The Indiana Hoosiers took one last stroll from Assembly Hall to Memorial Stadium on Saturday, waving to the crowd, signing autographs and trading fist bumps with the fans who lined the way.
Then the Hoosiers walked onto their home field for the first time as national champions.
This was a scene even the most loyal Indiana fans couldn't have fathomed when Curt Cignetti was hired to coach major college football's losingest program in 2023. A little more than two years later, here they were, folding chairs on the field, trophies lined up across the dais and a series of presentations to cap the celebration.
It was the perfect ending to a perfect season.
“From the bottom of my heart, thank you Hoosier Nation,” Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza said just before the 35-minute ceremony ended with players, coaches and fans singing the school's fight song together. “Playing here has been one of the greatest privileges of my life. Thank you so much and again, myself, my teammates are forever indebted to you guys. God bless. Go Hoosiers!”
Heisman Trophy Trust chief executive officer Jeff Price brought the trophy that will stay on campus permanently. University president Pam Whitten promised students at the half-filled stadium this wouldn't be their last football championship. Some of the team's seniors even helped local native John Mellencamp belt out “Hurts So Good" before, naturally, hearing “We Are The Champions” blaring across the public address system.
“The greatest university in the country is now the home to the greatest football team in the United States of America,” Whitten said to loud roars.
But the fans, like this team, had to tough it out Saturday.
The temperature barely hovered above 10 degrees, wind chills were below zero and the forecast called for up to a foot of snow for the celebration of major college football's first 16-0 season since the 1890s.
Players, many of whom came from warmer states such as Virginia or Florida, were bundled up, too, and wasted little time in making their remarks.
But some adverse weather wasn't going to deter the players or these long-suffering football fans, who spent years just hoping the program could get back to respectability when it seemed like winning a championship — Big Ten or national — was unreachable.
Now, thanks in large part to Cignetti and the coaches and 13 players who followed him from James Madison, Indiana begins next season as the defending national champs, defending Big Ten champs and with both the nation’s longest winning streak and nation's longest home winning streak.
“First of all, I can't put into words what Indiana, the fans, my coach and my teammates have meant to me,” said All-American linebacker Aiden Fisher, one of those who followed Cignetti. "These two years have changed my life for the better and thank you, God, for making me a Hoosier.”
It didn't take long for Cignetti to deliver on his promise to win. The Hoosiers posted a school-best 11-2 in mark in 2024. Yet many of these Hoosiers fans who had watched so many other promising starts unravel were skeptical the Hoosiers could replicate that success in 2025.
They didn't. Indiana surpassed those numbers with a season for the record books.
The Hoosiers won games by huge margins, with late-game heroics and at sites that seemed impossibly challenging such as Oregon and Penn State. They beat traditional powers Ohio State and Alabama along with Oregon again as their storybook journey headed to Miami for the title game. And there, the school's first Heisman Trophy winner finished off the 27-21 victory on Miami's home field with one powerful, spinning touchdown run that encapsulated Indiana's fight to the top.
It was so good Mendoza started making the television rounds this week, booking appearances on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and “Good Morning America” before announcing Friday that he would enter this year's draft.
First, though, he wanted to make one more stop in Bloomington.
“The Heisman Trophy is the ultimate team award" Mendoza told the crowd. “I want to thank God, thank the Heisman Trophy Foundation and thank IU.”
Then it was back to the usually stone-faced Cignetti, who appeared to genuinely cherish sharing this moment with his first national championship team as a head coach albeit briefly because he doesn't want college football's perfect story to end just yet.
“Chapter 3 begins tomorrow,” he shouted.
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Indiana quarterback Alberto Mendoza (16) walks the sidelines during the College Football Playoff national championship game against Miami, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza holds the trophy after their win against Miami in the College Football Playoff national championship game, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
Iran reversed its decision to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and warned that it would continue to block transit through the strait as long as the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports remained in effect.
The escalating standoff over the critical choke point threatened to deepen the energy crisis roiling the global economy and push the two countries toward renewed conflict, even as mediators expressed confidence that a new deal was within reach.
The strait is closed until the U.S. blockade is lifted, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard navy said Saturday night. Hours earlier, two gunboats from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard opened fire on a tanker transiting the Strait of Hormuz, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said. It reported that the tanker and crew were safe, without identifying the vessel or its destination.
Roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil passes through the strait and further limits would squeeze the already constrained supply, driving prices higher once again. Meanwhile, a 10-day truce between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon appeared to be holding.
The fighting in the Middle East conflict, which is approaching the two-month mark, has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, nearly 2,300 in Lebanon, 23 civilians and 15 soldiers in Israel, and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states. Thirteen U.S. service members have also been killed.
Here is the latest:
The far-right South American leader landed on Sunday for a three-day visit, meeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and visiting the Western Wall of Jerusalem’s Temple Mount.
Milei is scheduled to sign new binational accords with Israel and receive a Presidential Medal from Israeli President Isaac Herzog celebrating his commitment to fighting anti-semitism, Herzog’s office said. It is at least Milei’s third visit to the Western Wall.
He has backed the United States and Israel’s decision to launch a war on Iran. Earlier this month Argentina expelled Iran’s ambassador from Buenos Aires.
Milei is among a small cohort of right-leaning leaders who have deepened ties with Netanyahu’s government even as Israel faces diplomatic isolation over wartime conduct, including in Gaza and Lebanon. Some of Argentina’s South American neighbors have cut diplomatic ties or withdrawn their ambassadors,
Speaking at the end of his Mass in Kilamba, Angola, Leo said the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah was a “sign of relief for the Lebanese people.”
