INDIANA FOOTBALL has begun the first five weeks of its regular season with the same pace of play and dominance that it possessed for much of last year in Curt Cignetti’s inaugural campaign as the Hoosiers’ head coach.
At No. 8 in the AP Poll and with an unblemished record of 5-0 currently, Indiana has worked its way through the near-first half of the season with relative ease, save for its first road contest at Iowa last Saturday, where it escaped with a 20-15 victory.
Following that win, an often stoic Cignetti broke down what he did on the sideline as crunch time neared against the Hawkeyes.
“We haven’t had many of those close games here [at IU],” Cignetti says. “I thought our coaches and our players did a great job when it was a game on the line, and I did everything I could to keep everyone loose and asking everybody if they were having fun. That’s what has worked for me, to be honest with you.”
Whether it’s close games like Saturday’s or blowout wins like a 63-10 rout the week prior when it hosted Illinois, a top 10 team at the time, Hoosiers on the sidelines and in the stands have been having fun in Cignetti’s first two seasons as leader of the cream and crimson.
After a 2024 season in which IU went 11-2 overall, its only losses coming against No. 2 Ohio State and No. 7 Notre Dame, Cignetti and co. brought 39 newcomers into the program for the 2025 season, with 18 transfers from other universities.
Of those transfers, arguably none has had a more impactful start to the season than junior quarterback Fernando Mendoza.
Mendoza, who transferred from the University of California, is in the midst of what could be a potential Heisman campaign. But for now, he has led them to an undefeated start behind 1,208 yards passing on 73 percent completion and a 16-to-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio.
His biggest play yet came on Sunday at Iowa when he evaded the defensive blitz on 3rd and 10 before he found Elijah Sarratt on a slant with less than two minutes remaining in the game for a 49-yard receiving touchdown.
Despite the big numbers and even bigger plays Mendoza has tallied, he credited those around him as the drive to his success when speaking after the win against Illinois.
“I would say when I have such great teammates and coaches, it gives me security,” Mendoza says. “It’s the drive to get better. You’re never going to be 100-percent perfect, and if you are, there will still be that one play in the game. I’m never going to be complacent, and that’s the reason I came here, was to be the best quarterback I could become.”
He also noted that Indiana’s potential is just beginning to show itself.
“I think we showed that we’re a great Big Ten team,” he says. “We can run and throw the ball. … I think it’s starting to click, and it’s starting to come together. I can’t speak defensively, but as an offense, we’re meshing together and there’s still stuff I need to clean up.”
On both sides of the ball, the team continues to improve and currently sits as one of two in the nation with a top 10 offense and defense, alongside Texas Tech.
Heading into week six of its schedule, the Hoosiers average 270 yards per game when passing. While from a rushing standpoint, they average 267.8 yards per game, with Roman Hemby and Kaelon Black leading as the top ball carriers.
And they’ll need every bit of that balanced attack when they travel to No. 2 Oregon next, a team that is coming off a 30-24 win at No. 3 Penn State just a week ago and has shown signs of an equally lethal offensive attack.
But as the Hoosiers go to Eugene, preparing to face their toughest test of the season, it’s games like last weekend’s that Sarratt is thankful for, knowing there will be more adversity to come.
