As Selection Sunday debates begin, no denying Indiana is on top of the college football world

INDIANAPOLIS – As we count down to the bewitching hour later today on Selection Sunday, the sparks are sure to fly.

Ditto for the debates, arguments, lobbying, explanations and general angst.

The College Football Playoff selection committee’s final rankings are just around the corner, and somebody (or somebodies) is going to go all grassy knoll on us, conspiracy theories and all.

Is Alabama, the top seed in the SEC, going to get in despite losing a third game and losing badly to Georgia in the conference championship game, and if not, are four other SEC teams that finished behind Alabama in the regular season going to get in ahead of the Tide?

Are two Group of 5 teams – Tulane and James Madison – really going to get in?

Does the ACC get any teams in?

Does Notre Dame get in, and Miami left out, even though the Hurricanes beat the Irish head-to-head back on Aug. 31?

It should all be fascinating, one of the more suspenseful Selection Sundays yet.

But there’s one thing that absolutely should not be up for debate: Indiana is sitting atop the college football world and looking down at everybody else. The Hoosiers continued their improbable journey Saturday with a 13-10 win over Ohio State in the Big Ten championship game at Lucas Oil Stadium.

“For any doubters still out there, I think this kinda was the final nail in the coffin for any of the Indiana doubters, Curt Cignetti doubters, the Hoosier doubters,” redshirt junior linebacker Isaiah Jones said. “This was the last thing that needed to be proved, and I think we did it.”

Well, maybe not the last thing. Indiana would love to add its first national championship in football to its first Big Ten title since 1967, something that didn’t seem nearly as improbable to the players and coaches inside that Indiana locker room to start this season as it did to everybody outside that locker room.

Keep in mind that no FBS (Division I) program had more losses in its history than Indiana’s 715 defeats entering this season.

“I think what makes this moment so special tonight, just myself and my family, but for everybody, is just the community of Bloomington and how long they’ve waited for this and how much it means to everybody,” said Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza, who was swarmed by dozens of family members outside the Indiana locker room after the game.

Mendoza guided a seven-play 88-yard touchdown drive to put the Hoosiers ahead midway through the third quarter. His 17-yard touchdown pass to Elijah Sarratt was a perfect strike and indicative of the kind of play he and his teammates have made all season.

Mendoza took a wicked shot on the first play of the game when he had the wind knocked out of him. He stayed on the ground for a few minutes and walked slowly to the sideline. He missed just one play and was right back in the game.

“I was never going to stay down, one thing, and I say it and I know it could be interpreted as a little criticism sometimes, but I will die for my brothers on that field. … I’m always going to get back up,” said Mendoza, who not only played a key role in leading the Hoosiers to a Big Ten title and No. 1 seed in the playoff, but took another big step in potentially winning the Heisman Trophy.

As good as Mendoza has been this season, he’s just part of the story, obviously an integral part, but it’s difficult to know where to start with this Indiana football team because it’s so balanced, disciplined and perseverant.

“We’ve been in tough situations all season, had to come back and win games on the road. We’re sorta made for this,” junior cornerback D’Angelo Ponds said. “We knew (Ohio State) hadn’t been in this situation. They hadn’t been in any close games. We were ready.”

Indiana (13-0) won a tough road game at Oregon and did the same at Iowa in rainy, wet conditions. The Hoosiers’ most dramatic win was at Penn State on Mendoza’s game-winning touchdown to a toe-tapping Omar Cooper Jr. in the back of the end zone in the final seconds.

And further demonstrating Indiana’s resiliency, the Hoosiers played almost the entire game without Cooper, who injured his right leg in the opening minutes of the game and never returned. Cooper was Indiana’s leading receiver coming into the game.

“Now, I’ve got three and a half weeks to kind of humble this team again and get them ready for the playoff,” Cignetti said.

The Hoosiers have been the ones doing most of the humbling this season, sending defending national champion Ohio State packing after losing the last 30 meetings in the series. Indiana’s last win against Ohio State was all the way back in 1988.

“The only history we’re looking at is the history we want to make ourselves,” senior running back Roman Hemby said.

When the postseason arrives in college football, it almost always gets down to the line of scrimmage. And on Saturday, Indiana won the line of scrimmage against an Ohio State team that will send a sea of players to the pros.

The Hoosiers are suffocating on defense. Just ask the Buckeyes, who were held to a single touchdown (coming on a short field after a turnover) and finished with 58 rushing yards. Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin was sacked five times and intercepted once. Even Jeremiah Smith, who still did some Jeremiah Smith things, was kept out of the end zone and manned up in single coverage most of the night by Ponds.

Perhaps the thing Indiana does best on defense is tackle. The Hoosiers don’t miss tackles, and they always have multiple defenders around the ball.

No defensive play was bigger Saturday than linebacker Rolijah Hardy’s third-down breakup of Sayin’s pass in the end zone. The Buckeyes had a third-and-1 from the Indiana 9, and Sayin tried to hit tight end Bennett Christian. Hardy was in perfect position and batted the pass away. Ohio State coach Ryan Day elected to kick the field goal and tie the game, but Jayden Fielding missed from 27 yards.

“We had that same play run against us when we played Wisconsin and they scored, so we had seen it,” Ponds said.

Something else to know about Indiana as it prepares for its Rose Bowl trip in the quarterfinal round of the playoff is that Cignetti and the Hoosiers will do a lot more “hunting” than “being hunted.”

That was never more apparent than late in the game when Indiana, instead of running the ball on a third-and-6 play from its own 24, threw the ball down the field. Mendoza connected with Charlie Becker for 33 yards to all but finish the Buckeyes.

“When you get your shot, you finish a team,” Becker said. “That’s the way we’ve played all year and aren’t going to stop now.”

The Indiana fans, red and white candy-striped pants and all, showed up in force Saturday and soaked up every bit of the celebration. Tunes from Indiana native John Mellencamp filled the stadium, and the confetti was scattered about the field long after the Hoosiers had headed back to Bloomington.

Many of the Indiana players followed Cignetti from James Madison, and Ponds said he looked at former JMU teammate Mikail Kamara as they left the field.

“It’s surreal. Coming from JMU, we could have never imagined this,” Ponds said. “I came up to Makai, and it was like, ‘Nobody believed in us, and look at what we’re doing now.’ ”

What they’re doing is making history, and the best part may be yet to come.