This wasn’t the chest-out, chin-up version of Curt Cignetti that has spent the last two seasons telling anyone who would listen that Indiana football was coming. This wasn’t swagger or salesmanship. This was the stripped-down voice of a man who might be the best leader in college football, delivering the simplest truth about a program that just changed its history.
“This is a great win. Gutty game. Hard-fought, physical football game,” Cignetti said. “Wasn’t perfect by either team. We found a way to survive it, made the plays when we had to.”
Indiana did more than survive. It claimed its first Big Ten championship by physically outlasting a heavyweight that has made a living punishing teams in these moments. Eight tackles for loss. Five sacks. It felt like a decade of frustration finally pushing back.
“That’s been who we’ve been all year…We’ve always been high on TFLs and sacks. We were dialing up those blitzes, got the quarterback off rhythm.”
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Aiden Fisher, the defense’s voice, laid out the message that guided the final minutes.
“I told the defense once we got the lead in the fourth quarter, if they don’t score, they don’t win,” he said. “We knew it was going to be on us.”
The moment crystallized on the final defensive snap. Rolijah Hardy, isolated in man coverage, tracked the ball, extended, and broke up a pass that would have rewritten everything.
“He played an amazing game,” Fisher said. “He worked so hard to earn to be in that position.”
Indiana didn’t tense up in the fourth quarter because this roster had already been pressure-tested. Oregon. Iowa. Penn State.
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“When the clock started to tick down, we all probably felt like, we’ve been here and we’ve won and they’ve never been here,” Cignetti said.
Fernando Mendoza felt it too. He also felt the hit that knocked him flat on the first snap of the game.
“Although I got hit, I was never going to stay down,” he said. “I will die for my brothers on that field. No hit is taking me out of that game.”
That defiance fed the moment that swung the night. Up 13-10 with 2:41 to go, facing third and six, Indiana refused to play not to lose.
“I wasn’t going to play not to lose. We were playing to win,” Cignetti said.
Mendoza rewarded that trust with a 33-yard dime to Charlie Becker, a perfect throw at the perfect time, and Ohio State never recovered.
For the players who lived through the old Indiana, the meaning landed differently.
“It means a lot,” Isaiah Jones said. “For any of the Indiana doubters, for any of the Curt Cignetti doubters, I think this was the final nail in the coffin.”
The bond between coach and roster formed the backbone of the climb.
“There’s something about Coach Cig that just makes you want to play your heart out for him,” Fisher said. “He brings out the best in everybody.”
For Mendoza, family shaped the night as much as football. More than 30 relatives came from Miami, including his mother.
“It means a ton to see my family travel not knowing the outcome,” he said. “Hoosier Nation showed out. Every third down they got loud. That really jolted the momentum.”
Even with the Big Ten trophy in hand and a No. 1 seed secured, Cignetti stayed true to the wiring that built all of this.
“I’m kind of a what’s next kind of guy,” he said.
Mendoza echoed the program’s core belief.
“It’s about being process-oriented, never being complacent,” he said. “We’re competing against ourselves to be the best version of ourselves.”
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Cignetti allowed himself only the briefest flicker of personal reflection.
“I think I’m going to have my moment when we finish this press conference,” he said.
For Indiana, the moment had already arrived. A night when the Hoosiers stopped predicting their rise and finally lived it.
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