INDIANAPOLIS — The stakes couldn’t have been higher inside Lucas Oil Stadium on Saturday night.
Whether it was the Heisman Trophy, the Big Ten Championship, the top overall seed in the College Football Playoff or a program-defining victory, Indiana football had everything to play for against Ohio State in Indianapolis.
But after just one play, it all nearly slipped from the Hoosiers’ grasp. Although redshirt junior quarterback Fernando Mendoza found senior receiver Elijah Sarratt for a nine-yard gain on the first play from scrimmage, Ohio State senior defensive end Caden Curry leveled Mendoza.
With Mendoza lying face down on the field, the crowd inside Lucas Oil Stadium went silent. The game wasn’t supposed to go this way — one of the Heisman favorites going down with an injury.
But after one play on the sidelines, Mendoza bounced back, finishing 15 for 23 for 222 yards passing with a touchdown and an interception in the Hoosiers’ 13-10 victory over the Buckeyes on Saturday.
“It's a great win, obviously,” Cignetti said postgame. “And we're going to go in the playoffs as the No. 1 seed. And a lot of people probably thought that wasn't possible. But when you get the right people and you have a plan and they love one another and play for one another and they commit, anything's possible.”
Curt Cignetti didn’t see Curry’s shot on Mendoza. Instead, he was assessing the Buckeyes’ coverage. But someone on the head coach’s headset alerted him that Mendoza was down.
“Oh boy,” Cignetti recalled thinking.
While fans collectively held their breath, the Hoosiers had no doubt Mendoza would respond.
Redshirt senior running back Roman Hemby said postgame what he wanted to do when he saw his quarterback sprawl on the field. First, make sure Mendoza was OK. Second, check to make sure Curry didn’t deliver a dirty hit.
But lastly, Hemby wanted to rally the Hoosiers because if Mendoza had missed extended time, his squad would’ve implemented the patented “next man up” mentality.
Kaelon Black’s thoughts when Mendoza went down were simple.
“For me, shake back,” Black, a sixth-year senior running back, said. “He's got this. He's a warrior. He was able to shake back, and we were just happy to have him back for the rest of the game.”
Sophomore receiver Charlie Becker, who emerged in the latter half of the season as another key weapon for Mendoza, had no doubts in the 6-foot-5, 225-pound quarterback.
“Fernando's a really tough guy,” Becker said. “He's really strong and resilient, so I knew that he was going to get back up and fight for his team.”
With all this on the Hoosiers’ minds, Cignetti saw the replay. He realized it appeared Mendoza had the wind knocked out of him, and that’s what he confirmed to Indiana’s staff.
Mendoza missed just one play before trotting back onto the field.
“He takes some shots and he extends plays,” Cignetti said. “And can't say enough about the way he competes. He’s got the heart of a champion and played great tonight and when we needed him.”
The Hoosiers were ultimately forced to punt at the end of their first drive. But after they picked off Ohio State sophomore quarterback Julian Sayin, the Cream and Crimson were set up deep in Buckeyes territory. However, they couldn’t convert the advantage into a touchdown and instead settled for a field goal.
Mendoza tossed his lone interception of the contest on Indiana’s ensuing possession, as he tried to find Sarratt on a screen pass. Ohio State turned its field-position advantage into a touchdown to take a 7-3 lead.
Over the Hoosiers’ next two drives, Mendoza led the offense — the first covering 54 yards in five plays and the second spanning 61 yards in 14 plays. However, redshirt sophomore Nico Radicic missed a field goal after the first drive and made one to end the second.
Although Indiana trailed by four points at the break, it forced Ohio State to punt on its first second-half possession. Then, the Hoosiers went 88 yards in just seven plays. Mendoza found Sarratt on a third-down fade route for a 17-yard touchdown — the eventual game-winner.
While Indiana led, Mendoza still delivered “dimes,” Cignetti said. On a third and 6 with just over two minutes left, the Hoosiers had a decision on their hands. Instead of opting to run the ball to ensure erasing time off the clock, Indiana called a pass play.
And Mendoza found Becker down the near sideline for a 33-yard gain, which allowed the Hoosiers to run all but 18 seconds off the clock.
“We were playing to win,” Cignetti said of the call. “... We had to give our guys an opportunity to make plays. We were getting on top of them at certain points in that game, and Fernando was throwing great deep balls. And it was a great play.”
Indiana, which was tested three times in the waning moments of games this season against Iowa, then-No. 3 Oregon and Penn State, had confidence in crunch time.
“When you've been through something one time, you're a lot better the second time,” Cignetti said.
When the clock struck zero, Indiana did what was unthinkable when Cignetti was hired: win the Big Ten Championship.
But it’s more than just a victory. It’s a program-defining win — one that cemented Indiana’s spot at No. 1 in the College Football Playoff bracket.
And it almost certainly cemented Mendoza’s case for the Heisman Trophy. The Miami native knew what was on the line Saturday. So, he was “never” going to stay down on the field and miss what he helped turn into what one could argue was the biggest win in the program’s history.
“I say it, and I know it could be a little interpreted as a little cringy sometimes, but I will die for my brothers on that field,” Mendoza said. “So, no matter whether it's a gut punch, whether it's a head punch, whatever it is, I'm always going to get back up.”
Follow reporters Dalton James (@DaltonMJames and jamesdm@iu.edu) and Conor Banks (@Conorbanks06 and conbanks@iu.edu) and columnist Quinn Richards (@Quinn_richa and qmrichar@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana football season.
