Gloriana Indiana
It’s 10:38 on the East Coast, and my jaw is on the floor.
I’ve spent most of my Monday night up to this point on my laptop, reviewing class lesson plans for the week, while having the CFP title game playing in another window.
Now, I haven’t followed much of the college football season up until this point. There was just too much going on in my life to sit down every Saturday and monitor every storyline. It wasn’t until the conference championships and bowl season that I really got up to speed, with Indiana’s story capturing the imagination of fans everywhere. Doing a column focused on Indiana fans after their first Big Ten title in 58 years would only deepen that interest for me.
And now, here I am, watching Fernando Mendoza gallop across the field on a fourth-and-four for the ages.
It’s strange watching a play you know is going to live in highlight reels for generations unfold right in front of you. Even watching that play back now, I can’t help but feel the same shock and awe I felt that Monday night. I couldn’t shake that feeling a week later as I read through every fan reaction, every dissection of the game, and every proclamation from the talking heads about the impact of this win.
As I watched the confetti fall late that Monday night and saw reactions pour in across social media, I made the decision to scrap whatever plans I had for Heart of a Fan that week and follow this feeling of shock and awe even further. I reached out to every Indiana fan who crossed my feed and heard countless stories about their memories, loved ones, and shared disbelief over this unprecedented season in Bloomington.
From the most unlikely center of the college football world, here are those stories…