Indiana Continues Destruction Tour in Stampede to CFP National Championship Game

Curt Cignetti is operating at a higher frequency with each beatdown, guiding the Hoosiers to unimaginable heights that are real—but still hard to comprehend.

Indiana coach Curt Cignetti holds up the Peach Bowl trophy as quarterback Fernando Mendoza and the Hoosiers look on. / Kevin D. Liles/Sports Illustrated

ATLANTA — According to the Indiana football equipment personnel, Curt Cignetti’s AT&T headset is a slightly older model than what most of the staff wears. Since the 64-year-old coach is, himself, a slightly older model, he prefers a headset that covers both ears and blocks out as much stadium noise as possible.

But as this mind-boggling season has kept building upon itself, you start to wonder what he’s hearing in that headset. Is he channeling his former boss, Nick Saban, the GOAT of the profession? His late father, Frank, who is enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame down the street from Mercedes-Benz Stadium? 

Or is it some other voice—a football deity nobody else has been able to reach until now? Has he tapped into a higher level of enlightenment? What’s the frequency, Curt?

Because we have never seen anyone do what Cignetti continues to do, as he and his Hoosiers author the greatest college football story ever told. He has mastered his craft to the point of doing something seemingly impossible. 

Formerly downtrodden Indiana is 15–0 and a game away from a perfect national championship season. And the level of domination is only escalating.

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Indiana 56, Oregon 22 in the Peach Bowl on Friday was the latest demolition of a high-powered program. It follows the 38–3 emasculation of Alabama eight days earlier in the Rose Bowl, making the combined 69-point margin of victory the largest in College Football Playoff history in consecutive games.

The Hoosiers are a +4 turnover margin in the CFP, building on their nation-leading +21 for the season. They continue to pound out rushing yards when they need them, while containing the opponent. Their receivers continue to catch everything. They have a quarterback on an incredible roll, with Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza throwing eight TD passes with only five incompletions in the latest two beatdowns.

This continues a season of vicious beatdowns delivered by a program that used to be the one taking all the punches. According to stat guru Greg Harvey, Indiana is the first team since the 19th century to score 55 or more points and win by 30 or more points seven different times in a season.

Indiana is an unconfined monster rampaging across the land. Next, and final, stop: South Florida, for a winner-take-all game against the Miami Hurricanes. 

“One more,” says Indiana school president Pamela Whitten as she came off the field, doing an excellent Cignetti impersonation by refusing to get carried away in victory. “Got to finish the drill.”

Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza embraces wide receiver Elijah Sarratt. / Kevin D. Liles/Sports Illustrated

Miami will be playing in its home stadium, but it remains to be seen whether it will feel like a real home game for The U. Because Hoosier Nation keeps showing up in astonishing numbers, dwarfing opposing crowds from Alabama and Oregon. This was another neutral-site home game for Indiana.

Mendoza noted that when the Hoosiers played the Ducks in famously noisy Autzen Stadium in October, they committed “five or six pre-snap penalties.”

“Seven,” corrected Cignetti, deadpan and demanding as ever.

The silent count Indiana had to use in Eugene, Ore., was not necessary in Mercedes-Benz Stadium—not for the Hoosiers, at least. It was for the Ducks.

“Going on silent count is always tough,” Mendoza said. “Making the other team go on silent count, that might as well have counted for some points.”

In fact, it took exactly one play from scrimmage for all those Indiana fans to erupt. Star cornerback D’Angelo Ponds jumped an out route and intercepted Oregon quarterback Dante Moore, returning it 25 yards for a stunning touchdown. 

“I kind of played off [receiver Malik Benson], so I could break on the ball,” Ponds said. “Kind of read [Moore’s] eyes and got a jump on it. It was an amazing feeling walking into the end zone.”

Oregon briefly rallied, driving to tie the game, but from that point forward it was an Indiana avalanche. Offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan came out with a run-heavy approach, a carryover from the Alabama game. Then he threw the curve on Indiana’s fourth possession, with Mendoza dropping back and unleashing his powerful, accurate arm on four straight plays. The last was a deep shot to Charlie Becker, who showcased his athleticism with another leaping, contested catch for the touchdown.

Hoosiers running back Kaelon Black ran for 63 yards and two touchdowns against the Ducks. / Kevin D. Liles/Sports Illustrated

Defensively, the Hoosiers kept attacking Moore in waves, confusing him with coverages that led to holding the ball, then delivering hits with their relentless pass rush. Moore committed two more turnovers in the first half, one when freshman running back Dierre Hill Jr. inadvertently knocked the ball out of his hand and one when he was sacked by Daniel Ndukwe.

Ndukwe is the latest star to rise into the spotlight in a program that never had anything resembling quality depth before. The sophomore edge rusher from Georgia—a three-star recruit who chose the Hoosiers over James Madison, Central Florida, Appalachian State and Arkansas State—didn’t record a tackle all season until November. He didn’t record a sack until Friday night, when he dropped Moore twice. For good measure, he blocked a punt in the second half to set up yet another Indiana touchdown.

“We have a lot of those kind of guys,” Cignetti said. “They’re high-character, smart guys that can play, and [defensive coordinator Bryant] Haines puts them in position to make plays.”

Haines has found a way to demoralize three straight high-level quarterbacks. Indiana held Ohio State’s Julian Sayin to a single touchdown while picking him off once and flustering him in the red zone. It knocked Alabama’s Ty Simpson out of the game while forcing a fumble on a scramble. And what it did to Moore was ruthless.

“I think that all defensive coordinators—or at least the good ones that I’ve been around—have a healthy fear that they’re not as good as others might think,” Haines said. “You’re always chasing perfection.”

Oregon quarterback Dante Moore lost two fumbles and threw a pick-six in the first half against an unrelenting Indiana defense. / Kevin D. Liles/Sports Illustrated

This is the perfect mindset to have when your boss is Cignetti. He’s yet to seem overly impressed by his team’s 15–0 record, or his 26–2 mark in two seasons at a school that had lost more football games than any other. His sideline mien has become its own meme show, with one blank glare after another in response to jaw-dropping plays his team is making.

Cignetti’s emotional flatline is charmingly counterbalanced by the golly-gee enthusiasm of Mendoza, who could certainly run for (and win) public office sometime in the future. But the old coach has allowed himself a couple of wisecracks following these last two triumphs.

After beating Alabama, he observed that this Indiana run “would make a hell of a movie.”

And after the Duck hunt Friday, Cignetti said that he actually was not thinking ahead to the title game just yet. “I’m thinking about cracking open a beer,” he chirped.

Get the man a beer. A case. An entire brewery. Curt Cignetti has tapped into a new level of genius. The wisdom percolating between his ears is inexplicable, undefinable and yet very real.

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