How it Happened: No. 3 Indiana retains Brass Spittoon, improves to 7-0 with win over Michigan State

In the 67th edition of the Old Brass Spittoon Trophy game, Indiana took care of business and defeated Michigan State by a score of 38-13.

The Hoosiers retain the Spittoon Trophy, this being the first time IU has defeated the Spartans in back-to-back seasons since it won three straight from 1967-69. The Hoosiers did it with an offensive explosion early on, while Indiana’s defense came alive as the game went on.

Indiana won the yardage battle 464-367, with 332 of those coming from quarterback Fernando Mendoza through the air. Indiana rushed for 132 yards, Kaelon Black finishing as the leading rusher with 64 on the ground.

Omar Cooper Jr. finished as the leading receiver with 115 yards, also adding a touchdown as well. Elijah Sarratt hauled in two more, as his connection with Mendoza looked strong as ever.

With the victory, the Hoosiers move to 7-0 (4-0) on the season, while MSU drops to 3-4 (0-4) in 2025. In a game delayed by approximately 30 minutes due to a lightning delay after halftime, here’s how it happened.

Offense starts out hot

Indiana was able to win, and win big, with the offense doing most of the heavy lifting in the first half. Mendoza was exceptional, and the Hoosiers scored on every possession they had in the opening 30 minutes.

After Michigan State was able to take a 10-7 lead with 9:22 left in the second quarter, there may have been doubts regarding the Hoosiers’ ability to dominate the Spartans. The offense put those to rest, though, as Mendoza was nearly flawless in the first two quarters en route to a halftime lead.

Indiana’s quarterback was 13-for-16 in the first half, totaling 181 yards and two touchdowns. He was able to connect with six receivers in the opening half, truly spreading the ball around to keep the Spartan defense on its toes.

While the Indiana defense was nothing special to begin the game, Mendoza and the offense made Michigan State look lost when it took the field defensively. Three touchdowns in three drives paint a pretty clear picture, but even beyond that, the Hoosiers were simply dominant when they had the ball.

Indiana gained 9.6 yards per play in the first half, that number jumping to 11.3 when Mendoza dropped back and passed. He truly willed Indiana to a first-half lead, as IU was in control 21-10 with two of those scores coming from the arm of Indiana’s QB1, while the run game complemented a potent passing attack early on.

Defense makes adjustment after early struggles

Michigan State scored 10 points on its opening two drives, possibly raising some concerns about Indiana’s defense. Well, any concern would’ve been an overreaction, as the Hoosier defense was great for the rest of the ballgame.

The two drives the Spartans began the game with totaled 15 minutes and 11 seconds, as they seemed to be dicing up the Hoosiers despite IU putting on a defensive show a week ago at Oregon. When the going got tough, though, the defense responded in a major way.

Michigan State was shut out the rest of the first half, allowing for the 21-10 Indiana advantage with 30 minutes to play. MSU was held to 48 yards after its two scores, as Indiana’s defense stepped up when it desperately needed to.

The second half was where the defense really shined, though, as the Spartans gained 174 yards and scored just three points. Maybe it was the weather delay that the defense needed, but whatever the reason, it was back to dominance in the third and fourth quarters.

The Hoosiers haven’t allowed a second-half touchdown since Week 1 against ODU, and the trend was kept up here. IU’s defense didn’t start out the way it wanted to, but it finished with four sacks and nine tackles for loss due to an impressive turnaround in the second half.

Mendoza and offense continue success to seal victory

Indiana had a phenomenal first half of offense, but when the second half rolled around, they still didn’t skip a beat. The weather delay didn’t affect Mendoza one bit, as he came out of the half firing on all cylinders.

The first two drives continued the streak of scoring a touchdown on each series, with Mendoza throwing two beautiful balls for each TD to begin the third quarter. One was to Cooper Jr., with the other going to Sarratt in the corner of the end zone.

With the defense turned around, these two scores gave the Hoosiers a commanding 35-10 lead by the time the fourth quarter rolled around, and IU never looked back. Mendoza eclipsed 300 yards passing early in the fourth quarter, as he continued his stellar afternoon.

He looked like the frontrunner for the Heisman Trophy, as he was putting the ball exactly where it needed to be on almost every occasion. He found windows where almost no other quarterback would, and he was making calculated decisions that allowed the offense to be so effective.

It took until five minutes into the fourth quarter before the Hoosiers didn’t have a drive end with a touchdown, although it was just an inch away from continuing the streak. E.J. Williams’ heel was barely out of bounds on a fourth-down pass, giving the Hoosiers their first non-touchdown of the game.

Indiana tacked on a field goal in garbage time to give the Hoosiers 38 points, more than enough to secure their seventh victory in 2025. With Mendoza playing what was arguably his most impressive performance as a Hoosier, Indiana’s undefeated season, as well as its Old Brass Spittoon possession, remain.

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