13-0. Last undefeated team in the country. #1 seed in the College Football Playoff. Unanimous #1 team in the AP Poll. The quarterback just left campus, headed for NYC, as the Heisman’s betting favorite, and the head coach has won back-to-back National Coach of the Year awards.
Close your eyes and think about those things. Now think about how excited you would have been for IU to win one of those in an era. Now think about how amazing this season IU has put together so far has been and realize that it’s hopefully got three more amazing chapters left in it.
My arm has been killing me all year, because I keep pinching it just to make sure I won’t wake up from this dream run. If it turns out to be a dream? Don’t wake me up.
Back in July when we kicked off season preview coverage, we had the feeling that IU could build on its success from last year, but I don’t think any of us (myself included) thought it would turn out quite like this after thirteen games. Curt Cignetti repeatedly said throughout the offseason that IU wasn’t looking to sustain the success from 2024-25, but instead were trying to improve and build upon that success. I would say that they have done that, Cig would tell me to shut up and watch film. Love this dream.
With all of that behind us, let’s take a quick trip down memory lane as I bring you 13 plays from 13 wins that helped tell the story of the season. I’ll caveat the list with this – these are my personal favorites, and tons of guys made tons of plays all season long. I tried to pick some different ones, but I think you’ll be able to guess what some of them will be as we move along. Let’s get into it.
Saturday, August 30
Indiana 27 | Old Dominion 14
Year two of the Curt Cignetti era started off awfully familiar to year one. A new quarterback with high expectations came in and showed some growing pains in a new system. Old Dominion opened the game with a 75-yard rushing TD by QB Colton Joseph (he added another long one late) but the IU defense settled in after that, with the Hoosiers outscoring ODU 20-0 in the middle two quarters. My pick for this game is Jonathan Brady’s 91-yard punt return touchdown at the end of the first quarter, which tied the game and really settled IU down.
Saturday, September 6
Indiana 56 | Kennesaw State 9
This one felt better. A Kennesaw State team that would go on to win 10 games and the Conference USA Championship looked totally overmatched against Indiana from the start of this one, as the rust from week one was gone. The Hoosiers racked up nearly 600 yards of total offense and went over 300 on the ground for the second straight week to open the year. 75 of those came from Omar Cooper Jr. on a one-play TD drive, as he took a reverse and broke about 16 tackles on his way to the end zone.
Friday, September 12
Indiana 73 | Indiana State 0
Not much to say about this one as IU emptied the bench early and kept things pretty vanilla ahead of a big matchup with a top-ten Illinois team (this year’s Indiana, remember?). Tons of big plays in this one, but I went with a beautiful Fernando to Omar TD, which gave him a hat trick of receiving touchdowns in the first half.
Saturday, September 20
Indiana 63 | Illinois 10
Enter Illinois. A game that many had circled since May, the Illini came to Bloomington riding high at 3-0, backed by an army of confident Twitter burners and a confident Head Coach, and ran into a buzzsaw. IU scored the most points a Big Ten team has ever scored against an AP top-10 team in this one, and outgained Illinois on the ground 312 to two (2). Two yards. While the result left no doubt, the play that got Memorial Stadium rocking was All-American D’Angelo Ponds’ punt block, scoop and score touchdown in the first quarter. Mendoza finished 21-23 for 267 yards and five TDs in just three quarters, but Ponds had the biggest play of this one.
Saturday, September 27
Indiana 20 | Iowa 15
After arriving on the national stage, Indiana hit the road for the first time and went into Kinnick Stadium, a place they hadn’t won at in it seemed like forever. Ryland Gandy started for an injured D’Angelo Ponds, and the defense put together a great effort, holding Iowa to just 13 points. The Hawkeyes played a whale of a game on defense, their crowd was a big factor, and IU looked rattled in the second half. After Fernando Mendoza threw his first interception of the year with under three minutes left in the game, Iowa missed a field goal and gave the ball back to the Hoosiers. Game time. With a third down and everything hanging in the balance, Iowa blitzed eight, leaving Sarratt one-on-one in the slot. Slant, broken tackle, touchdown, Hoosiers. Ballgame.
