With 9:18 remaining in the fourth quarter of the national championship, Indiana led Miami 17-14. The Hoosiers were driving again, but the Hurricanes found several stops in a row, forcing Indiana into an uncomfortable position: Fourth-and-five on Miami’s 12-yard line.
Indiana could’ve kicked the field goal and taken a six-point lead, but Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti was there to win, not play it safe. Instead, Cignetti kept his offense on the field and called a quarterback draw for Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza.
Cignetti’s veteran QB didn’t let him down. Mendoza barreled through numerous Miami defenders before diving into the end zone for a game-changing touchdown. On Tuesday, ESPN’s Rece Davis and Pete Thamel reflected on the bold play.
“Rece and I were, of course, watching this, being like, ‘This is the dumbest thing we’ve ever seen for him to not take the points,’” Thamel recalled. “One interesting little nugget that I got when I went over to Miami’s locker room—Corey Hetherman, the [Hurricanes’] DC, said he really regretted not calling a timeout.
“They knew, because of the formation they went into, what the play call was. So, they communicated the defensive call to the green dot, the linebacker. … It didn’t happen in time.”
The play will live on in college football lore. Miami scored a touchdown on the following drive in just eight plays, but Indiana retaliated with a field goal. The score forced the Hurricanes to push for a touchdown on their final drive of the game.
Indiana picked off Miami QB Carson Beck to seal its first national title in program history. While Davis was initially skeptical about Cignetti’s fourth-down play call, he believes the coach ultimately made the correct decision.
“The call that Cignetti ended up making is in keeping with his personality,” Davis said. “The reason I was in favor of kicking there was, I thought it was a little too far, fourth-and-5. … I was thinking ahead. If you kick the field goal, if they score a touchdown, you could still win it with a field goal. But, making it a two-possession game, especially if it works, is way better. And they ended up needing it.”
It wasn’t Cignetti’s first fourth-down conversion of the game. Earlier in the same drive, Mendoza completed a 19-yard pass to Charlie Becker on fourth down.