MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) 鈥� Fernando Mendoza lowered his pads into a defender, spun in a full circle, used his hand to keep his balance, and reached the ball over the goal line 鈥� an Indiana touchdown and a ready-made poster pic for a title run straight from the movies.
Maybe they鈥檒l call it 鈥淗oosiers.鈥�
The Heisman Trophy winner鈥檚 touchdown Monday night put an exclamation point on a 27-21 win over Miami that closed out an undefeated season and brought an improbable 鈥� maybe impossible? 鈥� national championship to a program that had known nothing but losing and indifference for almost 140 years.
鈥淟et me tell you: We won the national championship at Indiana University. It can be done,鈥� said coach Curt Cignetti, who took over a program with a nation-leading 713 losses and turned it into the game’s biggest winner in the span of two years.
Cignetti, the 64-year-old coaching lifer, started it. Mendoza helped get the Hoosiers over the line. He finished with 186 yards passing, but it was that tackle-breaking, sprawled-out 12-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-4 with 9:18 left that defined this game 鈥� and the Hoosiers’ season.
Indiana would not be denied.
鈥淚 had to go airborne,鈥� said Mendoza, who had his lip split and his arm bloodied by a ferocious Miami defense that sacked him three times and hit him many more. 鈥淚 would die for my team.鈥�
Mendoza’s TD gave Indiana a 24-14 lead 鈥� barely enough breathing room to hold off a frenzied charge by the hard-hitting Hurricanes 鈥� a team that barely made the College Football Playoff and barely showed up in the first half of the final before coming to life behind 112 yards and two scores from Mark Fletcher.
鈥淭hey’re the best thing that happened to the University of Miami in 25 years,鈥� said coach Mario Cristobal, who was part of the title run that put this colorful program on the map in the 1980s and ’90s.
The CFP trophy now heads to the most unlikely of places: Bloomington, Indiana 鈥� home of the college that famously boasts the most living alumni (805,000), including billionaire Mark Cuban and several thousand of his closest friends who packed Miami’s home stadium and turned a title-game ticket into a $4,000-or-more splurge.
鈥淚t’s way up there, that’s for damn sure,鈥� Cuban said when asked where this ranked among the out-of-nowhere success stories he helped bankroll on his reality show 鈥淪hark Tank.鈥�
Indiana finished 16-0 鈥� using the extra games afforded by the expanded 12-team playoff to match a perfect-season win total last compiled by Yale in 1894. President Donald Trump was in the stands for what he said 鈥渢urned out to be a great game鈥� after a slow start 鈥� Indiana led 10-0 at half.
In a fitting bit of symmetry, this undefeated title comes 50 years after Bob Knight鈥檚 basketball team went 32-0 to win it all in that state鈥檚 favorite sport.
That hasn鈥檛 happened since, and there鈥檚 already some thought that college football 鈥� in its evolving, money-soaked, name-image-likeness era 鈥� might not see a team like this again, either.
Players like Mendoza 鈥� a transfer from Cal who grew up just a few miles away from Miami鈥檚 campus, 鈥淭he U鈥� 鈥� certainly don鈥檛 come around often.
Two fourth-down gambles by Cignetti in the fourth quarter, after Fletcher鈥檚 second touchdown carved the Hurricanes’ deficit to 17-14, put the QB in position to shine.
The first was a 19-yard-completion to Charlie Becker on a back-shoulder fade those guys have been perfecting all season. Four plays later came a decision and play that wins championships.
Cignetti sent his kicker out on fourth-and-4 from the 12, but quickly called his second timeout. The team huddled on the field and the coach drew up a quarterback draw, hoping the Hurricanes would be in a defense they had shown before.
鈥淲e rolled the dice and said, 鈥楾hey鈥檙e going to be in it again and they were,鈥欌�� Cignetti said. 鈥淲e blocked it well, he broke a tackle or two and got in the end zone.鈥�
Mendoza’s play could very well join John Elway’s 鈥渉elicopter鈥� run in Super Bowl 32 as one of the greatest examples of a quarterback willing to put everything on the line to win it all. Mendoza might soon have something else in common with Elway: This game did little to diminish his projection as the first pick in the upcoming NFL draft.
鈥淓veryone on the team, including my coach, makes fun of my running style,鈥� Mendoza said. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 fourth down, so you鈥檝e got to put it all on the line. Every player, if they had that opportunity, they鈥檇 put their body on the line, too.鈥�
For Miami, it was a very close call.
A team listed 18th in the first CFP rankings moved to 10th and sneaked into the playoff, bringing as many questions about the process as the selection itself.
The Hurricanes proved they belonged all the way. Fletcher was a one-man force, hitting triple digits for the third time in four playoff games and turning a moribund offense into something much more.
His first touchdown run was a 57-yard burst through the right side that pulled Miami within 10-7 early in the third quarter.
But after Miami got the ball back and stalled deep in its own territory, Hoosiers lineman Mikail Kamara slid past the 鈥機anes鈥� punt protectors and . The ball ended up in the end zone and Isaiah Jones recovered to make it 17-7. Miami was in comeback mode the rest of the way.
It ended as a one-score game, and the 鈥機anes 鈥� the visiting team playing on their home field 鈥� moved into Indiana territory before Carson Beck鈥檚 heave got picked off by Jamari Sharpe, a Miami native who made sure the only miracle in this season would be Indiana鈥檚.
How big a miracle?
This was a program that was so bad that coach Lee Corso stopped a game in 1976 to take a picture of a scoreboard when it read 鈥淚ndiana 7, Ohio State 6.鈥� Indiana lost 47-7.
There were hundreds of losses in front of half-empty stadiums between then and now.
But those days are over. The Hoosiers 鈥� yes, the Hoosiers 鈥� are national champions.
鈥淚 know nobody thought it was possible,鈥� Cignetti said. 鈥淚t probably is one of the greatest sports stories of all time.鈥�
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