There is no doubt that experience matters in college football. In an era of constantly evolving eligibility standards, players as old as 23 or 24 on competitive rosters are not too uncommon.
As football fans try to figure out how Curt Cignetti and Indiana have built an elite roster after years of irrelevance, one theory has surfaced: age.
Some have pointed to Indiana's wealth of experience as one explanation for the Hoosiers' championship-level success, which came out of nowhere over the last two years. Is there are legitimacy to the claim that Indiana is simply older than everyone else?
Here's what you need to know about Indiana's average age and how it compares to the NFL's youngest team.
MORE: Meet Fernando Mendoza's family tree, including his backup QB brother
Indiana football roster age
As Indiana tore through Alabama and Oregon to reach the national championship game, a narrative that the Hoosiers were so successful because they had an average roster age of 23 spread like wildfire.
Indiana absolutely has an experienced team, but any word of an average age of a college football roster should be taken with a grain of salt. Most players' exact ages and birthdays are not available, making talk of an "average age" of a roster with about 100 players just guesswork — particularly when only 22 of them are regular starters.
What we can look at is experience level, and experience level proves Indiana has plenty of it, even if an average roster age of 23 is pretty unlikely.
Here's a look at which year each Indiana starter is, including injured defensive lineman Stephen Daley:
| Position | Player | Year |
| QB | Fernando Mendoza | Redshirt junior |
| RB | Roman Hemby | Redshirt senior |
| WR | Omar Cooper Jr. | Redshirt junior |
| WR | Elijah Sarratt | Redshirt senior |
| WR | Charlie Becker | Sophomore |
| TE | Riley Nowakowski | Redshirt senior |
| OT | Carter Smith | Redshirt junior |
| OT | Adedamola Ajani | Redshirt freshman |
| OG | Drew Evans | Redshirt junior |
| OG | Bray Lynch | Redshirt junior |
| C | Pat Coogan | Redshirt senior |
| DE | Mikail Kamara | Redshirt senior |
| DE | Stephen Daley | Senior |
| DT | Tyrique Tucker | Redshirt junior |
| DT | Mario Landino | Sophomore |
| LB | Rolijah Hardy | Sophomore |
| LB | Aiden Fisher | Senior |
| CB | Jamari Sharpe | Redshirt junior |
| CB | D'Angelo Ponds | Junior |
| NB | Devan Boykin | Redshirt senior |
| S | Amare Ferrell | Junior |
| S | Louis Moore | Redshirt senior |
MORE: Inside the special moment Curt Cignetti will never forget
Sixteeen of Indiana's regular 22 starters are playing their fourth or fifth season at the collegiate level. WR E.J. Williams, who is fourth on the team in receiving yards, is actually in his sixth season of college football.
How does that compare to Miami? 15 of the Hurricanes' regular 22 starters are playing out at least their fourth season at the collegiate level, including sixth-year QB Carson Beck, who is 11 months older than Fernando Mendoza. It's worth noting, though, that four of Miami's biggest contributors are not among that group, as EDGE Rueben Bain Jr., OT Francis Mauigoa, RB Mark Fletcher Jr. And WR Malachi Toney have all played three or fewer years.
The average Indiana starter has 3.86 years of experience, or roughly the level of experience of a traditional fourth-year senior who would be in the range of 22 years old. 15 of the 22 starters have a redshirt season in their past, meaning they sat back and watched at some point in their careers, whether due to injury or simply inexperience. The average age of Indiana's roster is likely younger than the average age of the Hoosiers' starters, as Cignetti has seven true freshman on the depth chart in a reserve role.
The average Miami starter has 3.91 years of experience. That's actually a touch higher than Indiana, thanks to nine redshirt seniors, and it should put the idea of an experience advantage for the Hoosiers in the national championship game to rest.
MORE: What to know about Fernando Mendoza's mom's fight against MS
Indiana football age vs. Packers
An evaluation by PhillyVoice at the start of the 2025 NFL season found that the Green Bay Packers were the NFL's youngest team with an average age of 25.2 on their 53-man roster.
Unlike at the collegiate level, an NFL team's roster age can be definitively determined. All players tend to have their birthdays publicly listed by the team, whereas college football programs generally do not make birthdays available for each player.
If Indiana had an average roster age of 23, that would make the Hoosiers only two years younger than the Packers, who reached the playoffs this season. More likely, Indiana's average age among starters is closer to 22, which still leaves a comfortable gap with the Packers even if Cignetti's team does rely heavily on experience.