No. 6 Indiana turns page on its championship season and starts its title defense against North Texas

No. 6 Indiana understands coach Curt Cignetti's message: It's time to stop talking about last year's incredible, historic national championship run and start pursuing another.

Officially, their title defense begins Saturday when North Texas visits Bloomington. But the foundation was created months ago when Indiana turned the page on 2025-26 with a rebuilt roster determined to follow the two best seasons in program history with a third.

“No one talks about what this team did last year, and I think that means a lot,” said guard Joe Brunner, a transfer from Wisconsin. “Everyone’s moved past it. This is a new team and to see the guys who were on the team last year come in and work and not speak on it, not say anything about it, that’s special. I think most places you go that might not happen, and that’s all about the culture and what Coach Cignetti has brought here and what he’s built."

Cignetti's impact can be seen and felt all around these parts.

The spoils include being featured on Fox's first “Big Noon” game this year, playing in front of sold-out Memorial Stadium and the pregame ceremony to unveil Indiana's football version of a championship banner — permanent signage in the stadium to honor the school's first title team.

The Hoosiers realize there's a daunting road to repeating, and North Texas, a 12-win team, that joined Indiana as the only Football Bowl Subdivision schools to score 600 or more points last season, poses a challenging first test.

The Hoosiers had a school record eight players taken in April’s NFL draft including Heisman Trophy winner and No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza.

Cignetti is building this team around quarterback Josh Hoover, who grew up about one hour from the North Texas campus in Denton. He's thrown for nearly 10,000 yards — the most of any active FBS quarterback — and 71 TDs.

Cignetti expects Hoover to continue his success while cutting down on the turnovers and keeping Indiana focused on winning.

“It’s all about preparing to the best of our ability and putting it between the white lines against the first opponent,” Cignetti said Monday. “That’s why today is an important day, tomorrow is an important day. We’ll focus on that. We've got to have the right mindset and respect for the challenge that’s forthcoming, play like we want to play, our brand of ball.”

The Mean Green also have undergone a major revamp with first-year coach Neal Brown replacing Eric Morris and quarterback Drew Mestemaker following Morris to Oklahoma State.

Brown spent last season at Texas and has reunited with one of his former West Virginia running backs, Jahiem White, one of some four dozen new faces at North Texas. While Morris prefers a more run-heavy offense, he understands high-scoring offenses have become the norm around town.

“There's a tradition here of playing high-level offense here,” Brown said. “Eric did a good job of that, they were good under Seth (Littrell), they had some teams that were highly productive even before Seth was here so there's a tradition of playing high-level offense here. The expectation is that continues.”

Indiana will find a familiar face at North Texas, starting quarterback Tayven Jackson. The brother of Indiana basketball star Trayce Jackson-Davis grew up in central Indiana and spent two seasons playing for the Hoosiers, including Cignetti's first year in Bloomington.

“He has a veteran presence, and he's been through some adversity at Indiana and at UCF,” Brown said. “I think what that does is it gives you some resiliency, He's felt disappointment before, and he's worked extremely hard since he's been here not to repeat that feeling. He's super talented.”

Hoover and Jackson nearly became Indiana teammates when Hoover initially committed to Indiana out of high school before changing his mind and going to TCU.

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