Perfection Punctuates National Title
Pete DiPrimio | IUHoosiers.com
MIAMI -- Sometimes nice guys do finish first. They do so because they care, because they push, because they do what’s expected and then more, on the field and away from spotlights and glory.
And then they make history.
On Monday night, the spotlight blazed on Indiana beneath a star-filled sky, confetti falling all over the Hard Rock Stadium turf, the Miami Hurricanes beaten 27-21, a 16-0 national title season secured.
“It was a hard-fought game,” IU coach Curt Cignetti said. “I give a lot of credit to Miami. It was a real gut check. We found a way. It's a credit to our guys' resiliency to find a way to get that done.”
Nobody said winning a national championship would be easy and it wasn’t. Miami (13-3) kept coming, kept driving until, finally, it broke.
Cornerback Jamari Sharpe’s interception of a Carson Beck pass with 44 seconds left meant the Hoosiers had an unbeaten national football title to go with major college basketball’s last unbeaten national championship, the 32-0 1976 team.
The 16-0 record duplicated the major college record set by Yale in1894, when it beat teams such as Orange Athletic Club, Boston Athletic Club and Lehigh (twice).
“It's a great thing, Indiana winning the national championship two years into our tenure,” Cignetti said. “You do it with people and a plan.
“I can't say enough about our senior leadership and the people we have in the locker room and the people we have on our staff and our strength and conditioning staff, support staff and the commitment we receive from President (Pam) Whitten and (athletic director) Scott Dolson.”
The championship culminated an unprecedented two-year, 27-2 run of success first suggested when Cignetti famously said shortly after arriving in Bloomington in December of 2023 that, “Google me. I win.”
“I know a lot of people thought this was never possible,” Cignetti said. “It probably is one of the greatest sports stories of all time. But it's all because of these guys and the staff.”
Cignetti said he quickly discovered that his title-winning background clashed with IU’s doom-and-gloom football culture. It was like, he said, “two universes colliding.”
His response -- talk boldly while carrying a big coaching stick.
“I had to find out if the fan base was dead or on life support,” he said. “I had a lot of confidence in myself and the staff because we had had success. That's why I took the job.”
IU football -- college football -- hasn’t been the same.
“We put in so much work,” defensive lineman Tyrique Tucker said. “It’s so surreal. I’m so grateful for the opportunity. I’m glad we took advantage of this. We didn’t take anything for granted. You keep the faith and look what we did.”
Three times IU built 10-point leads. Three times Miami came close.
It wasn’t enough. The Hoosiers never trailed in any of their three playoff games.
“It became a dogfight at the end,” Tucker said. “We had to bow up. Bend but don’t break. Get the W by any means necessary.”
Kick a field goal? Are you kidding? Cignetti wasn’t having any of that on fourth and four at the Miami 12-yard line clinging to a 17-14 lead and the Hurricanes surging.
The Hoosiers called a timeout. Cignetti and offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan called a quarterback draw because, Shanahan said, you put the ball in your best player’s hands. Fernando Mendoza spun through a pair of Hurricanes and dived into the end zone, taking another big hit along the way.
“Coach Cig said in our coaches meeting before the game that he wanted to be aggressive and play to win,” Shanahan said. “That was an instance he felt we had a good play in mind and trusted out guys to get it done. It was his mindset to attack and play.
“Fernando has been doing that all year long. He found a way. He never gets enough credit for how good an athlete he is.”
Mendoza finished 16-for-27 for 186 yards and no touchdowns.
“Fernando has the heart of a lion when it comes to competition,” Cignetti said. “That guy competes like a warrior. He got really smacked a few times in this game.”
Added Mendoza: “I trusted my linemen, and everybody in that entire offense, that entire team had a gritty performance. We were all putting our bodies on the line, so it was the least I could do for my brothers.”
The touchdown, which gave IU a 24-14 lead, could have broken Miami. It did not. The Hurricanes responded with a touchdown, forcing the Hoosiers to respond again.
But this was the fourth quarter, Indiana’s quarter, 15 minutes it has owned all season in games at Iowa, at Oregon, at Penn State and against Ohio State.
A big play was needed and Sharpe delivered with his interception.
“We were in Cover 2,” defensive coordinator Bryant Haines said. “It was really good technique by Jamari. It was a poor throw.
“Going into their two-minute drill, what I wanted to do was make them earn it. I didn’t want to be aggressive and give them a one-on-one throw. Make then earn their way down the field, and if we did that, maybe he would make a mistake and he did. That was the end of the game.”
Added Sharpe: “This is an amazing feeling. I’m so happy to be in this situation. I’m so proud of my teammates and coaches to make it possible for us to come out and ball.”
Dolson walked through red and white confetti, Hard Rock Stadium glowing with IU-as-national-champ acclaim behind him.
Impossible became possible became reality.
A perennially struggling program had reached the college mountain, fueled by Dolson’s decision to hire Cignetti and Whitten’s resolve to provide the support necessary for dreams to come true.
“If Cig’s not here, if Pam doesn’t support me when I said, let’s build this program, this doesn’t happen,” Dolson said. “She wants to be excellent in everything we do at IU, including football.
“Cig is the secret weapon. The staff he put around him. We have special people all across this department and university. When you do that, anything is possible.”
And then, impossible became possible, and then reality.
“You think we have to win every day, make progress every day. That’s Cig’s philosophy. Just work tirelessly every day to get better. Do that and stack good days after good days, and things like this can happen.”
Nico Radicic’s 34-yard field goal gave the Hoosiers a 3-0 late-first-quarter lead. It grew to 10-0 in the second quarter when tight end Riley Nowakowski switched to fullback for a 1-yard TD run to cap a 14-play, 85-yard drive.
Miami missed a field goal just before halftime to maintain that 10-0 Hoosier lead.
The Hurricanes opened the second half by forcing an IU punt and scoring a touchdown on Mark Fletcher’s 57-yard run to cut the lead to three.
IU pushed ahead 17-7 when defensive lineman Mikail Kamara blocked a punt and linebacker Isiaiah Jones recovered it in the end zone for a touchdown. Miami responded with Fletcher’s second rushing touchdown to make it 17-14 to start the fourth quarter.
A clutch 19-yard completion to Charlie Becker on fourth-and-5 set up Mendoza’s 12-yard TD run on fourth and four for a 24-14 Hoosier lead with 9:18 left.
Miami countered with a 22-yard touchdown pass to make it 24-21 with 6:37 remaining. Radicic’s 35-yard field goal left IU leading 27-21 with 1:42 left.
Sharpe’s interception ended Miami’s hopes and clinched the Hoosiers historic season.
“It’s tough to put into words,” Nowakowski said. “As a little kid, you dream about this stuff. For it to be realized, to score a touchdown in this game, can’t take it away.”
Added Kamara:
“To really do this with guys like (linebacker Aiden Fisher) and all my other teammates that I've done this journey alongside of, I'm just -- I didn't think it was possible, I can't lie. But to be here today, it's surreal.”