There were parallels between late game 4th down decisions in Indiana’s first round College Football Playoff loss at Notre Dame a year ago, and the national championship game at Miami last week.
In both instances, IU coach Curt Cignetti had lost faith in at least some aspects of his offense.
The situation was more dire in South Bend, when Cignetti said he didn’t want to punt but felt he had no choice with the offense “doing nothing.”
With just over 10 minutes remaining, the Hoosiers faced a fourth-and-11 at the Notre Dame 48-yard line while trailing 20-3. Instead of going for it, Cignetti opted to punt. On the ensuing possession, Notre Dame burned six minutes off the clock and scored a touchdown to go up 27-3.
Game over. Season over.
While Cignetti never said he regretted that specific punt, he did eventually share regrets, including not going to a two-minute drill earlier to give his struggling offense a chance.
Fast forward a year, and Cignetti’s Hoosiers faced another late game 4th down in the national championship game against Miami.
The Hoosiers had already vanquished some demons to get to this point.
That loss last year at Notre Dame? The loss weeks earlier at Ohio State? Those were the games the skeptics would say were still above Indiana’s pay grade.
And one-by-one Cignetti’s 2025 Hoosiers silenced the doubters. Indiana handed Oregon its first home loss in three years, and then beat Ohio State, Alabama, and Oregon again to reach the national championship game.
But at the end of the first half on the game’s biggest stage, Cignetti appeared to have another moment he might end up regretting.
After Miami missed a field goal, Indiana took over at its own 32-yard line with 33 seconds remaining and two timeouts. That’s plenty of time to pick up at least 35 yards and get into field goal range.
As they had done several times throughout the season in similar situations, Indiana ran on first down. The Hoosiers picked up six yards. It was now 2nd and 4 at their own 38 with 27 second left. After picking up positive yards, the next step had always been to push the ball up the field through the air and attempt to steal some late points.
But conservative Curt Cignetti made a return, at least for a moment.
The Hoosiers let the clock keep running. Fernando Mendoza completed a pass to Charlie Becker at the 50-yard line, but only three seconds remained on the game clock by that point. Cignetti used a timeout then, but the Hoosiers only had time for a desperation heave into the end zone. It fell harmlessly to the ground.
Cignetti was clearly frustrated on the sideline. Perhaps he intended to take a timeout and there was a miscommunication?
In any event, it was an opportunity missed. And as the game tightened in the fourth quarter, points became precious. Would that missed opportunity come back to haunt IU?
With 14:57 left in the game, Indiana started a drive at its own 25. After a Miami score, the Hoosiers led just 17-14. IU’s once dominant defense suddenly couldn’t stop the Hurricanes.
The pressure was on Indiana to score — or at the very least move the ball and flip the field. Mendoza didn’t even complete a pass in the third quarter. The Hoosiers punted six times at Notre Dame in 2024, and they had punted three straight drives to open the second half against Miami.
Cignetti was beginning to doubt his offense, but the Hoosiers finally broke off some chunk plays.
Kaelon Black ran for 13 yards behind an extra offensive lineman. Omar Cooper, Jr. caught a short pass and turned it up the field for 18.
The drive stalled at the Miami 37. 4th-and-5. Just out of field goal range but well into Hurricane territory, Cignetti had a decision to make.
And it wasn’t as clear-cut as what the analytics might suggest.
Like at Notre Dame a year ago, Cignetti had major concerns about his offense. Miami’s defensive line was giving IU fits. The Hurricanes would end the game with 14 quarterback pressures on 32 drop backs — nearly half of the times Mendoza attempted to throw.
“We couldn’t throw it, we couldn’t protect,” Cignetti would say after the game.
Would Indiana go for it on fourth down? The ghosts of 2024 seemed to haunt Cignetti, as his hesitation in making the decision meant his personnel change was late getting on the field.
Timeout Indiana.
The circumstances weren’t exactly the same as South Bend. On this night in Miami Gardens, Fla., Cignetti was probably losing some degree of faith in his defense too. The idea of pinning Miami deep in its own territory with a punt had appeal, but with now just 11:28 remaining, IU might get the ball back trailing — with just a few minutes on the clock.
The player Cignetti and offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan got on the field for this fourth down was wide receiver Charlie Becker. The adjustment they made was to keep the running back and tight end in for added pass protection. And after Mendoza looked off the safety, he went to Becker for a sideline back shoulder route that picked up 19 yards.
The first big gamble paid off.
1st and 10 Indiana at the Miami 18.
But IU picked up just five yards on the next three plays, and once again, Cignetti found himself facing a major decision, with the national championship hanging in the balance.
Indiana led 17-14, now with just 9:27 remaining.
4th-and-5 at the Miami 12.
“You have to take the points,” several media members said in the press box.
Cignetti seemed to heed those calls. He ran the field goal team out to the field, but again, that personnel change came late as the head coach contemplated, and the ghosts of swirled.
Another Indiana timeout had to be called. Just one remained, with now who knows what was still to come.
