CRAWFORD | Lights. Camera. Cignetti. Indiana arrives in Miami for national championship | Sports

MIAMI, Fla. (WDRB) — Indiana football touched down in Miami on Friday night and the world tilted just a little on its axis.

A DJ on the tarmac. A two-man brass accompaniment blaring away like the welcome wagon at Mardi Gras. A fleet of buses dressed up in Hoosier red, plastered with the IU emblem and the 2026 College Football Playoff national championship logo.

Somewhere in the distance, the Rose Bowl was still echoing. But this? This was different. This wasn’t Pasadena sunshine and old-money pageantry. This was neon. This was flashbulbs. This was Miami, where the palm trees flex like linebackers and the air smells like cologne and capitalism.

Curt Cignetti was the first man off the plane. Of course he was. He looked like a man who had just been asked to host the Oscars against his will. ESPN’s Holly Rowe greeted him on the tarmac, mic in hand, cameras everywhere. He gave her what he had — a few words about preparation, about keeping the edge sharp, about wishing Monday night’s title game felt like a home game. But Cignetti doesn’t do hoopla. He does habits.

Behind him came the stars — Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza in a T-shirt and gold headphones, flanked by center Pat Coogan and receiver Elijah Sarratt. The Holy Trinity of this Indiana offense. One stoic. One stoic protector. One always open, even in South Beach traffic.

They looked loose. But that’s the thing about Indiana. They’ve made being out of place look perfectly normal. They've been the wedding guest who shows up in a crimson hoodie and ends up giving the toast.

This arrival wasn’t a scene out of Indiana football history. It was a scene out of someone else’s movie. Alabama’s, Georgia’s, Clemson’s. The football aristocracy. But here came Indiana, running onto the red carpet in sensible shoes.

There were 100 media members barricaded behind a cement barrier. Lights. Cameras. Cignetti. And somewhere in the din, someone asked how his team is handling all of this. The spectacle. The stage. The surrealism of it all.

“I think we’ve had a good week of preparation,” he said, as if this were Purdue Week in West Lafayette.

Of course, it isn’t. This is the College Football Playoff national championship. This is the last stop on a season that’s already rewritten every line of Indiana football lore in red Sharpie.

And this night — this airport welcome — was the latest reminder. The signs no longer say Welcome to Miami. They say Indiana, You’ve Arrived.