LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – In any historic season, you need a little magic. Indiana worked some on Saturday in Happy Valley.
Are you kidding? Down four, 87 yards to go, no timeouts, and a fan base Googling ‘CFP tiebreakers’ just moments earlier.
This is a game you don’t win. Unless it is The Year.
Indiana 27, Penn State 24. Fernando Mendoza to Omar Cooper, a seven-yard touchdown pass with 36 ticks of the clock left. Mendoza’s foot coming down inside the endline with two inches to spare.
The No. 2-ranked Hoosiers looked as dead as you can look. They had flatlined in the second half. They’d seen a 20-7 lead turn into a 21-17 deficit with just over a minute to play. This was it. This was the crack that would allow all the doubters to come rushing through.
You can hear the criticism. This may be a new Indiana. But not in Happy Valley. Not in a place they had never won. Not in a stadium where they were 0-for-13.
First play of the potential game-winning drive, Fernando Mendoza drops back and is sacked for the third time in the game. No way.
If the Hoosiers go on to have the kind of special season it appears they are on their way to having, the next nine plays and 87 yards will be recounted like some kind of Homeric epic.
Mendoza to Cooper for 22 yards. Spike. Mendoza to E.J. Williams for 12 yards, out of bounds. Mendoza, pressured, overthrows Cooper deep down the field. Second down, Mendoza throws a bullet down the middle to Riley Nowakowski, 29 yards to the Penn State 24.
Mendoza throws left for Charlie Becker, who makes a highlight reel catch under pressure, keeping a foot inbounds at the Penn State seven.
Mendoza throws two incompletions, for Becker, then Williams, before finding Cooper in the very back of the end zone for the game-winner.
“Refuse to lose, basically,” an emotional Curt Cignetti told FOX Sports after the game. “Sacked on the one. Hadn’t done anything the last five or six passes. Getting no protection, right? They’re running the ball through us. Play-action pass. No timeouts left. Make a play on second and who knows what for a first down. Great play in the end zone. Didn’t draw it up in the dirt, but we saw what they were doing, and it was a great throw and catch.”
Indiana improved to 10-0. It earned its first win ever at Penn State. It was outgained by 10 yards. Outrushed by one yards. The mistakes it hasn’t made this season, it made. Mendoza threw an interception that gave Penn State a short field to take the lead. Cooper dropped a first-half touchdown, and Indiana had to settle for a field goal. The defense gave up three straight scoring drives in the second half, two for touchdowns.
Sometimes, you just have to keep plugging away.
“You know what,” Cignetti said. “This was an unbelievable win. I’ve seen a lot of stuff in my days. I’ve never seen anything quite like this. … We played a little short-handed, but that’s part of the deal for every team in America. We’ve got to play better in a lot of areas, but I’m proud of these kids.”
At this point, who isn’t?
Copyright 2025 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.