This wasn’t just Notre Dame Cignetti was reliving now. Combined, he and his father Frank had made 21 NCAA Tournaments and three championship games. And they came up empty every time.
“There’s no way he’s going to go for it,” ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit said during the timeout.
But there would be no regrets a year later.
“We’re going for it!” Cignetti screamed.
The decision had the IU offensive line pumped up.
“He sent the kicking team out there and I was like ahhh, here we go again,” starting left tackle Carter Smith said. “And then Cignetti runs on the field as says ‘Get out, we’re going for it.’ And I was like ‘Let’s go! Let’s rally boys, let’s get out there!'”
“We’re out here. Cig believes in us, we believe in each. Let’s go rip it!” center Pat Coogan said.
But with Indiana unable to protect the quarterback, and in need of five yards, what play was going to work with the passing windows tighter on a shorter field?
Miami’s front was making life miserable for an Indiana team not accustomed to being challenged like this up front.
“Best defensive line I’ve ever played against,” Coogan said. “All the credit to Miami. That was a war. We knew it would be, but like, holy shit.”
Desperate times, meant desperate measures.
“We drew a few things up in the dirt there at the end on fourth down,” Cignetti said.
What they drew up, Indiana had used in another key moment, in the 4th quarter at Oregon, also with the game on the line. And it was something they had worked on extensively in the week leading up to the national championship.
The play call? Quarterback draw. Or as the IU players know it, just simply, and perfectly — “one.” Indiana ran play one to become No. 1 forever.
But first, Cignetti had to exercise some 4th down demons.
“That particular play didn’t feel really good about kicking a field goal there,” Cignetti said. “The play before they were in the coverage for the quarterback draw, which we put in specifically in the medium package in the low red against that look. We had to block a little different than we normally do, and that was about a 45-minute discussion in the staff room how we were going to call it and do it.”
“Coach Cig, he was the one who thought of that play in that moment,” offensive coordinator and play caller Mike Shanahan said.
“Great play call right there,” wideout Elijah Sarratt said. “Amazing play call.”
Mendoza had success running the football throughout his Heisman Trophy winning season. But that often came with some playful teasing from his teammates.
“I think everybody on the team including Coach makes fun of my running style,” Mendoza said. “But as long as it gets the job done, it’s 4th down, so no matter how you run, no matter what it is, you’ve got to put it all on the line, and that’s something I was willing to do.”
Indiana sent 11 personnel on the field. One running back (Kaelon Black) and one tight end (Riley Nowakowski) joined Mendoza, three wideouts, and five offensive linemen.
The play was designed for Mendoza to run to the left.
“You try to get everyone to the right so he can run to the left,” Coogan said.
But Mendoza didn’t like what he saw left, and he cut in front of Coogan’s block at the line of scrimmage and went right.
With a hat on a hat, Mendoza wasn’t touched by more than a finger or two until he lowered a shoulder into Miami linebacker Wesley Bissainthe at the 4-yard line. Yes, the same Wesley Bissainthe who knocked Mendoza out of a game in the fourth quarter a year earlier when Miami beat California.
“I just remember dropping back in the coverage, and I told myself in my head, if he runs, I’m going to make him pay for it,” Bissainthe recalled in the days leading up to the national championship of the play a year ago at Cal.
This time, Mendoza made Bissainthe pay.
“Fernando trucked the linebacker (Bissainthe),” Cignetti said.
It was more like a convoy.
With the play call and personnel well matched for Miami’s coverage, Indiana had two clean blockers ahead of Mendoza — Black and guard Drew Evans. They both collided with Bissainthe about the same time as the IU quarterback, putting Mendoza’s 2024 nemesis flat on his back.
“I think the wins are sweeter when you have to go through some adversity or some struggle,” Mendoza said. “If it was just handed to you, then there would be no satisfaction at the end of it.”
The assist by Black and Evans allowed Mendoza to survive the collision with Bissainthe, turn towards the goal line, and complete a dive for the ages.
“And he dives for the end zone. Did he get it in? TOUCHDOWN!” legendary IU radio voice Don Fischer roared.
“At the very end I saw him reach the ball out and thought please don’t fumble,” Shanahan said. “That’s like the cardinal sin. But he took a hell of a shot and held onto it. Hell of a play. You put the ball in your best player’s hands, and he found a way. He never gets enough credit for how good of a runner he is, but he did a great job reading those blocks.”
“That just shows you what kind of guy he is, what type of player he is, putting his body on the line, goes and gets the touchdown when we needed it the most,” running back Roman Hemby said.
“I learned a long time ago you’ve got to play to win,” Cignetti said. “You’ve got to have confidence in your players. You cannot play not to lose. I wanted to put it in 15, 13, 1, 37 — those guys’ hands.”
“It’s probably the greatest play in the history of Indiana football,” Coogan said.
Slo-mo Mendoza🔥🏆#CFBPlayoff #NationalChampionship pic.twitter.com/IGkArTJxV1
— College Football Playoff (@CFBPlayoff) January 30, 2026
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