2026 College Football Playoff

 

For the second year in a row Indiana punched its ticket for the national college football playoff this year as the #1 seed. After winning the Big Ten Conference championship over Ohio State the Hoosiers closed out the season as the undisputed Big Ten Champion finishing first in the national poll for first time in program history. 

The Hoosiers will play the winners of #8 Oklahoma vs #9 Alabama in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA for the quarterfinals. 

 It's been a fifty-eight-year drought since the Hoosiers have played in the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day. 

Bracket image copyright AP news 

Big Ten Championship

 

12-0 Ohio State ranked #1 in the country would face off against the 12-0 Indiana Hoosiers ranked #2 for the outright Big Ten Title at Lucus Oil Stadium. The winner would almost certainly earn the No. 1 seed in the College Football Championship with seedings to be announced the next day. 

This would be only the third time with a #1 v #2 national matchup in Big Ten History. 

1985 would pit #1 Iowa v #2 Michigan 

2006 would pit #1 Ohio State v #2 Michigan

The Hoosiers would enter the contest a seven-point underdog. 

Fernando Mendoza made all the big plays. Then his Hoosiers teammates and their fans celebrated like it was 1967and 1945.

Mendoza’s neatly tucked 17-yard pass to Elijah Sarratt gave the No. 2 Hoosiers the lead they needed and the defense shut down No. 1 Ohio State the rest of the way in a 13-10 win for their first Big Ten title in nearly half a century while likely locking up the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff.

 Mendoza was injured on the first offensive play of the game but returned after missing one play and went 15 of 23 for 222 yards and the one TD and one interception. Sayin had his ankle retaped in the second quarter and was 21 of 29 for 258 yards, one TD and one interception.

Indiana took a 3-0 lead after Sayin was picked off in the first quarter, but the Buckeyes turned Mendoza’s miscue into a 17-yard TD pass to Carnell Tate for a 7-3 lead late in the quarter.

The teams traded field goals in the second quarter as the Buckeyes took a 10-6 lead, but Mendoza neatly tucked a TD pass into Sarratt near the sideline on Indiana’s first possession of the third quarter and that was all they needed.

The Hoosiers showed everyone why they’re no longer taking a backseat to the Buckeyes or anyone else in college football. Defensively, they were as stingy as ever. Offensively, they moved the ball and played keep away — and did just enough for an historic victory.

Sources:

The Helmet Project found here: http://nationalchamps.net/Helmet_Project/index.htm

Photo © The B1G Network http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1145292-power-ranking-all-124-college-football-stadiums

Game summary © ESPN

IU @ Purdue

Kaelon Black had two touchdown runs and Fernando Mendoza and Roman Hemby each ran for scores as No. 2 Indiana beat rival Purdue 56-3 on Friday night, completing the first perfect regular season in school history and securing a Big Ten championship game berth.

The Hoosiers (12-0, 9-0, No. 2 CFP) also likely locked up a second straight College Football Playoff berth.

 Curt Cignetti became the first Hoosiers coach since Bo McMillin in 1934-35 to win his first two matchups against Purdue.

Purdue (2-10, 0-9) endured more misery in the coldest game ever played at Ross-Ade Stadium, with a kickoff temperature of 24 degrees Fahrenheit. The Boilermakers closed coach Barry Odom's first season with a 10th straight loss and posted their second straight winless season in conference play, the first since 1919-20.

Many wondered if the Hoosiers would be one-hit wonders after last year's historic season. But Cignetti promised there would be no decline in 2025 — and there wasn't. With the nation's second-best scoring offense and scoring defense, a Heisman Trophy front-runner and a perfect record, the Hoosiers are better positioned to make a playoff run than they were last year.

Sources:

The Helmet Project found here:

http://nationalchamps.net/Helmet_Project/index.htm

Photo © The B1G Network

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1145292-power-ranking-all-124-college-football-stadiums

espn game recap 

2025 Bucket Game

The 2025 Bucket Game
The #127 meeting
Indiana and Purdue
The Battle for the Old Oaken Bucket
For the #100 time!
Bring It!

Yet another record

 

Indiana now owns the longest home winning streak in major college football. The Hoosiers have won fifteen home games in a row, the best in the nation.

Photos copyright Indiana University Athletics 

Wisconsin

 

This would be the last home stand for a few seniors who had made the jump to follow coach Curt Cinetti. Slightly and rarely recruited Cignetti saw their potential in himself and with them. Coming from James Madison Coach Cig brought a nucleus of players with him to Indiana with the mindset that that production beats probability.

The Hoosiers would improve to a program first 11-0 with a 31-7 victory over Wisconsin. For the game Fernando Mendoza would finish with 299 total yards completing 22 of 24 passes. His fourth touchdown pass would place him in first place with 30 touchdown passes in a single season surpassing Kurtis Rourke’s 29 in 2024.

The defense would hand the offensive the ball in excellent field position. A forced fumble by Stephen Daley, recovered by Hosea Wheeler at the Wisconsin 21-yard line, set up the Hoosiers next score. This turnover led to a 21-yard TD pass from Mendoza to Riley Nowakowski, a Wisconsin transfer, extending the Hoosier's lead.  For the season 96 points would be scored off turnovers. 

Sources:
The Helmet Project found here:
http://nationalchamps.net/Helmet_Project/index.htm
Photo © The B1G Network
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1145292-power-ranking-all-124-college-football-stadiums
Game summary © ESPN 

@ Penn State

 

The Hoosiers would take on the Nittany Lions at Beaver Stadium at University Park PA with a noon ET kickoff.

The Nittany Lions, who in the pre-season were ranked #2 in the country and were considered legitimate contenders for a national championship, found themselves 3-5 for the season and 0-5 in B1G play. Three games into the Big Ten season Penn State had parted ways with coach James Franklin as backers had grown impatient with his overall Big Ten performance. Franklin’s $49 million buyout would be the second largest in college football history, only behind Jimbo Fisher’s $76 million Texas A & M payout.  

The Hoosiers would enter the contest having never won at Bever Stadium in Happy Valley.

There had been close calls, but usually it had been a house of horrors. 

It all came down to a third and goal at the Penn State 7-yard line with 0:36 remaining in the game. Omar Cooper Jr. jumped to catch a pass from Fernando Mendoza in the back of the end zone, sweeping his inside foot within inches of the field of play to go ahead 27-24 to save the No 2 Hoosiers from their first loss of the season.  

“It was the most improbable victory I have ever been a part of,” Indiana coach Curt Cignetti said. “And there have been a better place to make it happen.”

The Hoosiers improved to 10-0 for the season and remained ranked #2 in the country. 

Sources:

The Helmet Project found here:

http://nationalchamps.net/Helmet_Project/index.htm

Photo © The B1G Network and ESPN

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1145292-power-ranking-all-124-college-football-stadiums

Game summary © ESPN