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Indianapolis Star
18 hours ago
- Sport
- Indianapolis Star
Indiana football will 'definitely have sellouts' as ticket sales rise after historic season
BLOOMINGTON — Indiana football rolled out a plan for 2025 single-game ticket sales this month that's slightly different from what it was a year ago, but for good reason. The Hoosiers will play seven games at Memorial Stadium, including four conference opponents: Illinois (Sept. 20), Michigan State (Oct. 18), UCLA (Oct. 25), and Wisconsin (Nov. 15). Indiana staggered the availability of single-game tickets by opening up a pre-sale to donors June 10 and a "build-your-own" two-game bundle for non-donors that includes one nonconference and one Big Ten game. The program will make the remaining individual game tickets available to the general public July 8, nearly a full month after it opened sales for single-game tickets for the 2024 season. Indiana tweaked the schedule due to increased season-ticket sales following the team's first appearance in the College Football Playoff under coach Curt Cignetti. "Ticket sales have been phenomenal,' Indiana athletic director Scott Dolson said in an interview with The Herald-Times. 'Best I've seen in my long history, in terms of year-to-year improvement.' Buy IndyStar's book on IU's historic College Football Playoff season Going into 2024, Indiana football's ticket sales were up 10% in most categories, and Dolson was happy with those numbers, considering the Hoosiers were coming off a third straight disappointing season. The expectations changed amidst IU's historic 10-0 start. There was a stretch early in the year when Cignetti made the atmosphere at Memorial Stadium a weekly talking point. He urged fans to 'Pack the Rock' and penned a letter to students encouraging them to stay for all four quarters in hopes of creating a more imposing home environment. Indiana fans responded by setting a single-season attendance record (386,992) that included four straight sellouts (53,082) to end the year. That momentum carried into the offseason. 'We will definitely have sellouts,' Dolson said. 'I don't know if we will have sellouts for every game. I think we will be close, maybe closer than we've ever been in our history. There's no question that Hoosier Nation has responded just how we hoped they would.' Indiana's season-ticket sales are up 50% from last season, Dolson said. They were in the low 20s last season and are up in the mid 30s as the program prepares to open up single-game ticket sales. 'It's remarkable, even anecdotally, people saying to me they are legitimately worried about not being able to get a ticket,' Dolson said. 'That's what you want, to create enough demand where people worry about the supply. People are starting to worry about supply, and that's a good thing.' Explainer: Indiana football incorporates personal seat donations in 2025. Here's what it means The improved sales came after IU introduced a personal seat donation (PSD) program in February that raised season-ticket prices upwards of $250 per seat. The program is expected to generate $2.5 to $3 million in annual revenue as the athletic department looks for ways to cover revenue-sharing expenses. 'The personal seat donation, people understood,' Dolson said. 'It's never easy to increase prices and we've always tried to keep (ticket prices) modest and at market value. I do think people see the investments we are making and appreciate the results of those investments." Indiana's biggest challenge in recent months has been figuring out the optimal number of individual tickets to make available. 'We still want to maintain single-game opportunities because not everyone can come for a full season, and with an alumni base that's one of the largest in the country, we want to accommodate as many people as we can, but what's the right number?' Dolson said. 'But those are awesome problems to have when you've been around a long time and had to find extremely creative ways (in the past) to generate the interest we want." Get IndyStar's IU coverage sent directly to your inbox with our IU Insider newsletter.
