During Indiana’s two-year stint with Curt Cignetti to this point, it has slain many demons that lived within the program. This week, Wisconsin became the latest, as Indiana won 31-7 to advance to 11-0 on the season. The series between the Hoosiers and the Badgers — dating back to 1907 — is certainly lopsided historically, with Wisconsin owning the lead 41-21-2, but it’s the recent history that left such a sour taste in Indiana’s mouth. The stretch between 2005 and 2013, when Wisconsin played and defeated Indiana each season by an average margin of 37 points was objectively the lowest point in the series for Indiana. Saturday’s matchup between the SP+ and AP No. 2 Hoosiers and the SP+ No. 90 Badgers seemed like an opportunity to return some pain.
For the most part, Indiana followed through:
Look at those success rates (again)!
Now, with just Purdue left between Indiana and its first 12-0 season in program history — during its first 11-0 season in program history and one year after its first 10-0 season in program history — the Hoosiers have played five of the toughest defenses in the conference (by adjusted EPA/play) and won by an average margin of 17.4 points.
Observations:
Adedamlo Ajani has been big for Indiana in the last two weeks. as Drew Evans has missed time and Zen Michalski has spotted Kahlil Benson when needed (such as this week, when he played 13 of Benson’s snaps with the ones). Ajani showed marked improvement against Wisconsin after his first start against Penn State last week. He allowed zero pressure after allowing a fairly alarming 5 QB pressures last week, and Indiana found — be far — its most rushing success by hitting the gap between Ajani and Pat Coogan. With this performance, it would not be surprising if Ajani was back at LG for the Bucket Game.
Since Elijah Sarratt’s injury at the beginning of the Maryland game, Charlie Becker is a top-3 receiver in the Big Ten. He’s graded 3rd by PFF but also ranks 3rd in yards (278), 3rd in first downs (10), and 3rd in yards/route run. He’s also caught all 4 of his contested targets, which is more than anyone but Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith in that span. Additionally, he owns the 3rd-highest average depth of target (17.7 yards). What he’s done is simply stunning, and, again, as teams seek to throw a blanket on Omar Cooper’s explosion — averaging 4.5 catches for 40 yards per game in the last 4 weeks (still 3 TDs though) — Becker is proving to be the next option as long as Sarratt is sidelined.
Khobie Martin earned some of his most significant snaps of the season this week, as he recorded his first carry midway through the third quarter, when Indiana led just 17-7. The Hoosiers then rode Martin’s fresh legs for most of the fourth quarter, as they’ve done previously. The snaps were pulled from Kaelon Black’s role, as it seems the staff is managing each back’s workload down the stretch. Black led the RBs in snaps last week, and this week, it was Roman Hemby, who also led the RBs in yards/carry (4.1) in a really tough rushing matchup.
Riley Nowakowski has really opened up this offense as his role has grown to a greater pass-catching role than he’s ever served. Just in the last four weeks, Nowakowski has been targeted more than any season in his career, and his 26 targets this year now match his career total before 2025. He simply wasn’t doing this at Wisconsin. As his role has increased, he’s made bigger plays through the air, with the big 29-yarder in the Penn State game but also a 37-yarder and a 21-yarder in this week’s game. This has mostly come via yards after catch. Nowakowki is 2nd among Big Ten TEs (10+ targets) in YAC/reception (8.2 yards) and is also 2nd in raw YAC (188). He’s also graded as the 3rd-best run-blocking TE in the conference, way ahead of the pass-catching TEs near him in YAC. Nowskowski is adding as much value to Indiana’s offense as any TE in the Big Ten.
Pat Coogan graded as the top center in the country this week (via PFF).
Observations:
This was the biggest game of Daniel Ndukwe’s career to date. Since Kellan Wyatt’s season was ended by injury, Ndukwe had been tapping in for single-digit snaps on the edge of the line, but when Mikail Kamara went down after 8 snaps this week, Ndukwe was asked to do much more — playing a career-high 36 snaps and serving Kamara’s role, which meant dropping down into the interior a few times. He was effective, finishing 4th on the team in tackles (4), with a QB pressure and a TFL. He graded really well for an 80% snap share.
