ByTim Casey,
Senior Contributor.
On Monday night, Tom Brady attended the College Football Playoff national title game, wearing a gray and black Las Vegas Raiders’ hoodie. The most successful quarterback in NFL history and current Raiders’ minority owner and executive scouted players, most notably Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza, whom the Raiders are expected to select with the No. 1 pick in April’s NFL draft.
As usual, Mendoza shined in the spotlight Monday, running for the decisive touchdown on fourth down in the fourth quarter and leading the Hoosiers to a 27-21 victory over Miami to win IU’s first national championship and complete a perfect season. Indiana became the first major college football team since Yale in 1894 to finish 16-0, culminating one of the most unlikely accomplishments in sports history.
Until coach Curt Cignetti arrived last season, the Hoosiers were among the worst power conference teams for decades. No program had more all-time losses. But after going 3-9 in 2023, they won a school-record 11 games and lost to Notre Dame in the first round of the CFP last year and then took it to another level this season. They won their first outright Big Ten Conference title since 1945 and first postseason game since 1991.