New York Times
3 days ago
- Sport
- New York Times
John Mateer, Fernando Mendoza and other top transfers to watch in 2026 NFL Draft class
When we first started monitoring the transfer portal back in 2018, the first few classes were relatively thin on NFL Draft talent. That is definitely no longer the case. The days of transfers mainly being backups who didn't play enough are long over, and college football's portal is now firmly in its full-blown free-agency era, with quality starters at every position — including some with potential first-round draft grades — looking to better their situation (financially or otherwise). Here's a look at my favorite 2026 draft prospects from this offseason's portal, by position. This year featured the deepest and most talented collection of available college quarterbacks since the transfer portal became a thing. It's a tough group to sort right now, but Mendoza is my pick as the top transfer QB. The 6-foot-5, 221-pounder not only comes with ideal size and above-average athleticism but also terrific arm talent. The fit between Mendoza and Indiana coach Curt Cignetti looks like a terrific one, and Mendoza has enough ability to land a first-round draft grade. Mateer reminds me of recent No. 1 pick Cam Ward, who also transferred from Washington State. It wouldn't be a shock to see a breakout year from the Sooners' new quarterback. I've already heard some hand-wringing from Miami fans about why draft analysts seem to be down on Beck, two years after thinking he would be a first-rounder. Beck's 2023 season — Georgia's last with Brock Bowers — was very good; his 2024 season was less so. Beck is more athletic than people think, plays with good size and throws an accurate ball without fear over the middle, but he has also shown poor aptitude against pressure and inconsistency on vertical shots, and he's not as quick in the pocket as his testing numbers may indicate. This will be an important year for him. Advertisement Hughes will make the big jump to Oregon this year after rushing for nearly 3,000 yards and 22 touchdowns combined the last two seasons at Tulane. A durable, tough, quick-footed bell cow with good vision and a willingness to block, Hughes (5-11, 210 pounds) is expected to take over for Jordan James inside the Ducks' high-powered offense, and he could provide similar value. He's also a legit pass protector who isn't afraid to step into a blitzing linebacker. Ott was high on scouting boards last summer before an ankle injury derailed his season. The 6-0, 210-pounder runs with elite burst and balance, and he offers great vision and big-play potential in the pass game. Haynes, a former top-40 recruit, has as much talent as anyone on this list — he just never got a shot to show it at Alabama, where he had double-digit carries in just one game the last two seasons. He'll have to earn it at Michigan, too, as talented sophomore Jordan Marshall figures to be his top backfield mate. There were a ton of high-end receivers in the portal, and this list also could have included Ole Miss' De'Zhaun Stribling, Penn State's Trebor Pena, Florida State's Duce Robinson, LSU's Barion Brown and several others. Singleton, a Georgia state sprint champion in the 100, 200 and 400 meters, has a second-level burst and shows zero fear (at 5-11, 190) as a confident ball tracker. The 6-4, 220-pound Fields — a former QB — is extremely intriguing as a big, explosive target with reliable hands and great potential after the catch. He had 13 contested catches last season at Virginia. Concepcion, a 20-year-old junior, is a crafty slot receiver who was great after the catch and used heavily in the sweep game at NC State. It's a similar conversation for Branch, now at Georgia. The 5-10, 180-pound former five-star prospect comes to Athens with truly elite speed and averaged more than eight yards after the catch last season. Advertisement Klare and Endries are similar prospects. Both stand around 6-4, 240 and are versatile, three-down tight ends with strong hands, toughness and real upside in the run game. Endries is arguably a better blocker at this point, but Klare may have more long-term athletic potential as a route runner and after the catch. The former broke out as a sophomore last season with 56 catches for 623 yards; the latter (seen in the clip below) had 51 grabs for 685 yards and four TDs. Koziol, a 6-7, 237-pound former wide receiver, was a production machine last year at Ball State, finishing with 93 