Fernando Mendoza's clutch throws and Indiana's stifling defense helped shock top-ranked Ohio State, securing Indiana's first outright Big Ten title in nearly 80 years. Now they will likely be ranked No. 1 in the country on Sunday for the first time in school history.
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — The Indiana Hoosiers won their first outright Big Ten football championship since 1945 on Saturday, upsetting the No. 1-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes 13-10 at Lucas Oil Stadium.
They did it with timely throws from quarterback Fernando Mendoza and a stifling defense that stopped the Buckeyes twice inside the 5-yard line in the final 16 minutes of the game.
This was D-Day, too.
"We are Big Ten champions and you talk about changing the way people think, but I've got three and a half weeks to get this team humbled and hungry for the playoffs,'' a jubilant Indiana coach Curt Cignetti said. "We're going to go to the playoffs as the No. 1 seed. A lot people probably didn't think that was possible. But that only matters if you finish that way, too.''
Sure, they are playoff games to win, but Saturday night was the topper to one of the most improbably college football seasons in the history of the game. Before Cignetti was hired, Indiana went 3-24 over three Big Ten seasons. Now they've got 11-2 last year, and 13-0 this year.
Indiana shared a Big Ten title in 1967 and went to the Rose Bowl, but their last outright conference crown came in 1945, just a few months after World War II ended.
Now they are off to the College Football Playoff as the No. 1 seed and the favorite — or at least one of them — to win their first football national title. A return trip to the Rose Bowl is likely, as well And they did it by beating blueblood Ohio State, the defending national champions who had beaten Indiana 30 times in a row.
Now, that winning streak is over. And Ohio State is unbeaten no more.
The Hoosiers trailed 10-6 at halftime, squandering three potential first-half scoring drives by settling for two Nico Radicic field goals and a third drive that ended with a Radicic miss from 39 yards. It was the first kick he's missed all year.
In the third quarter, Indiana forced a punt on Ohio State's first possession and then proceeded to march right down the field to take the lead. They went 88 yards in seven plays, with the big one a bomb down the middle of the field from Mendoza to rising star Charlie Becker for 51 yards. Four plays later, Mendoza found Elijah Sarratt in the left corner of the end zone and he made a great catch for a 17-yard score.
Ohio State has so dominant in 2025 that this was the first time they had trailed in the second half all year. But they still had the weapons to come back.
They had a 12-play, 70-yard drive at the end of the third quarter, but the Buckeyes went for it on fourth down from the 5-yard line. Ohio State quarterback Julian Saying tried to sneak it for the first down, and he thought he had it. But after a review, it was ruled his knee was down and Indiana took over.
In the fourth quarter, Ohio State had a 15-play drive that covered 81 yards and took nearly 8 minutes off the clock, but the Indiana defense came through again. Ohio State had a second-and-2 from the 10-yard line, but running Bo Jackson was stopped for just a yard, and then on third down, Sayin's pass in the end zone was broken up Rolijah Hardy.
Jayden Fielding, who had missed only two field goals all year, came out to attempt a 27-yard chip shot — but he missed.
Indiana took over with 2:44 to go, and Mendoza basically iced the game with a 33-yard pass to Becker. They ran the ball three times to burn up all of Ohio State's timeouts and then punted the ball away. Ohio State took over on their own 14-yard line with 18 seconds to go. They did nothing the first two plays, and Sayin completed a long pass as time ran out.
The Hoosiers were champions — finally.
The 12-team College Football Playoff field will be announced at Noon ET on Sunday, and the Hoosiers will most certainly be the No. 1 seed.
It's the most amazing turnaround in college football history. This is a program, mind you, that had lost more games than anyone in the sport before Cignetti arrived.
And now they are 13-0, Big Ten champions and the No. 1 seed.
Amazing.
“We were never supposed to be in this position, but now we're the flipping champs,” Mendoza shouted on television before he was selected the game’s MVP. "We are brothers, we know how to stick together and we’re the toughest glue ever.”
Ohio State coach Ryan Day was disappointed with his team and all of their missed opportunities.
“I'm very disappointed just overall with how we played. We didn't play very well in the situations,'' Day told reporters after the game. " Third downs were not very good, and we weren't very good in the red zone obviously in the end. So, yes, very disappointed.
“I thought Indiana played really well, did a great job. But just obviously we're all disappointed in the locker room that we didn't finish out this regular season the way we wanted to."
Day said the loss will be “a major lesson for this team” and “a tough lesson to learn.” He also made it clear that their goals are still ahead of them. There's still plenty of football left to go for the 12-1 Buckeyes.
“The season’s not over,” Day said. “Got a lot of football ahead of us.”