IU, ‘chip on our shoulder,’ adds to CFP dominance

ATLANTA — Dominance has been a tenet of Indiana football from the moment coach Curt Cignetti arrived on campus.

Since the start of the 2024 season, Indiana leads the nation in points margin, outscoring its opponents by 28.8 points per game, 5.4 more than any other team. But every step on Indiana’s historic journey through the College Football Playoff has brought angst about whether the Hoosiers will continue to win with style — or continue to win at all. CFP games are supposed to be hard-fought, like Thursday’s semifinal between Miami and Ole Miss at the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl.

But Indiana has no interest in drama, just more dominance. The top-seeded Hoosiers clobbered No. 5 Oregon 56-22 on Friday at the CFP semifinal at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, taking the lead on the first play from scrimmage with a defensive score and never looking back. Indiana led 42-7 and scored touchdowns on four consecutive offensive drives, recycled a familiar script on another massive stage and avoided the fate other teams endured in a repeat matchup against an opponent it had beaten.

The Hoosiers improved to 15-0 and opened as a 7.5-point favorite over No. 10 seed Miami in the Jan. 19 national championship game, according to DraftKings Sportsbook odds. They will be facing the Hurricanes on their home field, Hard Rock Stadium, but in what will be a homecoming for Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza, the Heisman Trophy winner.

“We always come in here with a huge chip on our shoulder, something to prove,” wide receiver Charlie Becker told ESPN. “A lot of people doubted us. They say it’s going to be close games every game we played, or they say, ‘We’re going to take the other team.’ But I feel like we’ve come in here and proven that we can handle these kinds of games, and as the year goes on, our chip on our shoulder just grows more and more, which gets the dog in us to want to come out even more.”

Becker said the completeness with which Indiana wins is forged by Cignetti, who improved to 26-2 as the Hoosiers’ coach. Indiana beat Alabama and Oregon in its two CFP games by a combined score of 94-25.

“There was a lot of skepticism after last year, that we were a fluke,” Cignetti said. “That [2024] team did a lot of great things and got it all started. That team never trailed until the ninth game of the year, and when it did, 10-0 in the first quarter up at Michigan State, they scored 47 straight. … I think a lot of that negative stuff in the media fueled the guys returning from this team, and we added some real key pieces.”

Indiana’s onslaught began on the first play from scrimmage when cornerback D’Angelo Ponds jumped a route to Oregon’s Malik Benson, intercepted the pass from Dante Moore and strolled into the end zone for his third scoring return in as many seasons. Ponds saw the play as a run-pass option and played off Benson so he could break on the ball.

“Kind of read [Moore’s] eyes and got a good jump on it,” Ponds said. “It’s just an amazing feeling, walking into the end zone.”

Said Indiana defensive coordinator Bryant Haines: “I know that [Moore] left our last game thinking, ‘I was seeing ghosts. I’ve cleaned those mistakes up. I’m going to be better this time.’ For your first throw to cost your team six points, I think the impact on him was [significant].”

Moore then lost two fumbles — his first in an Oregon uniform — later in the first half, one from a Daniel Ndukwe sack. Indiana recovered both deep in Oregon territory and converted them into touchdowns to extend its lead.

Mendoza had no such mistakes, delivering another near-flawless CFP performance by completing 17 of 20 passes for 177 yards and five touchdowns. In two CFP contests, the Heisman winner has eight touchdown passes, zero interceptions and only five incompletions.

“My job is to be effective with really accurate balls and really great decisions, and that’s what I pride myself on every single play,” Mendoza said. “So I’m glad those results have come. However, none of that matters. All that matters right now is [the] national championship.”

Mendoza is a Miami native who attended the same high school (Christopher Columbus) as Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal, who teamed there with Mendoza’s father, also named Fernando. The younger Mendoza grew up less than a mile from the University of Miami’s campus and attended games at Hard Rock Stadium but never played there.

Now, he will try to win Indiana’s first national championship in what Mendoza called “a very full-circle moment.”

“We have definitely talked about it,” Indiana quarterback Alberto Mendoza, Fernando’s younger brother, told ESPN. “We saw Miami in the playoffs, we’re like, ‘Wow, play Miami in Miami.’ We knew we were going to make it, but just knowing that we might see them, Miami at Miami, is just kind of crazy because everyone from my hometown are Miami fans. It will mean a lot.”

Alberto Mendoza said he expected some Miami fans to root for him and Fernando in the title game — not that Indiana needs any extra support. Hoosiers fans flooded Atlanta and filled the stands at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, providing a home-like atmosphere.

“Seeing the fans really pop out and show love, it really puts it into perspective, just the gravity of everything that we’ve done here,” Ndukwe said.

Indiana isn’t finished, though. A once-unthinkable opportunity in the national championship awaits.

Another chance to win. Another chance to dominate.

“It’s a standard at this point,” Becker said. “But again, the job’s not finished. We still have another game.”

ESPN’s Pete Thamel contributed to this report.