catches for 840 yards and three scores. A terrific athlete with a ridiculous catch radius, he made an FBS-best 26 contested catches. A hulking 6-8, 312-pounder, World heads to Oregon after three years spent starting at left tackle for Nevada. A gigantic player with the movement skills of a former basketball player, World came to college at around 270 pounds but bulked up and had his best year last season. He looks like a top-100 talent and has a chance to improve his stock while playing against better competition this year. Mills, meanwhile, is one of the rare four-team college players — he has made stops at Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, Louisville and now Virginia, although he's expected to miss the coming season because of an Achilles injury. We'll see where the imposing 6-7, 320-pounder is at, health-wise, after the year. Pritchett, a former top-40 recruit who started during his first year at Alabama last season, brings power and versatility to Nebraska's front, albeit with the need to further prove himself on a big stage. Bailey is a former top-40 recruit who plays with great speed, burst and length off the edge. He's a bendy pass rusher who has no trouble dipping and turning the corner against larger tackles. One of Texas Tech's many quality portal pulls, Bailey had a combined 22 1/2 sacks in three years at Stanford, mainly as a subpackage player. Payton, meanwhile, had draft buzz entering the 2024 season after a breakout 2023. The 6-5, 255-pounder saw a production dip last year but has the potential to be a true three-down presence. Atkinson (6-6, 265) is intriguing and put up 7 1/2 sacks and 25 pressures with 26 run stops last season, despite being a part-time rotational player. A long, rangy edge presence with power everywhere, Atkinson has put on nearly 30 pounds since high school. Advertisement Hunter is a fridge on wheels. The 6-4, 325-pounder had dominant flashes inside during each of his past two seasons at UCF, making more than 50 tackles in 2023 alone and combining for 49 pressures during those two years. Big and powerful enough to eat space as a nose tackle, Hunter can make plays on the ball well outside his square in ways few 320-pounders can. Gooden (6-1, 280) is undersized but can move and run like a linebacker — he's athletic with great flexibility and burst. He played mainly as a three-tech last season at South Florida but also has spent a ton of time over the tackle as a heavy edge, despite his size. From a pure talent standpoint, Alexander might have an argument for the top spot on this list. However, he has also shown little consistency during stops at Georgia and USC. If he can put it together, we'll see his stock soar. A rangy, explosive athlete who made 76 tackles (10 1/2 for loss) and 6 1/2 sacks last season, Campbell should be able to immediately step into a starting role for Jim Knowles at Penn State. Fast enough to run with tight ends in the slot and twitchy enough to beat offensive linemen at the point of attack, Campbell is a great blitzer and boasts big-time potential as a junior. Toure missed all of last season with an ACL injury (the second of his college career) but still served as Rutgers' team captain after an outstanding 93-tackle, 4 1/2-sack 2023 season. If he can stay healthy, he'll be a great addition for Miami — and give scouts a chance to re-evaluate where he's at as a prospect. One of the country's best players on a bad team each of the last two seasons, Thieneman (a true junior) was Big Ten Freshman of the Year in 2023, with six interceptions and eight forced incompletions. He followed that up with eight forced incompletions and six pass breakups last season. A do-it-all safety, he can play deep, in the box or in the slot and doesn't miss many tackles. One of the best players in the country, Thieneman will have top-30 buzz entering the 2025 season. One half of a great Virginia Tech duo, alongside Dorian Strong, Delane had a career-best four interceptions and 51 tackles last season — and probably would've been drafted had he declared. He didn't quite have the year many anticipated he would in 2024 (he was Dane Brugler's No. 5 corner last summer), but he still has the size (6-1, 190) and potential to be a truly consistent corner in man or zone. (Top photo of John Mateer: Alika Jenner / Getty Images)
USA Today
12-06-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Big Ten Network football analysts pick B1G order of finish. Where is Ohio State?
