Indiana Was a +10000 Longshot, and Somehow Won It All

If you were holding an Indiana national title ticket back in August, you weren’t being sharp. You were basically betting with your heart. Maybe your gut. Maybe you just liked the number. Because +10000 is the kind of futures price you usually screenshot for laughs, not because you think it’s going to cash.

And yet, here we are.

Indiana’s national championship win Monday night finished off a perfect season and put the Hoosiers in a category that barely exists anymore. Indiana opened at +10000 to win it all — the longest preseason odds of any national champion since at least 2001, according to SportsOddsHistory. That’s the earliest year in their database, and the point still stands: nobody wins the whole thing from that far back.

To put it in simpler terms, there hasn’t been an MLB, NBA, NHL, or college basketball champion that started a season with longer odds than Indiana. The only real comparison in major American sports is the 1999 St. Louis Rams, who opened at +15000 and somehow ended up hoisting the Vince Lombardi Trophy.

That’s the company Indiana just joined. This went past fun-story territory a while ago.

Early in the year, Indiana wasn’t taken seriously by the market. The implied chance was under one percent, which is basically Vegas saying, anything can happen, but this wasn’t supposed to. The Hoosiers were more of a curiosity than a real future.

Then Indiana just… kept winning.

By the time the College Football Playoff arrived, the odds weren’t even pretending anymore. BetOnline had Indiana at +275 to win the title entering the first round. Then +130 in the semifinal. That is a massive move for a futures market, and it doesn’t happen unless the team consistently performs well on the field each week and forces oddsmakers to keep up.

Even by the championship game, Indiana wasn’t the underdog story anymore. The Hoosiers were a 7.5-point favorite and around -310 on the moneyline against Miami. This wasn’t an underdog spot anymore. Indiana was supposed to win.

Indiana also didn’t limp into that spot. Alabama got rolled, 38–3. Oregon got smashed, 56–22. Those weren’t coin flips. Those were statements, even if we’re not calling them that.

The championship itself was the only time it got tight. Miami finally made Indiana sweat. Down six late, Carson Beck drove the Hurricanes to the IU 47-yard line with 0:51 left. You could feel the moment building.

Then it didn’t.

Beck tried to force the next throw, it turned into an interception, and Indiana did what every team dreams of doing in that spot: kneel it out and walk away. Final score: 27–21. Final record: 16–0. Perfect, and completely ridiculous when you remember where this started.

Every Georgia Bulldog fan knew Carson Beck was going to throw that INT

— Sportsbook Advisor (@bookieadvisor) January 20, 2026

The other part of this story is how fast Indiana flipped the program. Before Curt Cignetti arrived ahead of the 2024 season, Indiana had one winning season since 2007. The year before he arrived, they went 3–9 overall and 1–8 in conference. It wasn’t close.

Two years later, Indiana has two CFP appearances, its first Big Ten title since 1967, its first Heisman winner (Fernando Mendoza), a combined 27–2 record over two seasons, and now the national title. This wasn’t gradual. It flipped fast.

And yeah, oddsmakers already moved on to next year because that’s what they do. BetOnline has Ohio State and Notre Dame at +650 to win the 2027 title, with Indiana at +700. Respectful pricing. Not a coronation. See entire odds sheet

For bettors, though, this is the stuff that turns into legend. DraftKings confirmed one bettor won nearly $300,000 on Indiana futures. Another person turned a $25 bonus bet into $3,125. Those are the kinds of wins people bring up forever, because most of the time, the longshots don’t get there.

Indiana got there.

If you had it, congrats — seriously. If you didn’t, you’ll be hearing about the guy who did for the next ten years.