By EDDIE PELLS
MIAMI GARDENS — Fernando Mendoza powered his way into the end zone, cementing Indiana’s place in history Monday night with a 27-21 victory over Miami. This win capped off an incredible turnaround story, showcasing an undefeated season and securing the national championship.
The Heisman Trophy recipient threw for 186 yards, but it was his impressive 12-yard touchdown dash on fourth-and-4, breaking tackles and sprawling into the end zone with 9:18 remaining, that truly epitomized both the game and the Hoosiers’ season.
Indiana’s determination was unyielding.
Mendoza’s score expanded turnaround maestro Curt Cignetti’s squad’s lead to 10 points — just enough to withstand a late surge from the relentless Hurricanes. Despite Mendoza sustaining a bloody lip early in the contest, Miami, led by Mark Fletcher’s 112 rushing yards and two touchdowns, never managed to overtake the lead.
The College Football Playoff trophy is now on its way to Bloomington, Indiana — an unexpected destination for a program that had suffered a nation-high 713 losses over more than 130 years before Cignetti’s arrival two years ago, sparking a remarkable revival.
Indiana finished 16-0 — using the extra games afforded by the expanded 12-team playoff to match a perfect-season win total last compiled by Yale in 1894.
In a bit of symmetry, this undefeated title comes 50 years after Bob Knight’s basketball team went 32-0 to win it all in that state’s favorite sport.
Players like Mendoza — a transfer from Cal who grew up just a few miles away from Miami’s campus, “The U” — certainly don’t come around often.
Two fourth-down gambles by Cignetti in the fourth quarter, after Fletcher’s second touchdown carved the Hurricanes’ deficit to three, put Mendoza in position to shine.
The first was a 19-yard-completion to Charlie Becker on a back-shoulder fade those guys have been perfecting all season. Four plays later came a decision and play that wins championships.
Cignetti sent his kicker out on fourth-and-4 from the 12, but quickly called his second timeout. The team huddled on the field and the coach drew up a quarterback draw.
Mendoza, not known as a run-first guy, slipped one tackle, then took a hit and spun around. He kept his feet, then left them, going horizontal and stretching the ball out — a ready-made poster pic for a title run straight from the movies.