Big Ten Network football analysts pick B1G order of finish. Where is Ohio State? It figures to be an unpredictable Big Ten football season. Ohio State won the College Football Playoff national championship last year but lost 14 guys to the NFL, so there's a to of talent to replace. Heck, despite winning the ultimate prize, the Buckeyes only finished in fourth place in the conference behind Oregon, Penn State, and Indiana. The Ducks won the League in their first season in the Big Ten, but they, too, have to replace some key pieces. Indiana figures to take a step back unless we get some more of that unexpected Curt Cignetti magic, and while Penn State probably has the most returning talent, the Nittany Lions have yet to show they can beat the top of the conference consistently. We haven't discussed Michigan yet, but it should be better than last season if it can continue to build off of a great finish. We'll take our stab at predicting how the teams will stack up in the conference in our own time, but two Big Ten football analysts got ahead of the game by doing so already. Former Michigan tight end and Columbus area native Jake Butt joined Adam Breneman to pick the order of finish in the Big Ten for the 2025 season, and there were indeed some differences. Here's how Butt saw things playing out with the top half of the League, with a nod to the good guys: Breneman differed not only on the champion of the league, but elsewhere as well. Here's how he sees the top nine shaking out: Penn State Ohio State Oregon Illinois USC Indiana Michigan Minnesota Iowa If this rings true -- even with the second-place finish predicted by Breneman -- you can go ahead and pencil Ohio State into the College Football Playoff again. However, buyer beware because, as we know, predictions like these are rarely correct, and there will be a slew of surprises and disappointments coming this fall. Contact/Follow us @BuckeyesWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes and opinion. Follow Phil Harrison on X.
Indianapolis Star
10-06-2025
- Sport
- Indianapolis Star
After a historic season, Curt Cignetti has a clear message for Indiana football
BLOOMINGTON — When the Big Ten convenes its annual football media days, this time in the late July Las Vegas heat, Indiana will arrive a curiosity to the league like it has rarely been in living memory. The Hoosiers shocked the conference and the country last season, winning 11 games on the way to an appearance in the College Football Playoff. Attrition and, perhaps, the irresistible pull of history have conspired to depress expectations somewhat from the lofty success of 2024. But broadly speaking, everyone still expects IU to be a difficult proposition this fall. How difficult will be determined by Curt Cignetti, his largely intact staff and a roster reinforced once again through the transfer portal. Talking points in Vegas will include a new quarterback, a new quarterbacks coach, some defensive turnover and how exactly a program with no historical point of comparison builds on what it achieved last year. Which has made Cignetti's offseason company line all the more fascinating. As the season begins to come into view, IU's second-year coach has gone well out of his way to make this clear: Indiana is fully and completely on to 2025. 'To me, that's inherent in the blueprint,' Cignetti told IndyStar in a wide-ranging sitdown interview recently. 'Every year, you start over regardless of the previous season. You learn the lessons, whatever lessons are there to be learned, file them away, and you start over again.' In one sense, there is no parallel for what Cignetti will try to do this fall. Indiana so dramatically outperformed both expectations and historical norms that there are no blueprints (to use his word) here. For the Hoosiers, this season will be territory as uncharted as last season became. But Cignetti has a long history of his own to pull from. He needed to pull IU-Pennsylvania back to earth after a 12-win season in 2012, to refocus James Madison after long playoff runs in his first three years, or a share of a Sun Belt title in his fourth. Collector's book on IU's historic run makes a great Father's Day gift When Cignetti talks about shifting his team's focus entirely to what's in front of them, he's not speaking about Indiana, but rather from experience. And this approach is not tailored to bringing a program that flew closer to the sun last season than it ever has before back down toward the relative safety of solid ground. This is how Cignetti restarts his process every season. Learn from the good, digest the bad, move forward purposefully only focused on what's next. 'You learn the lessons of the past,' he said, 'and you use them to your advantage.' Those lessons are easier to capture, Cignetti said, when he's blessed with the staff continuity he secured this offseason. Thanks to further investment from IU's administration, Cignetti not only inked his own eight-year contract but also re-signed every member of his staff save quarterbacks coach Tino Sunseri, who left for the offensive coordinator job at UCLA. Even when USC tested Indiana's resolve in trying to poach Derek Owings, Cignetti's valued head of strength and conditioning, in late spring, Indiana doubled down to keep Owings in Bloomington. All of which has contributed to meaningful expectation around here for the first time in a long time. IU should begin the season ranked, and oddsmakers setting the win total over/under at 8.5 suggests outsiders still see the Hoosiers as a genuine threat. 'It helps that I've had great staff continuity. We're all on the same page on how we do things,' Cignetti said. 'We all know what we expect, we say it the same way and we demand the same things.' Those demands begin, it seems, with permanently forward focus. Not because of any fear over complacency after last season's historic success. But because Cignetti — a winner wherever he's been as a head coach — doesn't know any better way to do it than to learn from the past, yes, but only have eyes for the horizon.
