With under 11 minutes remaining in the third quarter of the Peach Bowl, Oregon trailed Indiana football 35-7. The Hoosiers were driving, and Oregon needed to flip the momentum quickly. Redshirt junior quarterback Fernando Mendoza evaded the pocket on a 3rd-and-7 and ran past the first down marker, before attempting to spin out of an incoming tackle.
Oregon redshirt senior defensive back Jadon Canady punched the ball away from Mendoza, potentially setting up the Ducks’ urgently needed break. Luckily for Mendoza and the Hoosiers, redshirt senior offensive lineman Pat Coogan pounced on the football first. Indiana went on to score its sixth touchdown of the game, securing its first national championship berth in program history.
Indiana football head coach Curt Cignetti said Coogan recovering the fumble “didn’t surprise” him during media availability Monday.
“Pat Coogan’s a winner,” Cignetti said. “And we've got a lot of guys like Pat Coogan. But he's been a great addition. Played a lot of football at Notre Dame. We needed a center. He saw the opportunity. He's been key to the development of the offensive line, one of the leaders on our football team.”
Since transferring to Indiana from the University of Notre Dame in the offseason, Coogan has been the heart of Indiana’s offensive line throughout the season –– one that has helped produce 400 rushing yards across its two College Football Playoff games.
Coogan earned Rose Bowl offensive MVP honors for his efforts up front against the University of Alabama. The center getting down field and jumping on the football was yet another display of his continued leadership that has powered a dominant unit up front.
Now, Coogan and the Hoosiers face possibly their most difficult test up front against the University of Miami on college football’s biggest stage –– the national championship.
The Hurricanes boast one of the top defensive lines in the nation, headlined by the edge-rusher duo of junior Rueben Bain Jr. and sixth-year redshirt senior Akheem Mesidor.
Bain, a Walter Camp Football Foundation First Team All-American, has wreaked havoc on opposing offensive lines in the CFP so far. The projected top-10 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft recorded three sacks in the Hurricanes’ first-round victory over Texas A&M University.
Meanwhile, Mesidor leads the team with 10.5 sacks on the season and collected two sacks in Miami’s quarterfinal matchup against Ohio State.
The Hurricanes rank first in the nation with 47 team sacks heading into the national championship, while dominating teams in the trenches during their CFP run. Miami limited Texas A&M to just 89 total rushing yards and three points before holding Ohio State to just 45 ground yards.
“They are very physical, very violent,” Coogan said Tuesday. “They are special players, especially on the outside, and it's not like their interior drops off at all, either. Just all across the board, really talented players. The physical attributes are there, and they maximize their physical attributes.”
On the interior, the Hurricanes rotate the trio of fifth-year senior David Blay Jr., junior Ahmad Moten Sr. and sophomore Justin Scott. All three utilize their large frames to clog the middle, making it difficult to run against.
Miami’s defense is led by defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman –– a name familiar to Cignetti. Hetherman served as Cignetti’s defensive coordinator at James Madison University from 2019-2021, where he led the program to three consecutive top-10 finishes among Football Championship Subdivision programs in total defense.
In 2021, Hetherman was named the American Football Coaches Association FCS Assistant Coach of the Year after leading the Dukes to the top scoring defense in their conference.
While Cignetti and Hetherman have not coached together since 2021, the duo’s defensive philosophy remains unchanged.
“Now, philosophically, you know, in terms of what we think is important, him and I, that hasn't changed,” Cignetti said Monday. “He's going to create havoc up front, stop the run, TFLs, sacks. They got 47 sacks on the year. And he's going to attack.”
Despite the difficult matchup, and perhaps its toughest of the season, Indiana will not stray away from the style of play that has propelled it to the No. 1 seed in the CFP –– protecting the quarterback and running the football.
“I think that is just an absolute key emphasis for us this week to protect the quarterback and obviously run the ball,” Coogan said Tuesday. “That's part of who we are and our DNA.”
Follow reporters Conor Banks (@Conorbanks06 and conbanks@iu.edu) and Dalton James (@DaltonMJames and jamesdm@iu.edu) and columnist Quinn Richards (@Quinn_richa and qmrichar@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana football season.
