Perhaps fans enjoying Indiana University’s astonishing football success the most are the ones who stayed loyal during the team’s lowest ebbs. Bert Brougham is one of those; he’s been going to IU games since the mid-1970s, recalling many seasons when victories were in short supply.
“That was the shocking thing about Indiana football,” says the 1991 IU alumnus who owns Flair Molded Plastics in Evansville. “You kept going and never really expected them to be better. (Our team was) always bad, and we always went. … My parents had season tickets.”
This season, it’s a new era in IU football, one that even the most dedicated fans wondered would happen. Jan. 19, the No. 1 Hoosiers make their College Football Playoff national championship debut, facing the No. 10 University of Miami Hurricanes in the South Florida city’s Hard Rock Stadium — incidentally, the Hurricanes’ home field. Many area IU fans made trips to the quarter- and semifinals — Jan. 1’s Rose Bowl win over Alabama in Pasadena, California, and the Jan. 9 Peach Bowl triumph against Oregon in Atlanta, Georgia — and Brougham, plus fellow Evansvillian Rick Schach, is among local fans completing the playoff trifecta.
Brougham is traveling south with his wife, Chicca, a 1992 graduate who used to perform with the IU RedStepper Dance Team. The Broughams’ three sons also are IU educated: In terms of IU alums, “we’re five for five,” Brougham says.
The whole family attended the 124-year-old Rose Bowl, which Brougham calls “one the favorite sporting experiences of my life. You could feel the history of the event all around you.” At the game, “the people who sat next to us were our old neighbors, and the people in front of us were from Newburgh,” he says. A week later, Brougham and middle son Nico joined the sea of cream and crimson at the Peach Bowl, where they saw more familiar faces as the Hoosiers trounced the University of Oregon. “Our hotel was full of Evansville people,” Brougham says.
For the national title contest in Miami, it’s date night for Brougham and his wife. He notes the escalating ticket prices for each round of the playoff, but he’s spending from a fund set aside for a hopeful trip by the IU basketball team to the NCAA’s Final Four — the Hoosiers’ most recent appearance was in 2002.
Brougham reports that IU fans dominated the stands at the Peach Bowl. He’s hopeful that second-year head coach Curt Cignetti’s squad can wrap up its undefeated championship season. Either way, it’s been quite a journey for those who, like Bert, backed IU during eras when Big Ten or national conference titles seemed impossible. “I’ve got 50 years of non-believing,” he says with a laugh.
Vectren Corp. retiree and longtime fan Rick Schach can relate — and he’ll also be at the national title game after attending the Rose and Peach Bowls with his wife, Susie, and more family members. “I’ve been an IU fan for 40 years, and we haven’t spent a lot of money on bowl games, so we were saving it for now,” he says.
Like the Broughams, the Schach family also has enjoyed the Hoosiers’ unprecedented football success. IU fans “were probably 80 percent of the Rose Bowl, 90 percent of the Peach Bowl, and I’m anxious to see what we run into in Miami,” Schach says.
An epic Peach Bowl moment, Schach recalls, was defensive back D’Angelo Ponds’ interception return for a touchdown early in the game. From their seats near the endzone, “It was coming right at us,” Schach says. “It was loud in there. Crazy. Like a home game.”
RE/MAX Commercial Real Estate Broker Mike Richardson and his wife, Jami, also will be in the stands in Miami. The timing worked out perfectly for the Richardsons, who already planned to be in South Florida on vacation. Scheduled to fly back home the day of the game, they delayed their return trip so they could cheer on the Hoosiers in person.
Richardson attended the Rose Bowl with friends and caught the rain-drenched Rose Parade from a prime and dry spot. “We had some buddies with a hotel overlooking the parade route,” he says. He and Jami, both IU graduates, missed the Peach Bowl but with good reason: They were in Saint Louis, Missouri, caring for their young grandson, Joey, so Joey’s parents, Meg and Joe Jedlicka (also IU alums) could attend the game in Atlanta. “It killed me (to not make the Peach Bowl),” Richardson says, “but we had a good excuse.”
Planning to catch the game in the Hoosiers’ home state? The 2026 College Football Playoff national championship airs Jan. 19 at 6:30 p.m. Central on ESPN and streams on the ESPN app.
