For the first time in program history, Indiana will enter the season with a title that's still beyond comprehension seven months later.

"Defending national champs."

The path to repeat has proven to be a tricky one to navigate, which is why only three teams have conquered that beast in the 21st century. Time will tell if IU can be the fourth member of that exclusive club, though if you ask Curt Cignetti, last year had nothing to do with this year's team.

What's clear is that there's plenty of ammo for the Hoosiers as they attempt to show the world that they weren't just a cute 2025 story. Now feels like as good a time as any to look back on some of the cards that Cignetti can play for the defending national champs.

So if you're Cignetti, you could tell your team that everyone thinks IU was a one-off that'll fall off the face of the earth as those other defending champs would start outside of the top 5.

More likely, however, is that IU competes for "Team of the Decade" status.

I'd argue that IU has a better path to a Big Ten Championship than Ohio State, who was picked to win the Big Ten in the conference's unofficial media poll.

Never mind the fact that the Buckeyes have to travel to Bloomington to face IU this year. Never mind the fact that Ohio State has arguably the toughest schedule of anyone in college football.

Never mind the fact that IU beat Ohio State to claim last year's Big Ten Championship, and did so thanks in large part to a front 7 that mostly remains intact.

Shoot, I didn't even get to the part where Ohio State has a new offensive play-caller and on the other side of the ball, it ranks just No. 78 in percentage of returning defensive production.

Yet while those unknowns exist for Ohio State, it's the Buckeyes who got the nod to win the conference and start as the No. 1 team in America.

You'd better believe that won't be lost on Cignetti and Co. when the Hoosiers host Ohio State on Oct. 17.

IU outscored Oregon 86-42 with a pair of double-digit victories away from Bloomington, and ask yourself this. How many people are giving IU more love than Oregon?

The preseason Big Ten poll had Oregon at No. 2 with Indiana coming in at No. 3. The preseason AP Poll had Oregon at No. 2 and Indiana at No. 6. The preseason AP Poll also had 55 of 69 voters slot Oregon ahead of IU.

We also know that the media preseason predictions for a national champ have a whole lot more Oregon than Indiana.

By my unofficial count, for every 10 media members who picked Oregon to win a title, a total of 0 picked Indiana, who retained both coordinators while the Ducks replaced both of theirs.

That leads me to my next and final point.

The answer is "no." And to be clear, "good enough to make the Playoff but not good enough to win the national title" is a consensus projection that IU fans would've welcomed with open arms in every preseason conversation that has ever taken place before 2026.

But yeah, even someone like David Pollack saying that can be seen as ammo.

Having a new starting quarterback is considered the thing potentially separating IU from getting real "repeat buzz" — it also probably should be worth noting that 8 of the preseason top-10 teams have a returning starting QB — yet IU is the only program in America that had two different quarterbacks finish in the top 10 of the Heisman Trophy voting the last two seasons.

Whoops. That's not ammo. That's just a reason why IU repeating isn't as crazy as what some of the preseason conversations would suggest.

Repeating is extremely difficult. Perhaps it's just respect for that climb that has shaped the preseason discussions with the defending champs.

Whatever the case, Cignetti should be locked and loaded with plenty of offseason firepower as the title defense begins.