ATLANTA — The train horn at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, a tribute to this city’s railroad origins, sounded just 11 seconds into Friday night’s College Football Playoff semifinal. It was a fitting opening for an Indiana team that has spent the season barreling toward history with the force and inevitability of a locomotive.

In a stunning display of dominance, the Hoosiers dismantled Oregon 56-22 in the Peach Bowl, advancing to the national championship game on January 19 with a performance so comprehensive it has reshaped the narrative around this program. Once defined by decades of futility, Indiana now stands one win from completing perhaps the greatest single-season turnaround in college football history.

Oregon, which had lost by just 10 points to Indiana in the regular season, was overwhelmed from the start. On the game’s first play, cornerback D’Angelo Ponds intercepted a pass and returned it for a touchdown, setting a tone of ruthless efficiency. By halftime, the Hoosiers led 35-7, drawing comparisons to the legendary 2019 LSU team for their sheer, unanswerable dominance.

“They’re complete,” Oregon coach Dan Lanning conceded. “There’s not a weakness in their game.”

The victory was Indiana’s seventh this season by 30 or more points against FBS competition. It followed a decisive Big Ten championship win over Ohio State and a Rose Bowl rout of Alabama, cementing the Hoosiers as a machine built not on blue-chip recruiting rankings but on precision, belief, and cohesive execution.

Head coach Curt Cignetti, who has engineered this two-year transformation, dismissed any notion of his team being a fluke. “A lot of people really don't know our team,” he said. “They don't know what we're made of.”

Player for player, the upcoming title game opponent, Miami, will tout superior measurables and draft stock. But so did Oregon and Alabama, who were outscored by a combined 69 points in these playoffs. Indiana’s philosophy is simple and relentless. “Our philosophy is to attack,” Cignetti stated.

As the final seconds ticked away in Atlanta, the celebration was subdued—a team treating a semifinal blowout as a mere step toward its ultimate goal. “I don’t think there’s any time to celebrate because this is what everybody dreams of,” said quarterback Fernando Mendoza.

The journey that began at Terminus—Atlanta’s original name—now heads to Miami. The Indiana Hoosiers, once the epitome of a college football afterthought, are one stop away from the end of a historic line.