Indiana football’s historic season was full of memorable moments.
The Hoosiers captured their first-ever national championship and became the first team since the 1890s to finish 16-0. The Daily Hoosier has compiled our list of the top 10 plays and moments from IU’s march to the title. If you missed any previous posts in this series, check them out at the links below.
No. 6: A moment of magic at Iowa
After mostly cruising to victory through the first four weeks of the season, Indiana faced its first tight game in week 5 at Iowa.
The Hoosiers benefitted from some good fortune in Iowa City. The Hawkeyes scored a touchdown with less than a minute to play in the second quarter, which nearly sent IU to the locker room trailing. But Indiana managed to get itself in field goal range at the very end of the first half thanks to a roughing the passer penalty.
Later, a rare mistake by Fernando Mendoza nearly cost IU the game. He misfired on a pass over the middle intended for Omar Cooper Jr. with just under three minutes left in the game and the score tied at 13, and Iowa’s Zach Lutmer intercepted it. But the Hawkeyes didn’t capitalize — kicker Drew Stevens missed a 42-yard field goal with 2:01 remaining.
Indiana took over at its own 24-yard line, with no timeouts aside from the two-minute warning. Five plays later, the Hoosiers got their first taste of late-game magic in 2025. Mendoza, facing a zero blitz, hit Elijah Sarratt on a third-and-10 quick slant. The trusty receiver got more than just a first down: he broke one tackle near the line to gain, and had nothing but open field ahead of him. Sarratt took it all the way for a 49-yard touchdown.
“I was hype. I was ready to yell while I was running, man,” Sarratt said after the game. “I’d seen it was cover zero. Fernando put it in a perfect spot. And I was able to break a tackle and score for my guys. It was a great moment, for sure.”
That gave Indiana a 20-13 lead with 1:28 to play. The game was not yet over, though. IU’s defense had to make a stop against Iowa’s gritty offense, which was down to its backup quarterback after Mark Gronowski suffered an injury early in the fourth quarter. Hank Brown led the Hawkeyes to midfield, but couldn’t come up with a winning play.
Mendoza, in attempting to run out the clock at the very end, wound up running 40 yards backwards on the final play. He took an intentional safety to ensure the game ended, so IU won, 20-15.
But Sarratt’s broken tackle and game-winning touchdown was the first of many Indiana games this year featuring fourth-quarter heroics.
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