IOWA CITY, Iowa — After a big hit near the sideline at the end of the third quarter between No. 11 Indiana football and Iowa gave way to officiating confusion, IU center Pat Coogan took over the moment.
The entire Hoosiers roster convened in front of their sideline after quarterback Fernando Mendoza took a big hit from Iowa safety Xavier Nwankpa, and as head coach Curt Cignetti discussed the situation with the officials. But their attention soon shifted away from Cignetti’s argument, when Coogan emerged in the middle of the huddle giving an impassioned message to his teammates.
The Notre Dame transfer turned that into a galvanizing moment, that helped Indiana pull out a 20-15 win at Kinnick Stadium on Saturday.
“I thought it was my job and my responsibility as a leader of this team to rally the troops a little bit and get everyone refocused,” Coogan said after the game. “I told them, ‘We’re gonna win this game. This is why we train so hard. This is what we play for, fourth quarters in these environments. Games like today, that’s why we do it, that’s what we do it for.'”
Indiana (5-0, 2-0 Big Ten) was already locked in a tight game when that pivotal moment arrived.
IU and Iowa (3-2, 1-1) went into the fourth quarter tied at 10. The Hoosiers out-gained the Hawkeyes through the first three quarters, but by only 15 yards. It was the type of game where every yard, every play, and every decision mattered.
The game was already rugged, but Nwankpa’s hit brought that physicality to another level.
The Hoosiers faced third and 15 at their own 39, with six seconds left in the third quarter. Mendoza looked to pass, before scrambling to his right. He scampered towards the IU sideline with room to run, the first-down marker in sight. But Nwankpa charged in to stop Mendoza from moving the chains, laying a big hit on the Cal transfer into the bench area.
Fernando Mendoza takes a huge hit out of bounds and there are some extracurriculars on the Indiana sidelines#Hawkeyes #IUFB pic.twitter.com/NqlayZJiun
— bambi 𓅪 go hawks !! (@HawkeyeHighligh) September 27, 2025
Nwankpa made contact with Mendoza when he was still in bounds; the hit was legal. But the Hoosiers stood up for their quarterback — receiver Jonathan Brady and linebacker Aiden Fisher, among others, got in Nwankpa’s face, and some pushing and shoving ensued. Refs threw a flag on the play, but not for unnecessary roughness — an Iowa defender was offside.
Indiana ultimately declined that penalty to get fourth and one instead of third and 10 — and running back Kaelon Black got stuffed for a loss to open the final quarter, giving the ball back to Iowa. But neither that nor the chaos at the end of the third quarter derailed the Hoosiers. It strengthened their resolve.
“When Mendoza got hit on the sideline, (and) they didn’t call roughing the quarterback, that really kind of pulled our guys together right there,” Cignetti said. “We’ve got a lot of new guys, but we’ve got a lot of good, a lot of the right stuff on this team. And we were tested really hard, and we found a way to pull through it.”
Indiana needed some good fortune to come away victorious. Iowa quarterback Mark Gronowski suffered an injury early in the fourth quarter, and backup Hank Brown was less effective. The sophomore threw an interception in IU territory on a tipped ball that IU safety Louis Moore came up with. But Mendoza followed that up with his first interception of the season, and Iowa safety Zach Lutmer returned it inside the Indiana 30-yard-line.
The Hawkeyes worked the clock and gave themselves a chance to run it all the way down for a game-winning field goal attempt, but couldn’t convert a key third and five. That led to one of the biggest breaks of the Curt Cignetti era: Iowa kicker Drew Stevens, who — early in the fourth quarter — drilled a 54-yard field goal with ease, missed a 42-yard kick that would’ve given Iowa a 16-13 lead with 2:01 remaining.
Indiana took advantage. Mendoza led his offense to midfield, with IU out of timeouts but benefitting from the two-minute warning. He hit star receiver Elijah Sarratt on a slant pattern on third and 10, and he broke a tackle and scored a decisive 49-yard touchdown.
“It never goes according to script. There’s a lot of variables involved, and there’s going to be games like this,” Cignetti said. “I think when I was hired, I said, ‘Mindset’s really important.’ Everybody’s ready to play the first game or two or three. After that, it’s, ‘Who’s ready to play?”
Indiana passed some big tests in Iowa City.
The Hoosiers demolished their first Big Ten opponent, previously-No. 9 Illinois last week in Bloomington. But this was their first road game, against a tough, disciplined team, in a notably difficult stadium for visitors.
And, on top of all that, it turned into IU’s first close game of the season. The team had already trailed, falling behind Old Dominion right away at the beginning of the season. But the Hoosiers dominated that game, statistically, more than the scoreboard reflected. This game at Kinnick Stadium was their first time facing serious in-game pressure moments.
Indiana didn’t handle the situation completely smoothly, but that’s how this entire game played out. It was a bumpy ride the whole way. And in contests like those, style points don’t matter. The Hoosiers simply found a way to win.
Cignetti said he’ll remember Sarratt running into the end zone when he looks back on this game. But in wins like these, little moments like Coogan’s rallying cry can make the difference — even if they aren’t as memorable.
The center sensed a need for someone to bring the Hoosiers together at the end of the third quarter, and he stepped up. 15 minutes of game time later, they left the field winners, coming through what Coogan called a gut-check moment.
“We truly ran into adversity, we truly had to rally together. An even bigger proponent of that is, it was just us out there. This crowd was crazy, away game, great defense, like I was saying, playing. So it was really just us against — s*** — the world, it felt like,” Coogan said. “So it was a gut check moment, and we stepped up to the plate, for sure.”
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