The Indiana Hoosiers college football team must be forever indebted to the “Google me” man, their head coach, Curt Cignetti. After going 9-27 for the past three seasons, Cignetti helped the Hoosiers to punch a College Football Playoff ticket. They wrapped up the season with an 11-2 overall record. So, we all know what’s waiting next for Cignetti? Lofty expectations. 

On the Locked On BIG 10 podcast, national analyst Marc Kulkin had cooked up some fear for Cignetti and co. He predicted, “Indiana is going to be a one-hit wonder, mark it down.” Meaning that for Cignetti’s Indiana, winning the Natty will be a faraway dream as they will be stopped during their College Football playoff run. But turns out that this is only one side of the story. On the other end, Greg McElroy came with a big projection for Cignetti’s squad.

On the July 30th episode of the Jox 94.5 podcast, host Cole Cubelic shared his take on Indiana’s 2025 run. Firstly, he pins his hopes on Cignetti’s quarterback Fernando Mendoza. He shared, “I think Fernando Mendoza is great. Really good. I think he’s tough. He’s accurate.” That’s when McElroy chimed in and shared, “He’s mobile, unlike their guy last year. I really liked their guy last year with what he did but he can’t move.” Kurtis Rourke was 222-of-320 passing for 3,042 yards and 29 TDs with just five interceptions in 12 games. But at the same time, he had hit a nose dive by completing 8 of 18 for 68 yards in the Hoosiers’ Nov. 23 loss to Ohio State.

Not just Mendoza, Cignetti has a bunch of key weapons he can count on for their 2025 drive. As Cubelic mentions, tight end Holden Staes, who transferred from Tennessee, and the Notre Dame offensive lineman transfer Pat Coogan. Thus, Cubelic jumped to the conclusion, “I mean, they’ve added some nice pieces. So to think that this thing’s just going to go away. I think it’s foolish if nobody thinks that Indiana’s not going to be a handful again this year.” This was then doubled down by McElroy. 

“They’re going to be back. I don’t know if they’ll make the playoffs, but they’re probably going to be 10 and two, 9 and three. I mean, I think it’s really, really significant when you look at what Indiana accomplished last year. There are a few pieces to replace on defense. Especially up front. They lost three guys that were legitimate difference makers, including D-tackle CJ West, who I loved. But they they’ve done a good job of of kind of going through it, and they have an interesting system defensively that’s going to create movement and challenges for the offense. They have legitimate all-American contenders at all three levels,” the analysts sounded confident about Cignetti’s squad.

The ones on whom the Hoosiers’ fate depends are CJ West. Then come the All-American players, senior defensive end Mikail Kamara and senior receiver Elijah Sarratt, who were named to the All-America Second Team. Along with this, there is junior cornerback D’Angelo Ponds, who was named to the All-America First Team Defense. Just that Mendoza might need some more polishing to his run game and mobility. But even without it, he is already giving an SEC powerhouse and his quarterback sleepless nights. 

Curt Cignetti’s $1.4 million quarterback gives hope amid the storm

Last season, Cignetti and co. led Paul Finebaum to take back his words. This ESPN analyst confidently shared, “No way that I would put Indiana in over Alabama,” when asked to comment on Indiana’s playoff hopes. But this season, too, he couldn’t hold back when talking about Cignetti’s squad on McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning podcast. He said, “He made a complete fool out of himself trying to draw parallels.” 

The ESPN analyst continued with his sharp jab, “So did other coaches… If you’re going to go after the SEC, there are places you can attack. But don’t try to attack on the strength of schedule and don’t try to attack on the non-conference games because we all know Michigan two years ago played one of the most embarrassing non-conference schedules in the history of the game.” Amidst these sharp remarks, at least someone is giving them some hope to keep sailing through these tough times. 

That’s none other than Mendoza. Talking about the quarterbacks, we know that the spotlight is already on Steve Sarkisian’s quarterback, Arch Manning. The latest flagbearer of the Manning legacy has already picked up the NFL buzz. Saints insider Nader Mirfiq tweeted, “By the 2026 NFL Draft, the Saints could be looking for a young quarterback to replace Derek Carr.” But hardly did the $6.8 million had Manning ever thought that Cignetti’s $1.4 million quarterback Mendoza would rain on his parade.

YahooSports made a post where the caption read, “Nate Ice has Fernando Mendoza as his QB1 in the 2026 NFL Draft over Arch Manning.” But what makes Mendoza overtake Manning in the hype race? The same old reason. Cignetti’s quarterback doesn’t have an extensive track record, but he has more starting experience than Manning. In the 2024 season, Manning started 10 games, and 2 games in 2023. While the California Golden Bears product started 11 games in 2024 and 9 games in 2023. Now, even in Andy Staples’ Heisman Dark Horse list, Mendoza is at +5500 odds. Now, Cignetti knows exactly who can carry the torch into a triumphant 2025.