No. 2 Hoosiers Bury Badgers 31-7 Behind Record Day From Mendoza

The No. 2 Indiana Hoosiers comfortably dispatched the Wisconsin Badgers 31-7 on Saturday afternoon, improving to 11-0 and remaining unbeaten at home in the Curt Cignetti era. After a sleepy 25 minutes, the Hoosiers broke a 7-7 tie with a field goal late in the first half and then dominated the third quarter, scoring two touchdowns and holding Wisconsin to just 11 yards and IU led 24-7 after 45 minutes of action. Indiana poured it on in the fourth action, scoring again and strangling Wisconsin’s offense. Heisman hopeful Fernando Mendoza led the IU offense, throwing for 299 yards on 22-24 passing with four touchdowns.

Charlie Becker, again filling in for the injured Elijah Sarratt, had 108 yards receiving and Riley Nowakowski went for 65 yards against his former team. The Hoosiers outgained Wisconsin 388-168 and were dominant for the entirety of the second half. This was Indiana’s sixth straight week with a game and the fatigue and physical toll showed in the first half and the Hoosiers will be grateful for the upcoming bye week.

Wisconsin handed freshman quarterback Carter Smith his first career start and the Badgers began with the ball and followed a similar ball control script to previous IU opponents. They used creativity in the run game to burn more than half of the first quarter and get into field goal position but it was wide left and the game remained scoreless. The Indiana offense made the most of their first chance with the ball, driving 9 plays and scoring on a Charlie Becker reception to take the 7-0 lead.

The teams traded punts on four straight drives before Wisconsin converted on a fourth down play with a clever play-action pass as Indiana sold out against the run and left a tight end wide open. He walked in to tie the game at 7 with 3:42 remaining in the first half.

The Hoosiers drove into scoring territory thanks to a 37-yard tight end screen and run for Riley Nowakowski before settling for a Nico Radicic field goal to take the lead back just before halftime. Wisconsin’s defense had four tackles for loss in the first half and IU only outgained the Badgers by 14 yards.

The Hoosiers got the ball first in the second half and quickly put to bed any worries about an upset. Fernando Mendoza connected deep with Charlie Becker on a third down play and then threw his second touchdown pass of the day, this one to tight end Holden Staes to take control at 17-7.

Wisconsin’s freshman quarterback was sacked by Stephen Daley and he fumbled with Hosea Wheeler falling on the ball in Badgers territory. Just one play later, Riley Nowakowski caught a pass from Mendoza and broke two tackles to get into the end zone and make it 24-7 at the end of the third quarter. The teams traded punts and then Devan Boykin intercepted a pass from Carter Smith at midfield.

Fernando Mendoza’s final play in Memorial Stadium was a touchdown pass to Omar Cooper to extend the lead to 31-7. The pass was the 30^th touchdown strike of the season for Fernando Mendoza, a new IU single-season record. Wisconsin had to punt again and Alberto Mendoza finished the game as the quarterback for the Hoosiers as Indiana wound out the clock. For the first time in school history, IU is 11-0 and Curt Cignetti is now 22-2 as the head coach in Bloomington. IU now gets a bye week to rest before taking on the Purdue Boilermakers the day after Thanksgiving.