ATLANTA — They came from Bloomington wearing their purple, as well as from Indianapolis and Evansville. Hell, if anyone from French Lick, Toad Hop or Slabtown attended Indiana University, they were probably also at Mercedes-Benz Stadium Friday night, reveling in the program’s defining matchup that was the 2026 Peach Bowl.
The announced attendance for Indiana’s 56-22 win over Oregon on Friday night was 75,604, and it looked like at least 74,000 of them were cheering for the Hoosiers. Aside from a thin corner near the tunnel leading to the Oregon locker room, virtually the entire circumference of the stadium was clad in purple and joined in the deafening “Hoo-hoo-hoo-Hoosiers!” sing all night.
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“I thought it was just the red seats,” Oregon quarterback Dante Moore said. I sighed after the match“but those were the Indiana fans.”
He wasn’t wrong. Indiana fans covered Atlanta in a sea of crimson – the other school that uses the term lost its use last week in Pasadena – and the result was glorious to see. From the airport to the stadium, to the Waffle Houses and along Peachtrees, Indiana fans flooded the city, raving about cheering their team to a national championship berth.
Mercedes-Benz Stadium has hosted a Super Bowl, national championship games and a Metallica concert, but on Friday night they all might have been outdone in terms of decibels. The assembled crowd was already at jet engine volume to start the game, then D’Angelo Ponds’ pick six on the very first play of the game nearly blew the retractable roof off the joint.
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“The crowd had a fantastic impact,” Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza said. “Thank you Hoosier Nation for being here.”
He then recounted the previous road clash between these two teams. “We played in Week 5 at Autzen Stadium. I think I probably had five or six penalties before the snap (because of crowd noise).”
“Seven,” Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti interjected.
“Seven penalties before the snap,” Mendoza laughed. “It’s huge. Above all, it’s one of the ways you can lose a game. Not having to do a silent count because of Hoosier Nation being there — and having them do a silent count — is a huge aspect of the game and the offensive operation that doesn’t get talked about enough.” Earlier, Moore pointed out that the Ducks had to abandon their verbal signals because of the noise in the stadium.
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“Having the other team do a silent count,” Mendoza said, “I mean, that might as well explain some points.” Hell, everything else has been good for Indiana.
The night was, for Indiana, a spectacular environment – Bloomington South, Hoosier meets Chattahoochee. And that’s surely because until a few months ago, no one in human history had ever positively connected the words “Indiana football” and “national championship” in the same sentence. Indiana fans will travel for the duration of this year’s playoffs, yes, but how many more seasons will they do that?
Want proof? Remember that little burst of green and yellow? Oregon hasn’t won a national championship yet, it’s true, but its fans have become accustomed to playoff appearances. If the Ducks had reached the title game, it’s likely that the Oregon faithful would have made up a larger percentage of the crowd…but then, that’s really the issue here, right? Forcing a team’s fans to travel to three or even four neutral-site games during a playoff series is an awful lot to ask of a fan base.
Friday night’s game provided another reason why as many playoff games as possible should be held on campus, not in NFL stadiums. The atmosphere at MBS was drastically different from any NFL game – up to and including the Super Bowl – taking place there, but that’s the standard volume, intensity and juice for a Power 4 college football home game. And if you don’t think the pulse of a stadium also impacts the home viewing experience, well, you’ve clearly forgotten what it was like to watch games in an empty stadium in the COVID era.
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Opinions solicited from a number of giddy Indiana fans after the victory were split on whether a semifinal game should be played at a neutral — or, in this case, “neutral” — site. “I don’t know, it’s fun to travel,” said IU alumna Karen Smith of Cincinnati as she waited for Mendoza to pass nearby for an appearance on ESPN.
“Bloomington is just special,” replied Sally Berghoff of Chicago, who attended the game with nearly a dozen family members, all IU alumni. “Memorial Stadium needs a little work, but we would sell it.”
Of course, money rules in college football, and money dictates that games must be hosted in the nation’s greatest sporting cathedrals. But at the very least, every higher seed deserves a home playoff game, and two would be even better. Give the sponsors their airtime, the conference fat cats their suites, and the alumni their home game, and everyone leaves happier. Well, unless you’re Oregon in this scenario.
Indiana’s experience in Atlanta was notable for its intensity and exuberance Friday night. This should be the norm in every possible playoff game from now on.
