But after a pair of blowouts to get them to the championship, the finale put a bright spotlight on their ability of execute in the clutch. Just one dumb slip-up could have cost them their fairytale ending, but everything went right in the big moments, all the way through to the Carson Beck interception that sealed the win.
When Miami was putting together its shocking first national title under Howard Schnellenberger in 1983, Indiana was going 3-8. The Hoosiers would go 0-11 the next season. When Nebraska was wrapping up a second straight national title with an all-time great team in 1995, Indiana was going 2-9 with wins over only Western Michigan and Southern Miss. When Ohio State was pulling a classic upset of Miami in 2002's BCS championship game,
"It may not feel like it when you're in this moment right now and what happened today, but I can tell you it's a fine between being here and being at the top," DeBoer said. "We got to put the work in, you got to believe, you got to be consistent, you got to have discipline and we'll get back to work and start all over again."
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Kaelon Black had two touchdown runs and Fernando Mendoza and Roman Hemby each ran for scores as No. 2 Indiana beat rival Purdue 56-3 on Friday night, completing the first perfect regular season in school history and securing a Big Ten championship game berth. The Hoosiers (12-0, 9-0, No. 2 CFP) also likely locked up a second straight College Football Playoff berth. They'll find out Saturday whether they'll play No. 1 Ohio State, No. 5 Oregon or No. 15 Michigan a week later for the conference title.
At the midpoint of the season, no team has made a bigger playoff statement than Indiana. They tried to reassert themselves with a historic 63-10 beatdown of Illinois, but the Illini aren't Ohio State or Oregon. And then the Hoosiers beat Oregon -- by double digits -- in Autzen Stadium, where the Ducks hadn't lost in 18 straight games. Indiana forced Heisman Trophy hopeful quarterback Dante Moore into two interceptions and sacked him six times.
