West Coast Win
Pete DiPrimio | IUHoosiers.com
EUGENE, Ore. - It was a day to believe, and Indiana did.
It was a day to overcome and the No. 7/7 Hoosiers did.
It was a day to celebrate, and you’d better believe IU did after Saturday’s 30-20 win over No. 3/2 Oregon at sold-out Autzen Stadium.
“We really believed it could happen,” head coach Curt Cignetti told Voice of the Hoosiers Don Fischer in the post-game radio show. “I had a special feeling about it. At my other (coaching) places we had big road wins. This was the same feeling.”
IU (6-0 overall, 3-0 in the Big Ten) entered the game 0-46 on the road against top-5 teams. It is now 1-46.
“This shows that Indiana is a real football team,” quarterback Fernando Mendoza said.
The Hoosiers broke the Ducks’ will as well as their winning mystique, snapping Oregon’s 23-game, regular-season winning streak and 18-game home winning streak, and they did it in double-digit fashion by scoring the game's final 10 points.
“We never said it would be easy,” Mendoza said during a post-game CBS interview. “We came in here, overcame adversity fantastically and rose to the moment.
“When the offense was on the field and we needed a game-winning drive, we did it. When the defense was on the field and we needed a stop, we got it.”
Indiana, which shares the Big Ten lead with No. 1 Ohio State, won without perfection. The offensive line had five pre-snap penalties. Mendoza threw a fourth-quarter pick six. A blown coverage allowed a long Oregon touchdown pass.
It all could have rattled a less focused team. For these Hoosiers, rich with veteran leadership and resilience, it elevated their performance.
“We know we put in a lot of work,” receiver Omar Cooper Jr. told Fischer. “We know we’re capable of doing things like this. We had to trust in that and trust our coaches.”
Trust held firm despite an early 7-3 deficit and ties of 10-10, 13-13 and, in the fourth quarter, 20-20.
“I liked our mindset going in,” Cignetti told Fischer. “We were prepared to handle adversity. We handled it well and made the plays we had to make.
“Our guys wanted it. It showed on the field they wanted it. They did the things they needed to do to be successful.
“It wasn’t perfect, but it was a great win.”
The Hoosiers made plays. Boy, did they make plays. For instance …
Mendoza finished 20-for-31 for 211 yards, one touchdown, and one interception.
Wide receiver Elijah Sarratt had eight catches for 121 yards and that game-winning catch.
Kicker Brendan Franke's 58-yard field goal tied Griffin Oakes, who had a 58-yard against Maryland in 2014, for the program record. It also set the Autzen Stadium record and was the longest field goal in a road or neutral site game by a Hoosier.
Running back Roman Hemby ran 19 times for 70 yards and two touchdowns. He added two catches for 25 yards.
Cooper Jr. made a one-hand acrobatic first-half catch, then fighting for extra yards afterward. He wound up with seven catches for 58 yards.
Linebacker Isaiah Jones powered through for eight tackles, one sack, and one interception.
Linebacker Aiden Fisher made plays all over the field. He finished with 13 tackles and 1.5 sacks. Fellow linebacker Rolijah Hardy also had 13 tackles.
Oregon (6-1, 2-1) began the game having allowed one sack all season. IU had three by halftime and finished with six. It also intercepted heralded quarterback Dante Moore twice. He entered the game with one.
Cignetti had the words “attack, attack, attack” written on the back of his left hand, and the Hoosiers did, reducing one of the nation’s best offenses to rubble while having success against one of the nation’s top defenses.
The Hoosiers held a team that averaged 46.6 points to just 13 offensive points. They scored 30 on a defense that allowed 12.2.
“Our defense held a really good offense and a really good quarterback when we needed them to,” Cooper Jr. told Fischer. “They put the team on their backs a few times. We were able to capitalize because of what they did. I’m proud of the things they do.”
Cignetti is 17-2 at IU. His success comes from emphasizing having indomitable will, one that cannot be defeated or subdued. It’s about being resilient, never letting doubt creep in and believing that if the Hoosiers keep chipping away, good things will happen.
“We have a lot of veterans who understand the game and they buy in because their good, high-character kids,” Cignetti said. “They’re trying to play like we want them to play.”
IU’s defense opened with a sack by defensive linemen Kellan Wyatt and Mario Landino, then a fourth-down stop to give the Hoosiers the ball at midfield. A 24-yard pass from Mendoza to Sarratt set up Nico Radicic’s 42-yard field goal and a 3-0 Hoosier lead.
Oregon took a 7-3 lead later in the first quarter on a 44-yard touchdown pass. IU responded with a 75-yard dive highlighted by Mendoza’s 14-yard quarterback draw and capped by Hemby’s 3-yard touchdown run. The Hoosiers ended the first quarter ahead 10-7.
Oregon added one second-quarter field goal, but missed a second. IU capitalized by going 40 yards in three plays to set up Franke’s program-record-tying 58-yard field goal for a 13-10 halftime lead.
The Ducks tied it with a 33-yard field goal midway through the third quarter. IU responded with a nine-play, 75-yard touchdown drive. Hemby finished it off with a 2-yard run for a 20-13 Hoosier lead.
Oregon’s pick-six tied it at 20-20 with 12:42 left in the game.
Mendoza’s 8-yard touchdown pass to Sarratt made it 27-20. Then IU defensive lineman Stephen Daley tipped a Moore pass, which was intercepted by defensive back Louis Moore at the Oregon 32-yard line to set up Radicic’s clinching field goal.
Next comes Saturday’s Homecoming game against Michigan State (3-3, 0-3) at Merchants Bank Field at Memorial Stadium and more Cignetti perspective.
“It's a great win, but it depends on what we do with it from here.”