{"id":128438,"date":"2026-01-10T21:50:41","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T21:50:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/128438\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T21:50:41","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T21:50:41","slug":"indiana-dominates-oregon-to-reach-college-football-playoff-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/128438\/","title":{"rendered":"Indiana dominates Oregon to reach College Football Playoff final"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

ATLANTA\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Undefeated Indiana\u2019s already impressive march<\/a> through the College Football Playoff gained momentum as its dominant defense created three first-half touchdowns with turnovers, Fernando Mendoza<\/a> threw five scoring passes and the Hoosiers overwhelmed No. 5 Oregon 56-22<\/a> in the Peach Bowl semifinal on Friday night.<\/p>\n

No. 1 Indiana (15-0, No. 1 CFP) will face No. 10 Miami on Jan. 19 in the national championship game at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens. Miami beat Mississippi 31-27 in the Fiesta Bowl semifinal on Thursday night.<\/p>\n

Indiana will try to give the Big Ten its third straight national title, following Ohio State and Michigan the last two seasons. Few teams from any conference can compare with the Hoosiers\u2019 season-long demonstration of balanced strong play.<\/p>\n

Led by Mendoza and the defense, Indiana is making a case to be considered among the top teams in history.<\/p>\n

Though Miami will be home for the national championship game, Mendoza, the Heisman Trophy winner and Miami native, will enjoy a homecoming following an almost perfect game against Oregon. Mendoza completed 17 of 20 passes and the five touchdowns, including two to Elijah Sarratt and a 36-yarder to Charlie Becker.<\/p>\n

Kaelon Black ran for two touchdowns to lead the Indiana running game.<\/p>\n

Oregon (13-2, No. 5 CFP) was doomed by the three first-half turnovers while also being short-handed by the absence of two of their top running backs.<\/p>\n

The Hoosiers led 35-7 at halftime as the Ducks were held to nine rushing yards on 17 carries. Noah Whittington, who leads Oregon with 829 rushing yards, was held out with an undisclosed injury after Jordon Davison, who had rushed for 667 yards and 15 touchdowns, already was listed as out with a collarbone injury.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Backup running backs, including Jay Harris and Dierre Hill Jr, provided too little help for quarterback Dante Moore. Moore\u2019s task against Indiana\u2019s stifling defense would have been daunting even with all his weapons.<\/p>\n

Indiana\u2019s defense didn\u2019t wait long to make an impact. On Oregon\u2019s first snap, cornerback D\u2019Angelo Ponds intercepted Moore\u2019s pass intended for Malik Benson and returned the pick 25 yards for a touchdown. Only 11 seconds into the game, the Hoosiers and their defense had already made a statement that this would be a long night for Moore and the Oregon offense.<\/p>\n

Moore\u2019s 19-yard scoring pass to tight end Jamari Johnson tied the game. The remainder of the half belonged to Indiana and its big-play defense.<\/p>\n

After Mendoza\u2019s eight-yard touchdown pass to Omar Cooper Jr. gave the Hoosiers the lead for good at 14-7, Indiana\u2019s defense forced a turnover when Moore fumbled and Indiana recovered at the Oregon three, setting up Black\u2019s scoring run.<\/p>\n

Moore lost a second fumble later in the second quarter when hit by Daniel Ndukwe and Mario Landino recovered at the Oregon 21. Mendoza\u2019s first scoring pass to Sarratt gave the Hoosiers\u2019 the 35-7 lead.<\/p>\n

Indiana extended its lead to 42-7 on Mendoza\u2019s 13-yard scoring pass to E.J. Williams Jr.<\/p>\n

Oregon finally answered. A 70-yard run by Hill set up a two-yard scoring run by Harris.<\/p>\n

Indiana\u2019s special teams added a big play in the fourth quarter when Ndukwe\u2019s blocked punt set up Mendoza\u2019s second scoring pass to Sarratt.<\/p>\n

After their undefeated regular season, the Hoosiers have only gained momentum in the CFP. Indiana overwhelmed Alabama 38-3 in the Rose Bowl quarterfinal as Mendoza passed for 192 yards and three touchdowns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATLANTA\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Undefeated Indiana\u2019s already impressive march through the College Football Playoff gained momentum as its dominant defense created three…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":128439,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[34272,11155,65265,37226,66272,59335,9520,48,52,51,47,50,49,1540,33528,18158,545,66274,66273,66271,34124],"class_list":["post-128438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-college-football-playoff","tag-defense","tag-elijah-sarratt","tag-fernando-mendoza","tag-first-half-touchdown","tag-hoosiers","tag-indiana","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-miami","tag-moore","tag-no","tag-oregon","tag-perfect-game","tag-rushing-yard","tag-scoring-pass","tag-turnover"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128438\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}