No.1 Indiana Football steamrolls Oregon in national semi-final, 56-22
ATLANTA — Seventy minutes before Indiana began its 56-22 Friday night Peach Bowl thrashing of Oregon and All-America linebacker Aiden Fisher stalked the Mercedes Benz Stadium Field with ferocity normally reserved for a Ridely Scott Gladiator movie. Woe to anyone getting in his way.
Eleven seconds into the game, All-American D’Angelo Ponds’ pick-six of Oregon quarterback Dante Moore rocked the Ducks into eventual submission.
Thirty-four minutes into the game, All-Big Ten center Pat Coogan recovered a quarterback Fernando Mendoza fumble after an 18-yard scramble. While Coogan’s first-down gesture lacked running back/receiver flair, it did lead to a third-quarter Mendoza touchdown pass to receiver E.J. Williams Jr. that ended the Ducks’ comeback hopes.
Forty-seven minutes into the game, defensive tackle Daniel Ndukwe, a reserve until Stephen Daley’s season-ending knee injury after the Ohio State victory, blocked a punt that led to another IU touchdown. Ndukwe added two sacks and a forced fumble.
At the end of the game, Mendoza was 17-for-20 for 177 yards, five touchdowns and no interceptions, then found time to discuss delayed gratification and stoicism because — why not?. Add the Alabama victory and Mendoza has eight touchdowns, no interceptions and just five incompletions in the playoffs.
They highlighted unprecedented dominance — IU outscored Alabama and Oregon 94-25 — that sent the top-seeded Hoosiers (15-0) into the Jan. 19 national championship game against 10th-seeded Miami (13-2).
“It’s a great win against a really good team,” coach Curt Cignetti said. “It started with Ponds’ pick-six. We created some turnovers and capitalized on defense. It’s a great win.”
If no one outside the program saw this national title opportunity coming, it makes no difference now.
“A lot of people don’t know our team and what we’ve got,” Cignetti said. “There were a lot of skeptics last year who thought that we were a fluke. That negative stuff fueled our returning guys. They we added some key people, including (Mendoza). We built off our successes. We won some big games on the road. It helps to have a quarterback who plays his best in the fourth quarter. So, here we are.”
Or, as Mendoza put it, “All that matters is the national championship.”
Friday night’s victory followed up on Indiana’s 30-20 regular-season win over the Ducks (13-2) and left Oregon coach Dan Lanning in admiration.
“All the credit in the world to Indiana,” he said. “I said before that they’re an unbelievably well-coached team and that was really apparent tonight. They started off hot, and they didn’t slow down.
“You see a really complete team. They obviously have a great chance to keep it going and have unbelievable success.”
Mercedes-Benz Stadium rocked to a Cream ‘n Crimson beat. Hoosier fan estimates surpassed 90 percent of the crowd, reflective of the large number of IU fans walking Atlanta streets on game day and of the 805,000 largest-in-the-nation alumni base that fueled it.
The resulting crowd noise likely contributed to the Ducks having three turnovers to IU’s zero.
“A shoutout to Hoosier Nation for being here,” Mendoza said. “They forced Oregon to go on a silent count. When you do that, it can account for points.”
The atmosphere — which included former IU baseball All-American and current Major League slugging superstar Kyle Schwarber as honorary captain and business giant and IU grad Mark Cuban — flipped the scenario from the first game, which was held at Oregon.
“They had a ton of fans here,” Moore said. “It was pretty loud. (IU fans) came out and showed out.”
IU had reached the semifinals with the lowest team talent composite among the four qualifiers according to 247Sports, with a No. 72 national ranking. Oregon led with a No. 5 ranking thanks to four straight top-15 national recruiting classes. Miami was 15th and Ole Miss was 21st.
What did that mean Friday night?
Not a darn thing.
Oregon had seven first-half possessions — two fumbles, two punts, one pick-six, one missed field goal and one touchdown. It had 121 total yards.
Four straight IU touchdown drives spanning the second and third quarters broke open the game.
“When you have good people and they buy in and prepare the right way,” Cignetti said, “and we have a lot of those guys. They’re high-character, smart guys that can play.”
Cignetti’s winning philosophy — highlighted by “Fast Physical Relentless” and “Smart Disciplined Poised” — showed on the opening kickoff with defensive back Bryon Baldwin’s rib rocking tackle, followed by Ponds’ pick-6 for a quick 7-0 IU lead.
