Jason Mackey, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
PITTSBURGH -- The first year of the 12-team College Football Playoff has been appropriately reflected in the sport's top-25 rankings, with a variety of methods and avenues funneling toward the same goal.
Money and leveraging the transfer portal remain intertwined and essential within the sport's upper crust. It's also fun to see Vanderbilt and SMU crashing the party, Pitt rebounding from its 3-9 disaster in 2023, and Army and Navy thriving while choosing consistency over chaos.
But none qualify as the sport's best story this season. That belongs to the Indiana Hoosiers, from 3-9 punching bag to No. 13 and 7-0 heavyweight, Saturday's hosts in Bloomington, Ind., for ESPN's "College GameDay" and a program with a bunch of local ties.
At the forefront of it all has been coach Curt Cignetti, who was born in Pittsburgh, grew up in West Virginia, launched his head coaching career at IUP, speaks with a Yinzer accent, has probably pushed a buggy or two and has made good on some lofty promises when he was hired this past December.
"We're going to change the culture, the mindset, the expectation level and improve the brand of Indiana Hoosier football," Cignetti said at his introductory press conference. "There will be no self-imposed limitations on what we can accomplish."
Good thing, given how this season as transpired for the Hoosiers, a run of success made possible by not only Cignetti but several folks you'll surely recognize.
While Indiana's defense has been dominant, ranking second in the Big Ten in points allowed per game (13.7) and first in sacks (21) and tackles for loss (48), the offensive -- ranked No. 1 in the country in points per game (48.7) -- has been directed by two guys we know well: Mike Shanahan and Tino Sunseri.
They're WPIAL products, Shanahan at Norwin and Sunseri with Central Catholic. But the more familiar relationship involves the time they spent together at Pitt from 2009-12, helping the Panthers navigate the coaching carousel that defined their Big East exit.
Shanahan had been with Cignetti since the end of his tenure at James Madison (2019-23), Shanahan spending the past three seasons devising a game plan that produced no fewer than 34.1 points or 418.5 yards per game for the Dukes.
There was a bond formed, the same as Sunseri had with Nick Saban and Steve Sarkisian at Alabama before joining Cignetti and Shanahan as co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the same three-year stretch.
"I've learned a lot from him and continue to learn," Shanahan told Indiana's website before the season, talking about Cignetti. "I feel like I get pushed every day to be the best I can be.
"[Cignetti] does a good job of making sure every person in the building is someone who has high character and is fun to be around. It makes coming to work every day more enjoyable, whether it's coaches or players or anybody on his staff."
It's clear to see how much Cignetti has changed, with IU hosting "GameDay" for just the second time -- first since 2017 -- and selling out the remaining home schedule. The buzz around the Hoosiers is sizable.
On the field, the Sunseri component has been just as big given the emergence of Hoosiers quarterback Kurtis Rourke. Although he's now out with a thumb injury, Rourke had completed 75% of his passes for 1,941 yards and 15 touchdowns, garnering some cursory Heisman buzz.
Shanahan has Sunseri's work with Indiana's quarterbacks, helping them grow and mature and quickly learn a new offense. In a separate interview, Cignetti credited the two former Pitt players with handling this so he could focus his efforts elsewhere.
"This group is very eager to learn, to dive into the process of what we believe and I believe you have to have to play at a certain level," Sunseri said back in August. "But it takes a lot of things to get you to that level."
It certainly does, which Cignetti knows as well as anyone considering his incredible coaching journey.
Graduate assistant at Pitt under Foge Fazio in 1983. Subsequent stops at Davidson, Rice, Temple and back to Pitt in the mid-1990s. A half-dozen years at NC State, where he coached Philip Rivers and recruited Russell Wilson.
Alabama as part of Saban's original staff came next. Then Cignetti turned around the IUP Crimson Hawks in a big way, going 53-17 with three NCAA playoff appearances before becoming head coach at Elon University.
With all due respect to James Madison, where Cignetti reached the FCS national championship game and enjoyed more dominance, I might be more impressed by what he's done at Indiana simply because of the context.
Figure, the Hoosiers played seven different quarterbacks between 2021-23. Those teams went a combined 9-27 overall, 3-24 in the Big Ten. They drew more jokes than fans to Memorial Stadium.
Different story now, where Cignetti has brought players, coaches and hope, leaning on people who've helped him at various coaching stops and infusing a bunch of Pittsburgh-tinged positivity into the program.
"Nothing gets people excited like winning," Cignetti said. "You string together a couple of wins, and all of a sudden you're on national TV every week. You can't get in that stadium. You become the talk of the country."
The same as Oregon, Ohio State or Miami, Cignetti has handled the portal well, recruiting 30 transfers (13 from James Madison) while ensuring the appropriate players remained.
After spending his first four seasons at Wake Forest, running back Justice Ellison has run for 514 yards on 73 carries (7.0). His backfield mate, Ty Son Lawton, is a JMU transfer and has 393 rushing yards. They both have eight touchdowns.
One of Indiana's best blockers is a local kid, Pine-Richland product Mike Katic, who's actually in his sixth season with the program and has brought plenty of size (6-4, 318) and experience to the group.
Wide receiver Elijah Sarratt -- who started his winding career at Saint Francis (Pa.) -- is another former James Madison player and has 578 yards on 32 catches (18.1 average) to go along with three touchdowns.
The Hoosiers' leading tackler (linebacker Aiden Fisher) is a former Duke, and so is defensive lineman Mikail Kamara, who leads Indiana in sacks with six.
"The vibe is great," Katic said. "Team chemistry is at an all-time high right now."