Indiana football’s Penn State win had Curt Cignetti thinking ‘team of destiny’

Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti usually concentrates on what his team is doing today. But the thrilling end to one game last season got him thinking — briefly — about grand possibilities.

The Hoosiers had blown a 13-point, third-quarter lead at Penn State and trailed by four in the closing minutes. Their 80-yard drive ending with Omar Cooper Jr.‘s spectacular catch with 36 seconds left gave them a 27-24 victory. IU went on to earn an undefeated national championship.

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“Had never seen anything quite like that before. They were playing with a lot more energy. They had made a change (firing coach James Franklin). It was their first home game (since),” Cignetti told college football analyst Josh Pate. “I knew it was going to be a tough game.

“We had an opportunity to distance ourselves in the third quarter, and didn’t get it done. And then they took over.”

IU got the ball at their 20-yard line with 1:51 remaining.

“Those 11 guys in the huddle, they just morphed into something else,” Cignetti said.

Quarterback Fernando Mendoza got sacked on the first play of the drive, but completions of 22, 12, 29 and 17 yards got them to Penn State’s 7 with 48 seconds to go. After two incompletions, Mendoza hit Cooper, who barely got a toe down in the back of the end zone for the go-ahead score.

Then a thought struck Cignetti.

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“Cooper makes just an unbelievable catch,” Cignetti said. “When I was walking across that field to shake (interim coach Terry Smith‘s) hand, it kind of hit me. ‘Wow, this might be a team of destiny here.’

“I’m not one to think too far ahead,” he added. “At that moment, I’m thinking, ‘Hmm. Who knows here?’ But there were a lot of wars to fight after that.”