Opponent: Purdue Boilermakers
Location: Ross-Ade Stadium, West Lafayette, IN
Why They Played
This was the 100th Old Oaken Bucket Game. IU and Purdue play annually.
What The Game Meant
The Indiana win clinched a Big Ten Championship Game berth and a 12-0 regular season for IU. It was the Hoosiers second Bucket Game win in a row and now have outscored Purdue 122-3 under Curt Cignetti. It also likely secures IU a bye in the first round of the College Football Playoff.
Heartwork Brewing Players of the Game
Offense
IU Rushing Attack– The Indiana run game was as cold as the night air in West Lafayette. On a night where Indiana’s passing attack was not clicking IU ripped through Purdue’s defense on the ground. Five ball carriers combined for 355 yards on 37 carries (9.7 ypc) and five touchdowns. It was highlighted by Kaelon Black’s video game-like spin move and Roman Hemby’s 82-yard touchdown run.
Michael Jackson III, WR, Purdue- Jackson had 244 all-purpose yards. That included 169 kick return yards, 66 receiving yards and 9 rushing. He was the most productive Purdue player and the kick return may have been Purdue’s most consistent offensive play.
Defense
Stephen Daley, DL, Indiana- Daley has been one of the best defenders in the Big Ten and had a monster night in the Bucket Game as he made 4.5 tackles for loss and forced a fumble.
Rolijah Hardy, LB, Indiana- Rolijah Hardy has nearly been the forgotten linebacker in Indiana’s defense behind Isaiah Jones and Aiden Fisher. However, he is filling up the stat sheet and making plays. Hardy led IU with 10 tackles with one coming for a loss and two pass breakups.
Amare Ferrell, Safety, Indiana- Ferrell had an early interception, his fourth of the year, and four tackles including one for a loss.
Special Teams Performance
If you needed a snapshot of the chasm between IU and Purdue this season look no further than special teams. Outside of a holding call on one kickoff return, IU was nearly flawless on special teams while Purdue missed a long field goal and had trouble punting.
Nico Radicic booted another eight extra points and wasn’t needed for field goals. He split kickoffs with Quinn Warren and while the conditions were tough to kick out of the end zone the IU coverage team was really good.
Punter Mitch McCarthy had his best game as a Hooser. He averaged 47.3 yards on four punts. He booted one over 50 yards and had two inside the 20-yard line.
Key Stat(s)
12-0
The only stat that matters is winning and IU has done a lot of that in 2025. IU is 12-0 for the first time ever and finished their first undefeated regular season since 1945.
Turning Point
I thought the turning point came when Purdue settled for a field goal to make the score 7-3 on IU’s five-yard line. The Boilermakers were not going to win the game kicking field goals and they actually had some momentum at that moment. After that IU ripped off 49-straight points.
I Knew it Was Over When…
Kaelon Black put a Purdue defender on every highlight reel with a nasty spin move on his way to a 16-yard touchdown. That made the score 21-3. It was over.
What I take away From the Game
It’s time to stop for a second, it’s ok Cig did it too last night, and appreciate just what this IU team has accomplished so far in 2025. The Hoosiers capped off a 12-0 season with another historic beat down of rival Purdue. IU fans turned Ross-Ade into Memorial Stadium North. Just take a minute to drink it all in before the made for TV postseason starts.
As far as the game went, IU dominated the lines of scrimmage and ran wild on the Purdue defense. However, Fernando Mendoza struggled with the cold and Purdue was not going to let the Heisman candidate beat them. Is it concerning that Mendoza didn’t look sharp? Yes, but IU is done with the extreme cold so it’s not a five-alarm fire. He did account for three touchdowns. It was great to see IU’s run game get back to doing what they do against inferior opponents and IU did show their big play ability in both the run and pass games.
On defense, IU did allow some receivers to run in open space and couldn’t bring Ryan Browne down for a sack, but they had 10 tackles for loss and forced two turnovers. The tackling was better for the most part. The only time Purdue had any real momentum, IU took a time out to get reorganized to hold Purdue to a field goal.
On the injury front, IU got back Elijah Sarratt and Drew Evans (did not play), but EJ Williams and Brendan Franke both missed the game.
The postseason starts on Monday as the Hoosiers will prepare to play for a Big Ten championship and then the march to a national championship starts. It had seemed that IU had lost its edge in the last third of the season, but Cignetti challenged the team to end the season with an exclamation point. They did that.
What’s Next
IU wrapped up a 12-0 regular season and will take on either Michigan, Ohio State or Oregon on December 6th in Indianapolis.