He said: “I encourage those who have been committed to the search for a diplomatic solution to continue peace talks so that the end of hostilities throughout the Middle East becomes permanent.”
Leo said he prays for a permanent ending of hostilities in the Middle East.
The pope is on an 11-day, four-nation African journey that has been characterized by repeated appeals for peace.
Pakistani authorities have begun tightening security in the capital, Islamabad, ahead of a possible second round of ceasefire talks between the U.S. and Iran.
Authorities on Sunday deployed troops at roadside checkpoints, closed tourist sites and ordered major hotels to cancel bookings and keep facilities available.
Islamabad’s streets are largely deserted, as residents stayed home to avoid road closures seen earlier this month during the first round of talks.
While there were no formal announcements, Pakistani officials said arrangements are in place for talks in the coming days.
A regional official involved in the mediation efforts said mediators were finalizing the preparations. He said U.S. advance security teams are already on the ground. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the preparations.
Pakistan has led mediation efforts to end the war. Its military chief visited Tehran last week, while Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met with regional leaders in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey.
The Israeli army says it carried out a series of strikes that killed more than 150 Hezbollah fighters.
Among those killed was Ali Rida Abbas, which it said was Hezbollah’s commander in Bint Jbeil. The southern Lebanese town and its surroundings were the site of intense clashes between Israeli troops and Hezbollah militants in the days leading up to the ceasefire.
Israel gave no evidence to support its claims, and Hezbollah didn't immediately confirm the death of its commander.
The ceasefire took effect early Friday.
Iran’s chief negotiator says his country wants “a lasting peace so that war is not repeated again.”
Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf made the comments in a televised interview late Saturday, a few days before a ceasefire deadline is set to expire, according to Iranian state media.
“What is fundamental for us is distrust of the United States,” he said. “At the same time, we have good intentions and seek a lasting peace — one that prevents the recurrence of war.”
He said that the Islamabad negotiations didn’t address the mistrust, but that the U.S. and Iranian negotiators “reached a more realistic understanding of one another.”
He said that the two sides achieved progress in the Islamabad talks, but disagreement remained on some key issues, including the nuclear program and the Strait of Hormuz.
“The gaps remain wide and some fundamental issues are still unresolved,” he said.
He didn’t elaborate with further details.
The Lebanese army said in a statement Sunday that it reopened the Khardali road that links the southern city of Nabatiyeh with the town of Marjayoun.
The army said that it also reopened the road that links the port city of Tyre with the village of Bourj Rahhal. The army is also working on reopening other roads, including a bridge on the Litani River in the village of Tayr Filsay.
During Israel’s invasion of southern Lebanon over the past several weeks, Israel’s air force has destroyed several bridges on the river.
After a 10-day ceasefire was declared as of midnight Thursday, the Lebanese army and the Litani Authority have been working on putting up temporary bridges to replace the destroyed ones.
Iran’s parliamentary Speaker Mohammed Bagher Qalibaf says the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed as long as the U.S. imposes a naval blockade on Iran.
“It is impossible for others to pass through the Strait of Hormuz while we cannot,” he said in televised comments aired by Iranian semiofficial media late Saturday.
Qalibaf, who is Iran’s chief negotiator with the United States, said that the strait is now under Iran’s control, linking the choke point’s reopening to the U.S. lifting of its blockade.
“If the U.S. does not lift the blockade, traffic in the Strait of Hormuz will definitely be restricted,” he said.
He said that the ceasefire was on verge of collapse when the U.S. attempted to mine-clear the strait.
He said Iran viewed the U.S. attempt as a violation of the ceasefire.
“The situation escalated to the point of conflict but the enemy retreated,” he said.
Israel’s military says another soldier died in combat in southern Lebanon, the second death announced in under 12 hours.
It brought the total number of soldiers killed in Lebanon to 15, and was the second soldier killed in combat since the ceasefire.
The military said that another soldier was badly wounded, along with four moderately wounded and four slightly injured.
The navy of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps said that it extended the closure to the corridor it had earlier designated for the safe passage of vessels through the strategic waterway and declared the strait fully closed until the U.S. blockade on Iranian ports and ships is lifted.
On Friday, Iran said that vessels could move through the strait in coordination with it and against the payment of a toll.
But in a statement late Saturday carried by Iran’s state media, the navy warned that any violating vessel would be targeted.
Iran considers the U.S. blockade a violation of the ceasefire between the two countries. Two vessels were attacked earlier on Saturday in the Strait of Hormuz and off Oman’s coast, at least one of them by Iranian gunboats.
Excavators remove rubble from destroyed buildings that were hit on Thursday by Israeli airstrikes, as they keep searching for victims in Tyre city, southern Lebanon, Saturday, April 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
A woman member of the Basij paramilitary, affiliated with Iran's Revolutionary Guard, holds her gun during a state-organized rally in support of the supreme leader marking National Girl's Day in Tehran, Iran, Friday, April 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
President Donald Trump listens to speeches before signing an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House, Saturday, April 18, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Barber Mohammad Mehdi cuts the hair of his client Ayman Al Zein inside his shop, which was damaged in an Israeli airstrike that also damaged Al Zein's shop, in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Saturday, April 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
The sun rises behind a tanker anchored in the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Qeshm Island, Iran, Saturday, April 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Asghar Besharati)