“We play a lot of Cover Three,” Ponds said, “Coming out, I knew it was a RPO-type of deal. I played off so I could break on the ball. I read (Moore’s eyes) and got a jump on it. It was an amazing feeling to walk into the endzone.”
Oregon drove for the tying touchdown capped by quarterback Dante Moore’s 19-yard scoring pass.
Third-down completions of 23 yards to Sarratt and five yards to tight end Riley Nowakowski, followed by Roman Hemby runs of 12 and 11 yards, set up Mendoza’s eight-yard TD pass to Omar Cooper Jr. for a 14-7 lead near the end of the first quarter.
Defensive lineman Mario Landino recovered Moore’s fumble at the Oregon 3-yard line. Three plays later, running back Kaelon Black powered in for a 21-7 Hoosier lead with 8:17 left in the first half.
Mendoza’s 18-yard pass to Sarratt was followed by a 36-yard touchdown pass to Charlie Becker for a 28-7 lead.
Ndukwe forced Moore’s second fumble on a sack, and Landino recovered his second fumble. That led to Mendoza’s 2-yard touchdown pass to Sarratt for a 35-7 halftime lead.
IU opened the third quarter with Mendoza’s 13-yard touchdown pass to Williams for a 42-7 score. Following Ndukwe’s blocked punt, Mendoza added a three-yard scoring pass to Sarratt to counter a Miami touchdown and two-point conversion. Black added a 23-yard touchdown run before Oregon had a final score.
Next stop — Miami.
“It’s going to be a great game,” said Mendoza, a Miami native who grew up less than a mile from the University of Miami campus. “The Hurricanes are a fantastic team led by a great coach.
“It will be about us playing our brand of football, playing Indiana Hoosiers football. We don’t have to do anything out of character.”
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Postgame Notes
Oregon vs. Indiana
College Football Playoff Semifinal – Peach Bowl
Jan. 9, 2026
TEAM
• Indiana is 3-2 all-time against Oregon and has won three straight versus the Ducks.
• The Hoosiers are 2-1 in the College Football Playoff and 1-2 in the Peach Bowl.
• Indiana’s game captains were: OL Pat Coogan, LB Aiden Fisher, TE Riley Nowakowski and WR Elijah Sarratt.
• Indiana won the coin toss and deferred the opening kickoff. Oregon received the opening kick.
• The Offensive MVP of the game was QB Fernndo Mendoza and Defensive MVP was DB D’Angelo Ponds.
• The Hoosiers are 46-27-1 all-time as a ranked team, which includes a 3-3 record on a neutral site.
• Indiana turned three Oregon turnovers into 14 points in the game for the seventh game of the season with double-digit points off turnovers.
• IU has forced at least one turnover in seven straight games dating back to Oct. 25 versus UCLA and has multiple turnovers forced in 10 games this season.
• Its 35 first-half points are the most in a postseason game in program history and mark the 26th time since at least 1950 that Indiana has scored 35-or-more points in a first half.
• WRs Omar Cooper Jr. and Elijah Sarratt each caught a touchdown in the Peach Bowl and now have touchdown catches in the same game on seven occasions in 2025. They have each hauled in a scoring pass in 11 of 26 career games played together.
• With two rushing scores, Indiana posted multiple rushing touchdowns in 22 of 27 games and owns a 21-1 record in those contests since 2024. IU has multiple scores on the ground in 11 of 15 games in 2025.
Charlie Becker | WR | So.
• Caught his fourth career touchdown and his third in the last five games on a 36-yard score in the second quarter.
Kaelon Black | RB | R-Sr.
• Had his second career multi-touchdown game with two rushing touchdowns. It was his first multi-touchdown game since Week 14 against Purdue (11/28).
Jonathan Brady | WR | Sr.
• Moved into No. 5 on the single-season punt return yardage list with 16 in the game to push his season total to (entered with 347). He passed Thomas Lewis (342; 1993) for a spot in the top 5.
Omar Cooper Jr. | WR | R-Jr.
• His 8-yard touchdown reception from Fernando Mendoza in the first quarter moved his career total to 22 and No. 4 on the list. He trails Elijah Sarratt (23; 2024-25).
• The score puts his season total at 13 and is tied for No. 3 with Ernie Jones (13; 1987) on the single-season charts. He trails Elijah Sarratt (15; 2025) for No. 2.
Aiden Fisher | LB | Sr.
• Posted his 21st career game of 9-plus tackles with nine stops.
