Indiana's rise to CFP final is a tale for our topsy-turvy times

If Rudy was a charming underdog story, the Hoosiers' worst-to-first ascent to college football's title game on Monday night is the stuff of science fiction

We are living in upside down times. Kim Kardashian advocates for prison reform as the American government spams out cartoonish memes promoting mass deportation and detention. Dave Chappelle - flaws aside - is more trusted to interpret the news than CBS's Tony Dokoupil. The selection committee behind college football's playoff somehow put together a compelling tournament without inciting the usual torrent of backlash, and the team raising the trophy at the end could well wind up being Indiana. And, no, that's not a typo.

In case it's unclear, Indiana is basketball country - the birthplace of Larry Bird, the home of the NBA's Pacers, the inspiration behind Gene Hackman's Hoosiers. Tier-one campus research, Bobby Knight's tempestuous hardwood reign, and Shark Tank's Mark Cuban are Indiana University's claims to fame; football rarely, if ever, entered the chat. Before the NFL's Colts snuck in from Baltimore and blended into Indiana's sports tapestry, Hoosiers fans spent football season rallying around Notre Dame, a national brand that happens to reside in-state, and saved their true colors for the college basketball tipoff.