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Indiana swarms past Oregon and into College Football Playoff title game
By David Wasson
Published:
The Indiana Hoosiers continued their dominance of the college football world Friday night, thumping the Oregon Ducks 56-22 in the Peach Bowl to punch their ticket to the 2025-26 College Football Playoff national championship game.
No. 1 seed Indiana (15-0) will play No. 10 Miami (13-2) on Jan. 19 for the CFP title at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens – a de facto home game for the Hurricanes, who edged No. 6 Ole Miss 31-27 in the Fiesta Bowl on Thursday night.
Indiana dominated No. 3 Oregon, literally, from start to finish. Hoosiers defensive back D’Angelo Ponds stepped in front of a pass from Oregon’s Dante Moore on the game’s first play from scrimmage and returned in 25 yards for a touchdown and an instant 7-0 lead.
While Oregon would tie it 7-7 later in the quarter, Mercedes-Benz Stadium turned into Indiana’s playground after that. The Hoosiers defense forced two Moore fumbles in the second quarter and turned them into 14 points en route to a 35-7 halftime lead.
Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza was dominant once again for Indiana, throwing for 177 yards on a 17-for-20 night with 5 touchdown passes – his second straight game with more TD passes than incompletions.
Even though Oregon (13-2) outgained Indiana by racking up 377 total yards, the 3 first-half turnovers were too much for the Ducks to overcome. Indiana finished with 185 rushing yards and 362 total yards.
Indiana had not won more than 8 games in a single season before hiring coach Curt Cignetti before the 2024 season. But the Hoosiers turned in a stellar first season in Bloomington – shocking many in the Big Ten and around the country by going 11-2 and earning a College Football Playoff berth.
But 2025 has been even more special, including a 30-20 victory over then-No. 3 Oregon in Eugene on Oct. 11, a 13-10 victory over then-No. 1 Ohio State to win the program’s first outright Big Ten title since 1945, and a 38-3 destruction of No. 9 Alabama in the Rose Bowl — the program’s first victory in the Grandaddy Of Them All and its first bowl victory of any kind since the 1991 Copper Bowl.
An APSE national award-winning writer and page designer, David Wasson has almost four decades of experience in the print journalism business in Florida and Alabama. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and several national magazines and websites. His Twitter handle: @JustDWasson.