Curt Cignetti did his part. He took Indiana football to heights few could have imagined, turning the Hoosiers into national champions. Naturally, the fanbase would rally behind a team that has given it so much to celebrate. And that’s exactly what happened. However, college football voices have now called out the silence in the stands.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
Recently, during a midseason discussion, Barstool Sports analyst Brandon Walker went on a fiery rant about Indiana Hoosiers fans, going so far as to call them one of the worst fan bases.
“Indiana people kind of fu****g s**k. Indiana people just are the goofiest. We should have never let them get good. The Twitter IU fans, who just discovered football last year, are goofy as f**k,” said Walker.
Liam Blutman doubled down on Walker’s criticism, saying, “They’re like the Purdue of college football fans.”
Blaming the entire fanbase for the actions of a few is a bit far-fetched. However, one cannot entirely blame Indiana fans here. Traditionally, Indiana has been a basketball-first college, and turning it into a football powerhouse after two successful seasons was never going to be easy.
Let’s look at history. Before their remarkable 2025 campaign, Indiana had the most losses in Division I football history. Meanwhile, its basketball program had won five national titles. That tells you a lot about the mindset of Indiana fans. Even last season’s success could not change that mentality entirely, and it certainly won’t happen overnight.
The criticism comes on the heels of Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti urging fans to pack the stands for the Hoosiers’ September 25 home Big Ten opener against the then unbeaten Northwestern Wildcats. Speaking on his weekly coaches’ radio show Thursday, Cignetti made it clear that he wanted stronger fan support.
“First Big Ten game at home,” Cignetti said. “We need everybody in the stadium early. Early. Need everybody in the stadium early. And we need them to be loud and gotta give them something to be loud about. And we need somebody sitting in every seat in that stadium from the first play to the last play.”
Despite the Hoosiers entering their third season as a competitive college football team, their fans continue to pack Memorial Stadium, showing up in numbers that Cignetti and his squad can be proud of.
A staggering 54,493 fans witnessed the Hoosiers vs Northwestern clash, and this is no one-off occurrence. Across all five home games this season, attendance has topped 54,000. Here’s the remarkable part: Memorial Stadium’s listed capacity is only around 52,600, meaning the Hoosiers have consistently drawn crowds beyond that figure.
The home clash against Ohio State was an even better showcase of just how much the fans love the Hoosiers. Even before kickoff, Bloomington was buzzing with excitement, with Hoosiers fans filling the streets and even the local pubs. People were celebrating everywhere you looked. Honestly, what more could you ask of a fanbase?
“We’re a football school now, and I hate to say that about the basketball program,” Edward, from just outside Indianapolis noted. “We spent years praying for some type of revival of college football within this fan base, and we finally have it during one of the craziest times in sports.
“A lot of schools are trying to pull off the Indiana magic of rebuilding a program in such a short time period. And those expectations are truly centered around what transpired here in Bloomington. That part is wild to me. We expect to win football games now, which is a wonderful feeling to have.”
The fanbase has heard its head coach and followed his call to the letter, and this is exactly what a college football revival looks like. The defending champions delivered last year, and they are doing it again this season.
Yes, the fanbase may be relatively new to the traditional college football scene, but calling them out for it is a big no-go. They won their first national championship in program history last year. If they cannot celebrate that achievement and expect the same success this year, then what is the point?