SOUTH BEND, Ind. — They started lining up inside the administration building of Indiana University South Bend just before 4 p.m. for a glimpse of the seven trophies on display, hoping to relive the Indiana Hoosiers’ fairytale run to the national championship. Some waited more than 90 minutes for their shot with the Heisman Trophy and national championship crystal ball. More than 1,000 showed, the line still snaking through IUSB after the doors had been locked for the night.
For a football program that once had racked up more losses than any school in the country, one that had never dreamed of days like these, Thursday afternoon’s wait times were to be savored. No sense in rushing another once-in-a-lifetime moment in a year of them.
“I never thought this would happen and I don’t know if it will ever happen again,” said Chris Luchene of Northwest Indiana, who was wearing a Fernando Mendoza jersey complete with a national championship patch on the right shoulder. “I’m trying to participate in all of it, do as much as I can.”
Luchene fell for Indiana football during his freshman year in 1996. He would major in journalism and eventually cover the football team for the Indiana Daily Student as a senior, writing on Antwaan Randle El’s breakout sophomore season alongside his co-beat writer Heather Dinich, now of ESPN.
“Ever since then, I’ve always followed IU football,” Luchene said. “Nobody cared about the football team. I was on an island. Even living in Indiana.”
It didn’t feel that way on Thursday.
The stop at IUSB, a school with an enrollment of about 4,500 with an athletic department that competes in the NAIA, was the third in a nine-city tour of the state, including all five of IU’s extension schools, plus four other locations. The fact Notre Dame Stadium — the site of Indiana’s last football loss, on Dec. 20, 2024 — sat exactly three miles away from the bus emblazoned with “Indiana Football Undefeated 16-0” was just low-hanging narrative. No one wearing crimson and cream seemed to care much about their celebration’s proximity to the Fighting Irish nor the college football in-state rivalry that isn’t one, at least not yet.
Indiana and Notre Dame have played just twice since 1958, including the opening game of the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff, which the Irish won 27-17. Notre Dame went all the way to the national championship game that season. The next year, Indiana went one step further, while Notre Dame was the first team left out of the field. The Hoosiers are scheduled to return to South Bend in 2030, with the Irish set to play in Bloomington in 2031.
Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman claimed not to know the trophies were coming to his backyard this week, even though he had reason to pull for Indiana in the championship game because of starting center Pat Coogan, a Hoosiers captain who was a multi-year starter for the Irish. And that’s probably fine. It’s not like Indiana coach Curt Cignetti would have the trophies’ itinerary posted on his office wall. Cute coincidence? Sure. Intentional troll? Hardly.
“Notre Dame has won plenty of trophies,” said IU fan Jason Cook, a high school teacher from Mishawaka, Ind. “So it’s good to share the shine. Just as long as it’s anybody but Purdue.”
Jeff and Kelly Kronemeyer of Elkhart waited a half hour to get photos with the complete set of trophies: the AFCA Coaches’ crystal football, the College Football Playoff trophy, the Rose Bowl, Peach Bowl and Big Ten Championship Game trophies, the Heisman Trophy and the Old Oaken Bucket, which goes to the winner of the annual game between Indiana and Purdue. Thursday happened to be Jeff’s birthday, and his wife Kelly is a Notre Dame fan. He wore a “Indiana Beat Everybody” T-shirt in red. She wore “I Married Into This” in white.
“I’ll give it to him,” Kelly said. “I just want the Indiana teams to win.”
The Kronemeyers didn’t make it to a game in Bloomington last season, which is sort of the point of the tour. Football as must-watch programming is still new at Indiana. And with the nation’s largest living alumni base at more than 800,000 — former Indiana alumni association chairman Christopher Craft is an IUSB graduate with a Notre Dame MBA — the ramp-up of that demand has been steep.
Craft was one of the lucky ones, attending the Rose Bowl and the national championship game last season. He also attended the “Catholics vs. Convicts” game at Notre Dame while in grad school. He wore a custom Mendoza jersey to this event, taking pictures with the trophies he watched Cignetti hold last season. The seven trophies at IUSB were genuine articles, not replicas, which was part of the reason fans weren’t supposed to touch them.
“To see the trophies that they won at those games, it extends the experience,” Craft said. “I’m still savoring it and enjoying it. It’s going to be that way for decades.”
Chris Luchene, who covered Hoosiers football as an IU student, came to the ceremony in South Bend to see the 2025 season’s hardware firsthand. (Courtesy of Chris Luchene)
There were blips of green among the crimson and cream, but hardly enough to make an impression. Freeman downplayed the idea of the scene carrying any larger meaning, as if seeing a bunch of really happy people would give the Irish any more fuel for 2026 than getting snubbed from the same College Football Playoff did.
“For us it doesn’t matter,” Freeman said Wednesday. “Now, you did challenge me a little bit to how I can use it as motivation. Maybe I’ll go back to my office and think about this? I’m always looking for ways to motivate the guys.”
Still, Tim Fox of Mishawaka showed up with a Notre Dame jacket and a Indiana hat. He’s a season ticket holder for Notre Dame women’s basketball and got pictures with the Irish’s Sugar and Orange Bowl trophies at a game last season. He’ll be at the Blue-Gold Game later this month and attended three Notre Dame football home games last season.
“Growing up, I would watch the Notre Dame replays with Lindsey Nelson, then the Lee Corso show would come on,” Fox said. “Even though I’m a huge Notre Dame fan, I feel like IU won it for Lee Corso. When is something like this ever going to happen again?
“We already got 11 of them. This is a first. And anytime anyone beats Miami, I’m happy.”
