Indiana coach Curt Cignetti likes to say he wins everywhere he goes, but like the Hoosiers, he had never won at Penn State.
Not as a player. Not as an assistant coach.
His Hall of Fame coaching father Frank didn’t break through in Happy Valley either.
But that all changed in Cignetti’s first trip Beaver Stadium as a head coach.
And it took a drive for the ages led by an unflappable quarterback.
After more than 50 years of the family losing at Penn State, Cignetti was on the verge of tears after Fernando Mendoza threw perfect pass after perfect pass, capped off by the greatest catch in IU football history courtesy of Omar Cooper, Jr.
“I’ve seen a lot of stuff in my days. I’ve never seen anything quite like this,” Cignetti would say after the game.
What Cignetti saw was his dominant football team give away a 20-7 lead to the Nittany Lions.
IU, seeking a second consecutive 10-0 start to a season, trailed Penn State 24-20 late in the fourth quarter.
Here we go again.
Before the game-winning drive, Indiana’s offense had gained only 77 yards in the second half and 14 in the fourth quarter. The Hoosiers kicked a field goal on their first possession after halftime, but their next three drives ended in a punt, an interception, and another punt.
So the 10-play, 80-yard game-winning drive in the final two minutes felt like an impossible dream.
Walking off the field in disbelief after that dream became reality, that’s when it hit Cignetti for the first time.
This team just might have what it takes.
“And that’s really when you kind of like, I’ve been doing this a long time, right,” Cignetti said on the Heisman Trophy podcast.
“And you know, I think a lot of us coaches you know, you don’t believe the hype. I’m talking about our team now because you know what concerns there are every week, where you might be able to get exploited. But when we pulled that one off and he (Fernando Mendoza) pulled that one off and everybody did on the team — as I walked across the field it had to flash in your mind — this could be a team of destiny here.”
Of course Cignetti’s instincts in that moment were accurate.
Indiana would go on to beat No. 1 Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship, marking their first win over the Buckeyes in more than 30 years, and their first Big Ten title in nearly 60.
They’d go on to dominate college football blue blood Alabama at the Rose Bowl, and top-5 Oregon at the Peach Bowl.
And then of course the Hoosiers capped off the dream season in Miami, completing the first 16-0 season in the sport in well over 100 years.
It was in fact a team of destiny.
And it was a destiny made possible by exorcising demons at Penn State.
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