LOS ANGELES — No. 1 and an underdog?
Although Indiana has arrived in Los Angeles as the top seed in the 2025 College Football Playoff, the Hoosiers are staying true to their identity.
That was apparent as Indiana walked off the bus at their hotel Monday evening.
While the Hoosiers are the No. 1 team in America and the oddsmakers favor them vs. Alabama, the Indiana players also know they are a cast of 0-star recruits going up against 4 and 5-stars.
“There’s always a chip on our shoulder,” linebacker Aiden Fisher said. “Not a lot of people recruited us or wanted us, if that was high school recruiting or in the transfer portal.
“I’ve said it before, nobody we’re gonna play from here on out ever recruited any of us. So you know we’ve got to keep that chip on our shoulder and just know that moving forward. That’s definitely some extra motivation with every game we play.”
It’s an interesting contrast.
The rankings and odds say Indiana is Goliath, Alabama, David.
The high school and transfer portal recruiting rankings say the opposite, Alabama is Goliath, Indiana is David.
Nearly half of Alabama’s starters were 5-star recruits, compared to none from Indiana. Nearly half of IU’s main players this year were 0-stars with no Power 4 offers out of high school.
Whether the favorite or underdog, Indiana’s players know they need to recalibrate their minds and focus now that they’re in California with two days ahead of the game.
“You take it in, you appreciate the moment for a brief second and then it’s game time,” center Pat Coogan said. “We’ve been playing this game since third, fourth, fifth grade. It really doesn’t change. Sure, the moment may be a little bigger, the scene may be a little bigger, but it’s football at the end of the day.”
It’s still just football, but there’s the added motivation that it may be the last game ever for several players.
And the players know dreams can be shattered in an instant.
Underappreciated, under-recruited, unwanted — Indiana’s players overcame significant odds to get to this point.
All their work to get to this level, this stage and this opportunity — but how would it feel to come up short on Thursday?
“Getting here is one thing, but winning is another,” Fisher said. “That’s the goal, and nothing else matters if you don’t win that game.”
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