
Photo Credit; Getty Images
Fernando Mendoza lowered his pads into a defender, spun in a full circle, used his hand to keep his balance, then launched himself horizontally and reached the ball over the goal line — an Indiana touchdown and a ready-made poster pic for a title run straight from the movies.
Maybe they’ll call it “Hoosiers.”
The Heisman Trophy winner’s touchdown Monday night put an exclamation point on a 27-21 win over Miami that closed out an undefeated season and brought an improbable — maybe impossible? — national championship to a program that had known nothing but losing and indifference for almost 140 years.
“Let me tell you: We won the national championship at Indiana University. It can be done,” said coach Curt Cignetti, who took over a program with a nation-leading 713 losses and turned it into the game’s biggest winner in the span of two years.