Mikail Kamara | DL | R-Sr.
• Owns at least one tackle in 49 of 51 career games played.
Mario Landino | DL | So.
• Had his first career fumble recovery when he picked up Dante Moore’s fumble at the Oregon 3-yard line in the first quarter.
• Recovered a second-quarter fumble for the first multi-fumble recovery game by a Hoosier since Josh Sanquinetti in 2023 versus Wisconsin.
Fernando Mendoza | QB | R-Jr.
• Produced the fourth 40-touchdown season in Big Ten history with five touchdown passes in the Peach Bowl to push his season total to 41. He passed C.J. Stroud (37; Ohio State, 2022) and Drew Brees (39; Purdue, 1998) to join the Ohio State trio of Dwayne Haskins (50; 2018), Stroud (44; 2021) and Justin Fields (41; 2019).
• The five touchdown passes in the game set an IU bowl record, breaking his own mark of three in The Rose Bowl Game last week and Nate Sudfeld’s Pinstripe Bowl performance in 2015.
• Moved into No. 3 on the single season passing yards chart with 177 yards passing to move his season total to 3,349. He passed Ben Chappell (3,295; 2010) in the process.
Daniel Ndukwe | DL | So.
• Had his first career sack when he brought down Dante Moore for a 6-yard loss in the second quarter.
• Recorded his first career forced fumble when he sacked Dante Moore for an 8-yard loss and stripped the ball loose for a Mario Landino recovery in the second quarter.
• Notched his third career blocked punt when he blocked James Ferguson-Reynolds’ punt at the Oregon 14-yard line and Kaiden Turner recovered it in the fourth quarter. It was his first blocked punt since he did so at Michigan State in 2024.
D’Angelo Ponds | DB | Jr.
• Picked off his seventh career pass on Oregon’s first play from scrimmage and returned it for a 25-yard touchdown.
• The pick-6 is the second of his career (Washington, 2024) and accounts for the fourth non-offensive touchdown of his career, along with two blocked punts for scores.
• Recorded the second defensive touchdown in IU postseason history and first since Jamar Johnson’s 63-yard return in the 2020 Gator Bowl versus Ole Miss (1/2/20).
• Caught his first career reception on a 6-yard connection with Fernando Mendoza in the second quarter.
Nico Radicic | K | R-So.
• With 155 consecutive extra points made, Radicic’s streak sits No. 3 in Big Ten history. No. 2 on the list is Wisconsin’s Rafael Gaglianone at 167 (2014-2018).
• Radicic’s eight extra points extended his career total to 236, passing Austin Starr (232; 2006-08) and LeVron Williams (230; 1998-2001) for No. 8 on the career list. He trails Andy Payne (238; 1997-2000) for No. 7.
• His eight total points pushed his season total to 132 and into No. 3 on the single-season charts, passing Griffin Oakes (125; 2015). He trails Anthony Thompson (154; 1989).
• His 8-for-8 effort on extra points moved his career total to 155, passing Griffin Oakes (147; 2014-17) for No. 2 on the career list. He trails Mitch Ewald (161; 2010-13) for No. 1.
• His eight extra points improved his season total to 84 which extends his own school record. He previously set the record in 2024 with 69.
• He holds nine of the top-10 single-game extra points made marks with No. 1 (11; Western Illinois, 2024), T-No. 2 (10; Indiana State, 2023), T-No. 4 (9; Illinois, 2025), (9; Purdue, 2024), T-No. 6 (8; Oregon) (8; Purdue, 2025), (8; UCLA, 2025), (8; Kennesaw State, 2025), (8; Nebraska, 2024).
Elijah Sarratt | WR | Sr.
• Had his 11th career multi-touchdown game with two receiving touchdowns to put his career total at 23 and is now No. 3 on the career list. He trails Jade Butcher (30; 1987) for No. 2.
• The two scores puts his season total at 15, passing Ernie Jones (13; 1987) for No. 2 on the single-season list. He trails James Hardy (16; 2007).
Kaiden Turner | LB | R-Jr.
• Recovered the blocked punt by Daniel Ndukwe at the Oregon 11-yard in the fourth quarter to set up Fernando Mendoza’s touchdown pass to Elijah Sarratt.
E.J. Williams Jr. | WR | R-Sr.+
• Scored his eighth career touchdown on his 13-yard reception in the third quarter.
Courtesy of IUHoosiers.com used with permission