Saturday, October 11
Indiana 30 | Oregon 20
The biggest win for IU in decades came after a bye week, on the west coast at Autzen Stadium (where IU is now 2-0). A massively physical first half saw the Hoosiers hang around long enough to cash in a 58-yard field goal by Brenden Franke, tying the program record, giving IU the 13-10 lead at the half. With that behind them, IU came out with their hair on fire and took control of the game before Fernando Mendoza threw a costly pick six in the fourth quarter that let Oregon tie the game back up. What did he do after that? Find 13, just like he did after an interception at Iowa. Sarratt finished with 8 catches for 121 yards and this TD:
Saturday, October 18
Indiana 38 | Michigan State 13
Returning to the rock, IU overcame two nice drives by Michigan State to open the game and dominated the other 50 minutes of the game. It was a rainy day in Bloomington, but that didn’t slow down Fernando Mendoza, who finished 24 – 28 for 322 yards and four TD (EJ Williams was ruled out of bounds on a fifth). Weirdly enough, Omar Cooper Jr. had the same stat line that Sarratt did a week before, going for 121 yards on 8 catches. He also had this TD, which I just thought was such a pretty ball:
Saturday, October 25
Indiana 56 | UCLA 6
A red-hot UCLA came to town, and the cinderella run with an interim coach ended on the second play from scrimmage, when a hobbled Aiden Fisher secured his first career TD with a pick six. EJ Williams had his best game as a Hoosier, but the Fisher pick six really set the tone in this one, as IU had more touchdowns than UCLA had points.
Saturday, November 1
Indiana 55 | Maryland 10
Can I interest you in another defensive touchdown? Playing without Aiden Fisher, the defense played a whale of a game, forcing five turnovers, including Devan Boykin’s amazing strip, scoop, and score. Bryant Haines always talks about doing your 1/11, but this play to really ice the game was all Boykin.
Saturday, November 8
Indiana 27 | Penn State 24
Any guesses on what this one is?
Saturday, November 15
Indiana 31 | Wisconsin 7
In a game that Coach Cignetti admitted IU was super banged up and fatigued leading up to, IU overcame a sleepy and slow first half where they went into the locker room up just 10-7, and the Badgers feeling like an upset was more than possible. As they’ve done all season, IU came out strong in the third quarter, scoring twice, to lead IU to a 21-0 second half and the 31 – 7 win.
On the first drive of the second half, IU had two clunkers to start on offense, leaving them with a 3rd and 8 in a super tense situation as the nervous energy was starting to build. Enter “Charlie B from Nashville, Tennessee”. Filling in admirably for Elijah Sarratt, Becker made a great play on a BOMB from Fernando Mendoza to the tune of 48-yards, setting up a Holden Staes touchdown a few plays later. Mendoza had four touchdown passes in this one, which got him to 30 on the year and to the top of the single season record books for IU, but felt this Becker catch was the big one on Senior Day. This win also pushed Cignetti’s record at IU to 15-0 at home.
Friday, November 28
Indiana 56 | Purdue 3
Bucket secured. A Black Friday beatdown was on the menu in WL to close out a perfect regular season for IU, which also clinched an appearance in the Big Ten title game during this rout. It was never close, as IU dominated in all three phases of the game. I thought about going with Omar Cooper Jr.’s catch and video game run to score in the second half, but felt that Hemby’s 81-yard run to cap the first half was the winner here. Hemby had been so close to popping one all year, and it was great to see him finally do it in his final regular season game. His 82-yard TD tied the record for longest run by an Indiana player in the Bucket Game.
Saturday, December 6
Indiana 13 | Ohio State 10
Indiana. Big Ten Champs. #1 team in the country.
All of that was real, and all of that will stay with IU forever. It was a thrilling game between the two best teams in the country, and IU just simply made more plays when the game was on the line. All week I just wanted IU to let it rip and not play tight when they had chances to win the game. Play to win, not to not lose. Faced with a massive 3rd and 8 in the second half, that’s exactly what they did. Big time players make big time plays, and that’s what Sarratt is.
This was a winning call, and it ultimately won the game for IU. Charlie Becker made massive plays in this one, as did Lou Moore and others, but this was the play when I really felt like IU had “arrived” under Cignetti. This was a big time play, in a big time game, to win the Big Ten and clinch the number one overall seed in the College Football Playoff.
Here’s to hoping IU can add a few more plays to this list throughout January, but for now, it’s okay to keep pinching yourself and hoping that you don’t wake up.