IU Fan Turns Down Big Money, Passes CFP Title Tickets To Hoosiers: 'I Want Others To Experience This Joy'

Which one is worth more to you: money or karma?

Sixteen years ago, when OutKick reader Jennifer Land decided to start buying Indiana Hoosiers football season tickets as a way to improve her basketball season tickets, she had no idea what the college football gods were cooking up. 

Over the weekend, after her Hoosiers destroyed Oregon in the Peach Bowl, Land learned she won the IU CFP championship lottery. Four tickets. Lower level. Really, really good seats. Valuable seats. We're talking seats where the Miami OnlyFans models and YouTube influencers would love to sit. 

READ: Ticket Prices For Miami-Indiana College Football National Championship Game Are Already Breaking Records

Jennifer Land spent 13 years on the Indiana football season ticket list until a guy named Curt Cignetti came along and changed the trajectory of college football for a basketball school. (Photo by John Adams/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Jennifer decided right then and there that Hurricanes fans weren't touching her coveted tickets. No sale. She's playing the karma long game. 

"I am not a 'rich fan," Land, a 1994 IU grad of the business school, wrote on Twitter. "I have been a season ticket holder for many years. Loyalty pays off, remember that kids," she added. 

That loyalty included seasons like 2011 when the Hoosiers started off with a loss to in-state rival Ball State. Two weeks later, IU would beat South Carolina State of the MEAC. It was their only win of the season. 

But, Jennifer stayed loyal. She kept collecting those basketball season ticket points via her football season tickets and the years just kept piling up. There were 4-8 seasons. There were 6-7 seasons under Kevin Wilson and Tom Allen that felt like historic achievements. There was a Pinstripe Bowl and an Outback Bowl. There was even a Gator Bowl after an 8-4 season. 

And then along comes NIL and an unknown wordsmith named Curt Cignetti — "All we do is win. Google me," he told members of the media at his IU introductory press conference — and the rest is history. 

What would you do if $15,000 — or more — was sitting on the table testing your IU loyalty?

How do you go viral within the Hoosier community these days? Just announce that you're doing the right thing with your national championship tickets. Jennifer's going to Miami, but she'll use one of the four tickets.

"I have friends that are the recipients of my kindness," Land told OutKick. "I believe in Karma and I just can’t overcharge for something like this. Call me dumb but I hope someone helps me out one day, as well."

The recipient of Jennifer's kindness is her boss's son and two of his friends. In order to pay for her trip, fees and costs associated with being a season ticket holder, Jennifer admits she did sell the tickets over face value, but just by a couple of hundred dollars, which is nothing compared to the $5,000 per ticket it costs right now to sit in the lower bowl. She'll pay off some fees and costs associated with the trip and that will be that.

(Jennifer Land, a 1994 IU grad, started buying football season tickets when the program was at its lowest point. Now, she's going to Miami for the national championship.  / via Jennifer Land)

"If you sell online, you don’t know if you’re selling to a Miami fan or somebody who’s just going to resell them," Jennifer said. "I want another IU fan to experience this joy."

With her karma bucket loaded up, Jennifer is all set for Miami. She'll arrive Saturday, head to the pool, probably suck down a couple of cold ones and then do it all over Sunday before Monday's extravaganza. 

For Land, this is a culmination of a long love affair she's had with IU sports. 

("You don’t know if you’re selling them to a Miami fan… I just want somebody else to experience this joy," Land said of her extra tickets to the national title game.  / via Jennifer Land)

"I was 16 when Indiana basketball won its last national championship. That was great—but I never thought in a million years I’d see Indiana football do something like this. It’s crazy," she continued.

"I get season tickets for moments like this. I’ve paid for years to have the chance at an opportunity like this.