There are a lot of teams that are major threats to Georgia and Kirby Smart and their reign as the best college football program in the country. Many of those teams reside in the SEC as programs like Alabama, Texas and LSU are a few teams who could surpass Georgia as the No. 1 program in the country.
There are also a few teams elsewhere in the country like Ohio State, Oregon, Notre Dame and even Clemson who regularly challenge Georgia as well. Unfortunately there is a new team on the block who is as big of a threat as anyone to knocking Georgia off of their pedestal, and that team is the Indiana Hoosiers who no one ever expected to ever be a serious threat to the Bulldogs.
BREAKING: Indiana and Curt Cignetti have agreed to a new 8-year, $11.6 million contract through Nov. 30, 2033💰https://t.co/VsLi1aUwiF pic.twitter.com/7evCnGCzK3
— On3 (@On3sports) October 16, 2025
Indiana is here to stay after extending Curt Cignetti
Indiana is a team that came out of nowhere last season. The Hoosiers finished the season at 11-2 which included a College Football Playoff appearance that ended in a first round loss at Notre Dame.
Indiana however had a very easy schedule last year and lost to the two good teams they played all season, so this prevented fans from around the country from giving them their flowers. But that has quickly changed this season as Indiana just went on the road last week and beat Oregon 30-20. Wins don't get much better than that, so the Hoosiers finally showed that they are a legit program who can defeat the best teams in the country.
Head coach Curt Cignetti is a big reason for Indiana's recent success, and the Hoosiers did what any program in their place should do by signing him to a massive extension. This new contract makes him one of the highest paid coaches in the country at $11.6 million for the next eight years.
The good news for Georgia is that they won't ever have to face Indiana in the regular season. But the Hoosiers likely won't be going anywhere as long as Cignetti is their head coach, so Georgia should expect to see Indiana in the College Football Playoff at some point. And if they are beating teams like Oregon on the road by 10 points, then they are a legit threat that Georgia has to take seriously going forward.