INDIANAPOLIS — Why not air it out if you’re Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti and offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan with the biggest game in program history on the line when the safe play was to throw short if you throw it at all?
Why not leave it up to quarterback Fernando Mendoza — the Heisman Trophy contender who was nearly knocked out of the game on the first play — and building superstar receiver Charlie Becker, a former backup who is a backup no longer to make the game’s biggest play?
Why not dare greatly against Ohio State’s best-in-the-nation defense, against a program IU hadn’t beaten since 1988 and a defending national championship team with a 16-game winning streak with the audacity that led to the transformation from former losingest major college program to a national powerhouse?
Indiana (13-0) dared and won 13-10 over the top-ranked Buckeyes Saturday night at Lucas Oil Stadium. It won its first outright Big Ten title since 1945 and its first ever Big Ten title game.
“It was a great win,” Cignetti said. “It was a hard-fought game. We found a way to survive. We made the plays when we had to. When the game is on the line, Fernando was throwing dimes, Becker was making plays, (Elijah) Sarratt with a big touchdown and our defense was creating a lot of issues.”
IU challenged Ohio State (12-1) as no team had done this season, and the Buckeyes blinked. They missed a chip-shot field goal, missed on fourth-and-one at the Indiana 5-yard line when going for a go-ahead touchdown and failed to stop the Hoosiers when it mattered most.
“I told the team when the game was on the line,” Cignetti said, “we’ve been here before and won.”
It was payback for last season’s loss at Ohio State and left Buckeyes’ coach Ryan Day wondering about what might have been.
