'We Have Something Special': Indiana Football Dominates Purdue, Nabs First 12-0 Season

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The list is short, but it's prestigious.

Ohio State a few times. Michigan once. Oregon once. It's hard, Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti said, for Big Ten teams to finish the regular season undefeated.

But the dinner table featuring some of college football's most iconic brands now has to pull up another seat. It's not hard to find — it's colored in cream and crimson.

"Indiana, now," Cignetti said, winking.

The No. 2 Hoosiers (12-0, 9-0 Big Ten) capped their unblemished regular season with a 56-3 win over archrival Purdue (2-10, 0-9 Big Ten) on Friday night at Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette.

Indiana is 12-0 for the first time in program history. The Hoosiers went undefeated once before — in 1945, when they finished 9-0-1 — but they've never finished the regular season with a win in every game. Cignetti hasn't been undefeated in the regular season, either. He's had a lot of one-loss seasons, but never perfection.

Until now.

Cignetti doesn't want all the credit. It's a team, he said, and everyone from IU President Pamela Whitten and athletic director Scott Dolson down to the players, coaches and support staff contributed to nights like Friday

But it's the empire Cignetti built — the one that few deemed possible.

"This is something that a lot of people probably thought couldn't happen," Cignetti said. "And it just goes to show you, when you have a commitment and a plan and you have the right people in place, anything's possible. So here we are, but more work to be done."

When he first took over the reins of the program in the winter of 2023, Cignetti didn't have time to think if he could lead the Hoosiers, then college football's all-time losingest program, to such heights. It all happened so fast, he said, that he was merely trying to figure out what to pack and bring with him.

After Friday night, he'll head back to Bloomington with valued cargo. The Old Oaken Bucket trophy in hand. The chance to play for a Big Ten championship Dec. 6 in Indianapolis. And yet another immovable place in Indiana's record books.

"First team in Indiana history to go 12-0 in the regular season, and that's absolute," Cignetti said. "Regardless of what happens from here on out, this team will always be the first team in Indiana history to go undefeated in the regular season, so it's a great job by the players.

"We've got a lot of good players that have high character, a lot of leadership."

One of them rose to the occasion before Indiana's offense took the field Friday night. Senior center Pat Coogan rallied the unit and delivered what quarterback Fernando Mendoza described as "a really motivating speech" that resonated with much of his audience.

"He's like, 'Look at us, a bunch of misfits. Guys from FCS, G5, JMU, bunch of transfers. A bunch of rejects that got replaced with their old schools coming to Indiana, and now we have a chance to be 12-0,'" Mendoza said of Coogan's speech. "And now, we are 12-0.

"So, what a great opportunity with such a special group of guys. Like Coogan said, all the misfits from across the nation coming together and becoming 12-0 for the first time in Indiana Hoosiers history."

Cignetti admitted he doesn't quite know the ingredients that powered Indiana's unblemished regular season. Senior linebacker Aiden Fisher said it starts with the buy-in from each player.

"Everybody just wants to win," Fisher said postgame. "It doesn't matter how you do it. It doesn't matter what your role is. You get your role and you kind of expand on it. You embrace it, and I think that's what makes us special. A like-minded team that just wants to win is a very dangerous team, and I think we've been proven that."

Senior defensive end Stephen Daley is a prime example. Daley spent 2024 at Kent State, which went 0-12. He had to learn how to win at Indiana, and he quickly bought in to the Hoosiers' philosophy.

Daley had four-and-a-half tackles for loss Friday, extending his Big Ten-leading total to 18 stops in the opposing backfield. He's felt his mindset switch from hoping to be competitive in games to settling for nothing but the standard set by Cignetti and his teammates.

"I think that's what's kind of been driving us this whole season, just not wanting to disappoint the man next to you, and really just loving each other," Daley said postgame. "Even if I mess up, I know (Fisher) got my back. If he messes up, I'll have his back. I think that's been the driving force for us this season."

Cignetti admitted he had questions entering Friday. He didn't know if his team still had the killer instinct to put teams away. He was unsure whether everybody on his 105-man roster could play for the IU trident and eliminate all selfishness. Perhaps most importantly, he wanted to see improvement after two games where he felt Indiana didn't grow.

So, Cignetti challenged Indiana to improve. He wanted to see an exclamation point, not a question mark, after Friday night. The Hoosiers delivered.

Afterward, they lit cigars in the visiting locker room located within the southwest corner of Ross-Ade Stadium. Cignetti allows his team to celebrate victories for 24 hours before moving onto the next opponent, and the Hoosiers had plenty to savor.

But they still have much more work to do.

Indiana will play in the Big Ten championship game for the first time in program history. After Dec. 6, the Hoosiers will flip the calendar toward the College Football Playoff and a potential run for a national championship.

Cignetti said everybody within Indiana's program understands the road ahead. There's no fear, no anxiety, only excitement.

After all, it's another chance to make history.

"Everybody on the team — coaches, support staff, players — we've all worked our entire lives to get to this point," Mendoza said. "So, it's not like complacency, like, 'Oh, yeah, we're 12-0, great.' Like, we've got to keep on going harder, and we've got to train harder.

"Because this is just a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity we have ahead of us."

Fisher, who was asked postgame what the team's 12-0 record means to him, said he's already moved onto the Big Ten championship game. He and his teammates were already discussing possible scenarios while smoking their cigars in the locker room.

It's a good accomplishment, Fisher said, and he hopes he can cherish it more in a few years. But on Friday night, only half an hour removed from taking the Old Oaken Bucket on a joy ride around Ross-Ade Stadium, his mind was occupied only by winning more games, reaching greater heights and creating new reasons to celebrate.

"We know we have something special with this team," Fisher said, "and we know we can take this thing pretty far."