt Cignetti kept his team in the locker room for the unveiling of football's version of a championship banner shortly before kickoff, the fans inside sold out Memorial Stadium were exhilarated to see the words they never imagined: "2025 National Champions."

The party started hours before the stadium gates opened, and it seemed everyone dressed for the occasion. Many were decked out in championship garb, some with T-shirts that read “16-0” with an outline of the state in the middle of the zero. There were candy-striped shorts, jerseys of current and former players even plastic necklaces bearing a single word: “Cignetti.”

It was a Week 1 football environment unlike anything Bloomington has ever seen.

“We go to a lot of Colts games, Pacers games and Fever games, but I think so far this has been one of the best atmospheres we've been to,” Indianapolis resident Jake Prater said referring to Indiana's three pro sports teams as he strolled around the stadium with his young son. “It's been enjoyable. He's had a great time. I think it's just a great place for our family to come and experience it.”

And Prater, who grew up in Indiana and is an active duty recruiter for the U.S. Army, couldn't wait to soak it in. He arrived at 8:30 a.m., 3 1/2 hours before kickoff, dressed in the No. 15 jersey of Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza with that plastic Cignetti necklace.

But what he, like everyone else, really wanted to see was the emblazoned, concrete strip on the second deck of the stadium, a tribute to the team that went from one of the most struggling programs in the Football Bowl Subdivision to national champion in just two years.

It was a storybook season nobody will soon forget, one Hoosiers fans never want to forget.

They won the school's first Big Ten title since 1967. They won the Rose Bowl for the first time in school history, and, yes, they beat Miami on its home field to complete the title run and become the first major college football team to finish 16-0 since the 1890s.

Indiana started this season ranked No. 6 in the AP poll.

The seats that were only half full and nearly empty by game's end for Cignetti's debut were nearly full of towel-waving fans 30 minutes before kickoff.

They reveled in being Fox's first “Big Noon” game of the season, watching the new hype video and hearing “We Are The Champions” blaring on the public address system in a different environment from the frigid temperatures when Indiana returned home in January. On Saturday, the field temperature was topping 120 degrees.

Despite the heat, everyone seemed to be there except, of course, Cignetti and his players who were inside going through their final pregame routine as they began defense of their title.

“I think our whole thing has always been keeping the main thing the main thing, controlling the controllables,” Cignetti said earlier this week. “It’s all about preparing to the best of our ability and putting it between the white lines against the first opponent.”

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