Brandon Walker warns against counting out Indiana, says Hoosiers have ‘figured out this era of college football’

The Indiana Hoosiers surprised a lot of pundits and analysts last season when they ran the table to become the undefeated national champions despite a general lack of blue-chip talent. Now, heading into the 2026 season, the Hoosiers still aren’t getting a lot of love even as the defending national champs, and Brandon Walker of Barstool Sports thinks that’s a mistake.

Indiana checked in at just No. 6 in the preseason AP Poll, receiving just eight first-place votes from the media even though the Hoosiers haven’t lost a game since December of 2024. Instead, members of the media have been favoring teams like Ohio State and Oregon, seemingly believing that Indiana’s national championship run last year won’t be repeated.

Walker, however, does not think the media should be snubbing Indiana with their preseason projections.

“People have convinced themselves that Indiana can’t go back-to-back. And the more I think about it, why?” Walker said during a recent appearance on The Rich Eisen Show.

“People have convinced themselves Indiana can’t go back-to-back. And the more about it, why?”@BFW questions why people don’t believe in Indiana

(via @richeisenshow) pic.twitter.com/Q0dltx8L8a

— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) August 28, 2026

Walker believes that Indiana has cracked the code to success in the transfer portal and NIL era of college football.

“They have an organization – a coaching staff – that figured out this era of college football better than anybody in the world,” Walker said. “They get veteran, experienced guys and keep them in the program. They have offensive and defensive coordinator continuity through every season. They’ve got the same guys, the same coaches, the same development. And now they’re bringing back 90 percent of their defense from last year.”

There obviously has been some roster turnover, particularly at the game’s most important position. Walker acknowledges that, but he also points out that Indiana filled the quarterback position with a transfer player last year, so there’s no reason why they couldn’t do that again this year.

“They’re changing from Fernando Mendoza – No. 1 overall pick, Heisman winner – it’s our natural inclination when you lose a guy like that to say, ‘Well, they can’t be as good.’ But they got him off the transfer portal buffet. Why can’t they go back to the buffet and get another delicious quarterback?” Walker questioned. “That’s what a buffet is – you keep going back and getting food.”

The Hoosiers added former TCU Horned Frogs quarterback Josh Hoover out of the transfer portal back in January to replace Mendoza, who was selected by the Las Vegas Raiders with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. Walker sees no reason why he couldn’t pick up right where Mendoza left off.

“I think Josh Hoover is somebody who could be a delicious quarterback,” Walker said.

Walker is right that Indiana has not been getting much love from the media when it comes to preseason projections and national title predictions. The reality is that Indiana’s 2025 national championship run was so unprecedented given its roster breakdown that replicating that success the following season after some significant roster turnover feels like quite a tall task.

But the media has been collectively wrong about the Hoosiers before. And Walker thinks there’s a real chance that they could be wrong again.

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