Look familiar? Insert Ohio State, Texas A&M, Indiana, and two other SEC schools that are worthy this week or Texas Tech. If you remember these guys, you know your football. November 1979 offered some good football. November 2025 has been okay too. I will be glad when the College Football Playoffs get here. Then and only then will we find out how much hot air coming up from the south is worth.
Indiana played well against Wisconsin in the second half. The Hoosiers outgained the Badgers 229-23 in second half yardage. That was impressive. So was Fernando Mendoza’s 22-24-299-4 TD line. He makes it look easy. Final score: Indiana 31 Swissconsin 7.
This past Saturday it hit me. When Fernado Mendoza took off on a designed QB run to his left I saw it. When Mendoza was evading pass rushers and delivering with his throwing motion, I saw it again. Look, I am no friend of comparing football players. When I saw Fernando Mendoza play Saturday, I saw Heisman Trophy traits from the past in real time. Vinnie Testaverde the 1986 Heisman Trophy winner. The throwing motion. The lean when he runs. Fernando looks a great deal like Vinnie to me. Just a thought. Agreed? No? Maybe? I think so.
Before the Wisconsin game, the Indiana Hoosiers ran out of the home tunnel as a 10-0 team for the first time. That was special. The last home game. That was kind of melancholy. The season, as great as it has been for Indiana, sure has gone by quickly. This is what happens when your team wins all the games played.
Look. The Indiana Hoosiers play the game better than any other team in the country. Thank you, Coach Cignetti. Lee Corso used to talk about “DISCIPLINE!” The 2025 Hoosiers are a study in team discipline. I will offer three key stats that go a long way in deciding how a game will go.
- How many first downs have you given your opponent due to a penalty on your team?
- How many penalty yards are you giving up a game?
- What is your turnover ratio?
Firsts given by penalty Penalty yards/game Turnover ratio
Indiana 4 27.8 +15
Ohio State 14 37.7 +5
Texas A&M 22 66.2 -3
Georgia 20 43.1 -2
Oregon 10 41.9 +5
Ole Miss 24 59.0 -3
Texas Tech 18 59.0 +13
Translation: You’re going to have to beat the Hoosiers. They aren’t hurting themselves comparatively. The Big Ten plays cleaner football. Indiana might go up against Ohio State in The Big Ten Championship Game and get their clock cleaned. If they do, Ohio State will have to bring it. When the Hoosiers played in Columbus last year, Indiana had some lapses that cost them the game. We’ll see what happens if these two meet again. It should be a good one.
At the end of the day, the hope for this Indiana fan is to meet an SEC team in the College Football Playoff that is not Ole Miss. I root for the Rebels. These two played in a bowl game during the Covid season. That was no fun at all. Ole Miss won. Indiana did not play clean football that night. The Rebels beat the Hoosiers 26-20 in a game Indiana never led.
What of my picks for last week that I did not put on due to some time-consuming circumstances? After going 12-2 two weeks ago, I was 9-5 last week. This past week 10 winners and 4 losers. Cincinnati, Alabama, Duke, and Iowa let me down.