Ross Ade Roman’s Empire for IU 

    The #2 Excel H Sports Indiana Hoosiers scored five rushing touchdowns and threw for three more in a 56-3 win over the Purdue Boilermakers Friday Night at Ross Ade Stadium in West Lafayette. The Hoosiers finish the regular season with a 12-0 record and 9-0 Big Ten record and clinch a spot in the Big Ten Championship Game Next Saturday Night at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

   Purdue ends the season with a 2-10 record and 0-9 Big Ten Record as Purdue has lost 18 straight Big Ten Games since a 35-31 win over Indiana at Home on November 25, 2023. The Boilermakers are 3-21 in the last two seasons while Indiana is 23-2 overall under Curt Cignetti and 17-1 in the Big Ten the last two seasons.

  Indiana keeps the Old Oaken Bucket for the second year in a row and has outscored Purdue 122-3 in the last two seasons after the Hoosiers shut out Purdue 66-0 in Bloomington a season ago. The Hoosiers will find out who they will play in Indianapolis after the completion of Saturday’s Games. Ohio State and Michigan will battle in Ann Arbor and if Ohio State wins the Buckeyes will be in the Big Ten Championship Game as both Ohio State and Indiana will enter the game with a 12-0 record and 9-0 record in the Big Ten.

  If Michigan beats Ohio State and Oregon loses to Washington, they will be in the Big Ten Championship Game. Oregon needs to beat Washington in Seattle and Ohio State to lose to Michigan for the Ducks to make it to Indianapolis for the second year in a row.

  The game time temperature was 24 degrees at kickoff which was lowest for an Indiana-Purdue Game and the lowest ever for a Purdue Home football game. When the second half started the temperature was 20 degrees and it was 20 degrees when the game ended.

  There were a lot of Cream and Crimson in the stands to witness IU completing just the second ever regular season without a loss in program history when the 1945 team won the outright Big Ten Championship with a 9-0-1 record and in 1967 the Hoosiers shared the Big Ten Championship and went to the Rose Bowl finishing the season with 9-2 record. Now the Hoosiers are one game away, adding a 2025 Big Ten Championship to the program record books.

  Purdue got the ball first and two plays later Quarterback Ryan Browne was picked off by Amare Farrell. Farrell got his fourth interception of the season, and it is the second year in a row that Farrell has had 4 interceptions in a season. Indiana was unbale to move the ball running 3 plays for 0 yards and had to punt the ball away.

  The Hoosiers scored on a 1-yard rushing touchdown by Kaelon Black with 8:03 left in the first quarter to make it 7-0. After Purdue punted the ball away twice the Boilermakers scored their only points in the game with a 22-yard field goal by Spencer Porath with 46 seconds left in the first quarter to make it 7-3.

  The Hoosiers punted the ball away a second time and once they got the ball back Fernando Mendoza scored from 7 yards out to make it 14-3 IU with 10:29 left in the second quarter. Purdue punted three more times and missed a 56-yard field goal to close out the first half.

  Indiana punted the ball away for third time and then scored on the next two drives. Kaelon Black spun his way to end zone for 16 yards to make it 21-3 with 3:40 left before the break and then Roman Hemby ran 83 yards to the house as Indiana led 28-3 at halftime with 209 rushing yards to just 22 for the Boilermakers.

  Indiana scored on all three possessions in the third quarter as Fernando Mendoza threw two touchdown passes on 17 yards to Elijah Sarratt and 43 yards to Omar Cooper Jr. Khobie Martin ended the third quarter with a 21-yard touchdown run to make it 49-3 Hoosiers in control. The Hoosiers forced a Boilermaker fumble when Ryan Browne ran up the middle for 8 yards and Stephen Daley knocked the ball out and Devan Boykin recovered.

  Alberto Mendoza replaced his brother Fernando towards the end of the third quarter and threw a 65-yard touchdown pass to Davion Chandler with 9:29 left in the fourth quarter. Purdue punted the ball away twice along with a turnover on downs and Indiana punted the ball away once and took a knee to end the game.

  Fernando Mendoza was 8-15 for 117 yards and 2 touchdown passes and no interceptions. Mendoza has thrown 32 touchdown passes on the season adding the Hoosiers single season record for touchdown passes in season breaking Kurtis Rourke’s record of 29 touchdown passes in 2024. Fernando rushed 2 times for 27 yards and a touchdown.

  Roman Hemby ran 12 times for 156 yards and a touchdown and Kaleon Black had 13 carries for 66 yards and 2 touchdowns. The Hoosiers racked up 355 rushing yards and held Purdue 44 yards which is the 10th time this season that Indiana has held a team under 100 yards rushing. Alberto Mendoza completed both his passes for 76 yards, and a touchdown pass along with two carries for 59 yards. The Hoosiers racked up 548 yards of offense while Purdue had 282 yards total offense.

  Ryan Browne was 25-47 for 238 yards Passing and an interception. Nitro Tuggle had 5 catches for 80 yards and Antonio Harris had 15 carries for 31 yards. Purdue did control the clock using up 29:46 and Indiana 25:51. The Hoosiers had 21 first downs to 16 for Purdue as the Boilermakers ran 70 plays and the Hoosiers ran 52.

  Indiana continues its mission and Curt Cignetti said on the day he arrived in Bloomington stopping by the Big Ten Network Set during the Big Ten Championship Game in 2023 that he was going to be playing in this game next season. Well, it wasn’t the next season but two years later the dream is now reality as the Hoosiers continue to change the narrative of what Indiana University Football has become after many years of frustration.

  Now the Hoosiers move on to the Big Ten Championship Game and keep their hopes for a top four ranking in the College Football Playoff Alive but for now the Hoosiers make history with 12-0 regular season record and Old Oaken Bucket staying in Bloomington for another season.