Indiana football team head coach Curt Cignetti has been clear about where he stands on Fernando Mendoza’s Heisman chances. After the Hoosiers’ 13-10 win over No. 1 Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship Game, he called the quarterback’s case a “no-brainer” on FOX, pointing to an undefeated season, Indiana’s first outright Big Ten title since 1945, and a resume built on efficiency and composure in the biggest spotlight.
That mindset showed up in the defining moment of the game. As detailed in a New York Times piece, Cignetti refused to sit on the ball late, even with a slim lead and Ohio State out of timeouts.
“I wasn’t going to play not to lose,” Cignetti said. “We were playing to win. You’ve got to get a first down. I wasn’t going to punt the ball back to them with two minutes to go and no timeouts. We had to allow our guys to make plays. We were getting on top of them at certain points in that game, and Fernando was throwing great deep balls. And it was a great play.”
That deep shot call, rather than a conservative run and punt, is now central to Mendoza’s Heisman narrative. He entered the night completing 72% of his passes with 32 touchdowns and only five interceptions, and against Ohio State, he added a workmanlike line capped by the throw that beat the Buckeyes. It was less about gaudy numbers and more about answering when everything was on the line against the top team in the country.
The emotion spilled straight into the postgame scene. Wideout Charlie Becker, one of the heroes of the night, turned to the Ohio State faithful and broke out the infamous “O-S-F***-U” chant, a raw, unfiltered release from a program that has spent decades in the Buckeyes’ shadow. It was the kind of moment that instantly embeds itself in rivalry lore.
Now, Indiana is tracking toward the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff, carrying an unbeaten record, a head coach who refuses to coach scared, and a quarterback whose Heisman case is built on exactly that kind of courage.
Cignetti’s aggressive call and blunt explanation became the mic drop on Ohio State and a statement about what this Indiana team intends to be in December and beyond.
