Fernando Mendoza takes a shot at Miami after national championship win while coach Curt Cignetti finally smiles

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Finally, Curt Cignetti smiled.

The Indiana football coach, who rarely looks anything other than slightly angry on the sidelines, broke out into a massive smile right as time expired on Monday night at Hard Rock Stadium in South Florida. The Hoosiers, a program he completely turned around from just about the bottom of the college football world, had won the national championship.

While he looked a bit angry that some of his players dumped the Gatorade jug onto him as he made his way to midfield following the Hoosiers’ 27-21 win over Miami, that passed.

Cignetti was hired to take over for Tom Allen at Indiana ahead of the 2024 campaign, and has now gone 27-2 over the past two seasons. Before his arrival, Indiana had never won double digit games in a single season. They had only had two winning seasons this century. Before their blowout win at the Rose Bowl, the Hoosiers’ last win at a bowl game was all the way back during the 1991 season.

“Let me tell you — we won the national championship at Indiana University!” Cignetti exclaimed on ESPN. “It can be done.”

And, as he typically does, Cignetti stuck to his classic answer with how he’s going to celebrate the win. His smile, though, was bigger than ever.

Fernando Mendoza takes another shot at Miami after win

Fernando Mendoza was also incredibly emotional during his initial interview with ESPN, too, but he made sure to throw in a not-so-subtle shot at Miami for not recruiting him.

Mendoza has plenty of South Florida connections. The reigning Heisman Trophy winner went to Christopher Columbus High School in Miami, grew up less than a mile from the university, and dreamed of playing for the Hurricanes growing up “in the worst way,” his high school coach said before the game, via The Athletic.

But Cal was Mendoza’s only power-conference offer, and he took it. He wasn’t even offered a walk-on spot at Miami when Manny Diaz was running the show. While Miami was interested in Mendoza when he entered the transfer portal, Mendoza opted to go to Indiana to join his younger brother, Alberto, who is a redshirt freshman quarterback for the Hoosiers. 

But after getting Indiana to the championship game, Mendoza went 16-of-27 for 186 yards on Monday night and he ran in a wild touchdown late in the fourth quarter to help push the Hoosiers to the win. Clearly, it all worked out.

“I was a two-star recruit coming out of high school. I got declined to walk-on offer at the University of Miami,” Mendoza said on ESPN. “Full circle moment playing here in Miami in front of friends and family.”

It wasn't what he wanted growing up, but Mendoza got to end his college career with a championship in Hard Rock Stadium after all.