Indianapolis Star
10-06-2025
- Sport
- Indianapolis Star
After a historic season, Curt Cignetti has a clear message for Indiana football
BLOOMINGTON — When the Big Ten convenes its annual football media days, this time in the late July Las Vegas heat, Indiana will arrive a curiosity to the league like it has rarely been in living memory. The Hoosiers shocked the conference and the country last season, winning 11 games on the way to an appearance in the College Football Playoff. Attrition and, perhaps, the irresistible pull of history have conspired to depress expectations somewhat from the lofty success of 2024. But broadly speaking, everyone still expects IU to be a difficult proposition this fall. How difficult will be determined by Curt Cignetti, his largely intact staff and a roster reinforced once again through the transfer portal. Talking points in Vegas will include a new quarterback, a new quarterbacks coach, some defensive turnover and how exactly a program with no historical point of comparison builds on what it achieved last year. Which has made Cignetti's offseason company line all the more fascinating. As the season begins to come into view, IU's second-year coach has gone well out of his way to make this clear: Indiana is fully and completely on to 2025. 'To me, that's inherent in the blueprint,' Cignetti told IndyStar in a wide-ranging sitdown interview recently. 'Every year, you start over regardless of the previous season. You learn the lessons, whatever lessons are there to be learned, file them away, and you start over again.' In one sense, there is no parallel for what Cignetti will try to do this fall. Indiana so dramatically outperformed both expectations and historical norms that there are no blueprints (to use his word) here. For the Hoosiers, this season will be territory as uncharted as last season became. But Cignetti has a long history of his own to pull from. He needed to pull IU-Pennsylvania back to earth after a 12-win season in 2012, to refocus James Madison after long playoff runs in his first three years, or a share of a Sun Belt title in his fourth. Collector's book on IU's historic run makes a great Father's Day gift When Cignetti talks about shifting his team's focus entirely to what's in front of them, he's not speaking about Indiana, but rather from experience. And this approach is not tailored to bringing a program that flew closer to the sun last season than it ever has before back down toward the relative safety of solid ground. This is how Cignetti restarts his process every season. Learn from the good, digest the bad, move forward purposefully only focused on what's next. 'You learn the lessons of the past,' he said, 'and you use them to your advantage.' Those lessons are easier to capture, Cignetti said, when he's blessed with the staff continuity he secured this offseason. Thanks to further investment from IU's administration, Cignetti not only inked his own eight-year contract but also re-signed every member of his staff save quarterbacks coach Tino Sunseri, who left for the offensive coordinator job at UCLA. Even when USC tested Indiana's resolve in trying to poach Derek Owings, Cignetti's valued head of strength and conditioning, in late spring, Indiana doubled down to keep Owings in Bloomington. All of which has contributed to meaningful expectation around here for the first time in a long time. IU should begin the season ranked, and oddsmakers setting the win total over/under at 8.5 suggests outsiders still see the Hoosiers as a genuine threat. 'It helps that I've had great staff continuity. We're all on the same page on how we do things,' Cignetti said. 'We all know what we expect, we say it the same way and we demand the same things.' Those demands begin, it seems, with permanently forward focus. Not because of any fear over complacency after last season's historic success. But because Cignetti — a winner wherever he's been as a head coach — doesn't know any better way to do it than to learn from the past, yes, but only have eyes for the horizon.
