INDIANAPOLIS — Fernando Mendoza had done all he could.
No. 2 Indiana football sat on the doorstep of a historic Big Ten Championship Game victory over No. 1 Ohio State. IU’s quarterback rose to the occasion yet again, in the biggest game of his football career.
But with two seconds left, Ohio State had the ball at its own 15-yard line, down 13-10 and needing a miracle. The game was out of Mendoza’s hands — it was up to Indiana’s defense to finish off the game.
Some on IU’s sideline started exchanging hugs and high fives, processing what was likely about to happen. Head coach Curt Cignetti and his staff remained locked in on the action, as any collegiate coaches would.
Mendoza went a different route. He dropped to his knees in front of the bench, with his brother, Alberto, standing by his side. Fernando folded his hands, closed his eyes, and started praying.
That’s all Indiana football has ever been able to do. Pray. Hope. Wish upon a star. Maybe someday Hoosier fans would see their team evolve from laughingstock to competent — much less play on a stage like this. For generations, that could only happen in dreams and video games.
But this was no dream. This wasn’t a video game. Mendoza’s prayers were answered — as were those of the tens of thousands of IU fans at Lucas Oil Stadium, and the hundreds of thousands watching from afar. Ohio State receiver Jeremiah Smith caught a desperate heave from quarterback Julian Sayin around midfield, and Indiana’s defense sealed the deal.
The Hoosiers stormed the field. Cignetti weaved through the chaos to shake hands with OSU head coach Ryan Day. IU offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan burst out of the coaches box, screaming with excitement as he ran through the press box to go join the team on the field. Mendoza fought off tears of joy during his on-field postgame interview with FOX. Confetti, streamers, and fireworks shot off inside the stadium.
The unthinkable had finally happened. Indiana football defeated mighty Ohio State, 13-10, to win the Big Ten title.
“It’s a great win, obviously. We’re going to go in the playoffs as the No. 1 seed. A lot of people probably thought that wasn’t possible,” Cignetti said after the game. “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. And I think that’s what you saw happen here.”
This was never supposed to be possible for Indiana football.
The Hoosiers have spent decades wandering through college football’s doldrums. They were afterthoughts. IU couldn’t even have been aptly described as the sport’s ugly stepsister — that would imply a happy ending should be expected, at some point. But college football isn’t a fairy tale, and it rarely resembles a Hollywood script. Reality is much colder, much harsher, and much more ruthless for anything like this to happen for a program like Indiana.
And yet, here it stood. Big Ten champions. Red and white confetti fell on Indiana football for the first time ever.
“I’m proud of them (the players). I’m proud of them and the coaches,” Cignetti said. “I liked our preparation coming into this game. I liked our mindset. And we had been here before. We hadn’t been here before, but we’d been in a (close game) situation before against Oregon and prevailed.”
Indiana’s entire roster and staff celebrated on the field after the game, during the trophy ceremony, and for a long time afterwards.
Mendoza relished the moment with his family, while often surrounded by media. IU’s quarterback seemingly put the finishing touches on his Heisman Trophy campaign, which could end with the program’s first-ever winner. He completed 15 of 23 pass attempts for 222 yards — the second-most allowed by the Buckeyes this season — with a touchdown and an interception. The redshirt junior responded to high pressure and high stakes with the poise and clutch gene that’s come to define him this year.
But this scene spread far beyond Mendoza. The Hoosiers displayed all sorts of emotion as they ran into the tunnel towards the locker room.
Some players, like wide receivers Charlie Becker and Elijah Sarratt, could hardly contain their wide smiles during on-field interviews. Becker’s remarkable ascension continued Saturday, racking up a career-high 126 yards on six receptions. His 33-yard catch with 2:41 remaining helped Indiana put the game away. Sarratt made the biggest catch of the game, a 17-yard touchdown in the third quarter that wound up being the decisive final points of the game.
Kicker Nico Radicic climbed up a railing to share a moment with some rabid fans and friends on his way off the field. The redshirt sophomore was named Big Ten Kicker of the Year during the week, only to miss his first field goal of the season in the second quarter. But he made his next two kicks, a 32-yard field goal and an extra point, which proved the difference in the game. Radicic’s excitement didn’t diminish because of an individual mistake — he’d earned his Big Ten medal just as much as any other Hoosier.
Injured defensive end Kellan Wyatt limped off wearing a wry smile. The Maryland transfer was enjoying a strong season, with eight tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks through seven games. But he suffered a season-ending injury against Michigan State, leaving him unable to contribute to the back half of this conference title run. The Hoosiers didn’t miss a beat without him, as Stephen Daley stepped in and took off, eventually finishing with a Big Ten-leading 18 TFLs. Wyatt was happy and excited, just like all his teammates. But his face showed a little relief, as well. As if this Big Ten championship made his sacrifice worth it.
The players knew how special this moment was for the fans, as well. After Mendoza received the MVP trophy on stage, linebacker Aiden Fisher took the microphone and signaled to his teammates — and the crowd — to sing and dance to the IU fight song. Rowdy celebrations after championship wins are pretty standard, but that took the scene a step further.
“I think what makes this moment so special tonight — just myself and my family, but for everybody — is just the community of Bloomington and how long they’ve waited for this and how much it means to everybody,” Mendoza said. “Hoosier Nation showed out in general. And I think that that really helped us down the stretch.”
Cignetti led IU on an unprecedented run in 2024, coming out of nowhere to record an 11-1 regular season and earn a College Football Playoff berth that few outside the North End Zone complex could’ve predicted. The Hoosiers didn’t get a shot to play in Indianapolis last year because of their loss at OSU, and they lost their CFP opener at Notre Dame.
Indiana then spent the entire offseason as college football’s firestorm conversation topic. The team’s CFP appearance remained a talking point, long after the Buckeyes won the national championship. Plenty of fans around the country viewed the 2024 Hoosiers with skepticism: they accumulated a gaudy record, but against a schedule deemed unimpressive by the general public. They whiffed in their two games against strong competition, Ohio State and Notre Dame. Those outcomes only emboldened those outspoken fans to further diminish IU’s accomplishments and demand change for the future to prevent it from happening again.
But the Hoosiers had other plans. They got even better going into 2025, and passed test after test after test this year.
As IU players ran off the field Saturday, several fans celebrating near the railing by the tunnel shouted, “What are they gonna say now?!”
After road wins over Iowa, Oregon, and Penn State, and after finally taking down Ohio State, there isn’t anything left to say. Indiana football has met every challenge so far in 2025. There’s been no mountain too tall for this team to climb.
The Indiana Hoosiers are rightful Big Ten champions — words once too preposterous to put together in the same sentence, now a reality.
“For any of the doubters out there, I think this kind of was the final nail in the coffin for any of the Indiana doubters, Curt Cignetti doubters, the Hoosier doubters,” linebacker Isaiah Jones said. “I think this was the last thing that needed to be proved. And I think we did it.
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