12-0.
I’m obviously not the most tenured IUFB fan since I’ve only been following for a bit over 20 years but I’m just not sure I thought this was possible.
IU got to a perfect regular season with a total dismantling, for the second straight year, of Purdue. New coach, new team same result for Purdue and I, for one, thoroughly enjoyed it.
IU was also able to pull the starters before the 4th quarter…again…which will hopefully set them up nicely for the B1G title game in Indy on Saturday.
We’ll break down the Purdue win in the last regular season Reactionary Take!
IU Reactionary Prediction: IU 45-10
Final Score: IU 56-3 — IU COVERS / OVER 54.5
Season Betting Record: 12-10
Back in the win column and it couldn’t feel better to go 2-0 betting to finish the season at 12-10 against Purdue.
I knew IU would win handily but with the way the weather was and it being Fernando (Miami) Mendoza‘s first in sub freezing temps, I expected a bit less scoring by IU.
I said in my Reactionary Preview that I thought Mendoza would go for 250+ and 3 TD’s against than over matched Purdue secondary…Not exactly how it played out.
Purdue seemed like they were content with IU running the ball down their throats, knowing that Mendoza had a Heisman race to win. Purdue blitzed on 56% of Mendoza’s drop backs but had pressure on just 19% (3 total) of them.
Below I’m going to go over some of the superlatives from the game and I’m not going to do some long breakdown given what’s ahead but I wanted to mention this in the “recap” area of the article…I didn’t think Fernando Mendoza looked very good for much of the first half. PFF had him for 3 “turnover worthy plays” and that seems about right, although one play the refs blew an offside call and Mendoza thought he had a free play.
This is where I think the cold was affecting him.
He also had pretty good protection and, at times like earlier in the season, didn’t seem to trust that he’d have the time he needed to make a play and instead rushed a throw.
He had his worst game by PFF (40.2 offensive grade) since his freshman year bowl game against Texas Tech. He finished just 8/15 for 117 yards and 2 TD’s while running twice for 27 yards and another score. Mendoza was pulled before the 3rd quarter came to an end for his brother.
After the first three drives that went punt, TD, punt in 11 total plays and 43 yards and Mendoza was just 2/6 for 24 yards, I thought he settled into a rhythm nicely and that coincided with the staff saying, “ok, let’s get the ball to Omar Cooper and Elijah Sarratt“…and they did. Both caught a TD pass.
Speaking of the staff…once IU figured out that that was their strategy, they unleashed the running game and that was all she wrote for Purdue. I was frustrated during the game that Purdue was kind of trying to spoil the game for Mendoza but he missed some throws I think he makes in normal conditions…and the good thing about that…every game moving forward will either be in a dome or warm weather.
On defense, Purdue QB Ryan Browne was super slippery in the pocket. A ton of credit to him as he was getting pressure over and over (23 pressures). Browne scrambled around and managed to throw for 238 yards with no TD’s and 1 INT but just a 5.1 ypa number.
But Browne was all Purdue had. Their running game without Devin Mockobee is just terrible.
All in all, IU stayed healthy, allowed just 27 rushes for 44 yards (including just one sack of the slippery Browne) and upped their FBS leading turnover margin to +17. Lots of teaching moments too which is exciting in a big win and they got some really nice plays from the young guys that I’ll hit on below.
Stephen Daley
I’m going to keep this section a bit shorter since we have bigger fish to fry but what Stephen Daley has done with his uptick in snaps since the Kellan Wyatt season ending injury has been nothing short of remarkable.
Daley had 6 tackles, 4.5 TFL’s, 1 sack, 1 FF and 2 pressures.
He was all over the place. I thought he’d be the sure fire starter when he came in but Kellan Wyatt won the “starter” job. I have that in quotes because Daley was always going to play but Wyatt gave something they hadn’t had since the new staff was at IU: an edge rusher that was passable in pass coverage. So it wasn’t surprising he got a lot of snaps opposite Mikail Kamara (who I’m not worried about at all). There were also murmurs that Daley needed to get into better shape and boy did he…
Big picture, Daley is tied for the nation’s lead in TFL’s at 18 and ran away with the B1G lead by 3.5. He also finished with 32 tackles, 4.5 sacks and 2 FF’s to go along with 35 pressures and 22 “stops” (a PFF stat – tackles that constitute a “failure” for the offense).
This is a kid that came in from winless Kent State and now hasn’t lost in his final season of college football. He’s also certainly made himself some money and has to be on all conference and, maybe even, All American teams.
Cannot wait to see what he can do as the competition ramps up…starting this weekend against OSU.
Roman Hemby
I think this was a much needed game for Hemby. He finally got his signature run in an Indiana uniform when he took a run 82 yards in the second quarter that made it 28-3 and essentially ended the game.
He finished this game with 12 carries for 152 yards (12.7 ypc) and 1 TD. He also had 3 missed tackles forced, 115 yards after contact and 9.58 yards after contact per attempt. I really impressive day in cold conditions.
Hemby has been everything this staff could have wanted in an RB1 role. Kaelon Black has been a brilliant compliment to Hemby but Hemby has shown me something this year that he hadn’ in the past: he’s willing to get the tough yards.
I think that was my biggest question mark from watching him the past three seasons at Maryland. Sure, he’s got the breakaway speed but can he put his head down and get the tough yards against elite B1G defenses…He’s going to face a lot more tough defenses moving forward but so far, he’s passed with flying colors.
On the season, Hemby finishes the regular season with 163 carries for 866 yards (5.3 ypc), 6 TD’s and he’ll have a chance to eclipse the 1000 yard mark for the first time in his career in the next couple games.
IUFB Quick Hits
- WR Davion Chandler caught a screen from QB Alberto Mendoza for his first catch in an IU uniform…and took it 65 yards to the house. Chandler burned his redshirt this season and will be a true sophomore in ’26 as he tries to push for playing time.
- RB Kaelon Black had 12 carries for 66 yards (5.1 ypc) and 2 TD’s, including an amazing spin move to get one of those. I didn’t give Black a full write up but, man, has this kid been good. Black finishes his ’25 regular season with 129 carries for 729 yards (5.7 ypc), 7 TD’s, 21 missed tackles forced and 457 yards after contact on the ground.
- WR’s Elijah Sarratt and Omar Cooper Jr. finished the year with a combined 106 catches for 1454 yards and 22 TD’s…And that was with multiple games missed with injury and them sitting many of the 4th quarters. Hat tip to those guys because they are beasts.
- LB Rolijah Hardy doesn’t get talked about enough. He capped off his ’25 regular season with a game high 10 tackles, 2 passes defended, 1 TFL and 4 stops. That brings his season total to 77 tackles and 7 sacks (which leads the team). Very excited to see him moving forward.
- S Amare Ferrell had another INT this week to bring him to 4 on the season. The ball hawking safety has had some issues at times in coverage but finished as the 31st highest graded safety in FBS by PFF. He was active in the run game against Purdue with a big TFL on a WR screen and needs to continue to his play this weekend against OSU.