Indiana’s safeties have been getting much less work in the last two weeks, against opponents that lean heavily on rushing attacks. It’s allowed Bryant Haines to get an extra big in the front, such as Dominique Ratcliff or even Isaiah Jones at LB, without needing to sub.
Speaking of safeties, Amare Ferrell has quietly struggled since Week 5 — but the last three games in particular. He’s missed at least one tackle in each of the last five games (6 in the last three games) after missing only one in the first six. He now ranks as the 3rd-worst tackling safety in the Big Ten, missing tackles on 22% of opportunities. Ferrell has also committed just two havoc instances (a couple PBUs) since his INT against Iowa.
Rolijah Hardy has a poor grade here, but it is simply because he struggled in coverage. He produced really well — 6 tackles, 1 sack, 1 TFL — but his coverage has been a sore spot of this defense all season. It’s clear that the philosophy has been — as it was last season — that allowing completions is a fair tradeoff for storming the offense’s front, but if they’re allowed, the receivers need to be on the ground immediately. However, Hardy has surrendered 229 YAC, more than double the next-highest (Devan Boykin, 108).
Stephen Daley has been insane since his snap share spiked against Iowa in Week 5. He now leads the Big Ten in TFLs (13.5), which is 11th nationally. Plus, he ranks 7th among Big Ten DEs in QB pressures generated (32). That’s on the exact same pace as Ohio State’s Caden Curry (a Center Grove grad). What’s more, Daley now ranks 14th among Big Ten DEs in snaps played, as he’s taken on an incredible workload since Iowa, that was exacerbated by Kellan Wyatt’s injury.
Fernando Mendoza (22-for-24, 299 yards, 4 TDs) was phenomenal Saturday, which addressed a couple questions posed in the BSB Preview: 1.) Would Indiana find more production through the air against a weak Wisconsin secondary? (Yes.) and 2.) Is Indiana’s passing attack without Elijah Sarratt sustainable? (Increasingly yes.) Charlie Becker (15 targets) has risen as the top option outside of Omar Cooper without Sarratt, but Mike Shanahan has also added in other pass-catchers, such as Riley Nowakowski (see above about his YAC performance), EJ Williams (as a possessive perimeter option in high-leverage situations — ranks last among Big Ten WRs in YAC/catch (0.8) since Sarratt’s injury), and then a cast of Holden Staes, Jonathan Brady, LeBron Bond, and the RBs after them. This approach was strikingly efficient, as Mendoza ranked 4th nationally in yards/attempt (12.5) and has ranked 15th (9.4) since Sarratt’s injury. It’s been a solid display of scheming to who is available rather than fitting who is available into a stagnant scheme, and since it has been so efficient, I would expect Sarratt to be absent against Purdue in Game 12 too, especially since Purdue is so terrible at defending the pass.
In addition to the new-look passing attack without Sarratt, Fernando Mendoza broke the single-season passing TD record Saturday (30), passing Kurtis Rourke, who threw 29 TDs in 2024. Last season, Rourke broke Kellen Lewis’ record of 28 in 2007, and in 4th was Nate Sudfeld, with 27 in 2015. Before Curt Cignetti arrived in Bloomington, Indiana hadn’t seen a QB enter the top-10 in this stat since Peyton Ramsey threw 19 TD passes in 2018. Mendoza also entered the top-10 in TD passes for a career!
Other records to watch: Both Omar Cooper and Elijah Sarratt have 10 TD receptions so far (tied with Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith for the conference lead), which is tied for 4th in program history. James Hardy’s 16 (2007) is likely out of reach, but Ernie Jones’ 13 (1987) could be broken. Cooper and Sarratt are also in the top-6 for career TD receptions at Indiana.
Another point noted in last week’s Preview was that Wisconsin got stronger as games went on, which made it difficult for teams to pull away if they didn’t build leads by halftime. Well, Indiana — as it’s done so frequently these last two seasons — dispelled that pattern after boasting just a 10-7 halftime lead. Wisconsin gained just 23 yards in the second half and was outscored 21-0.
Fernando Mendoza was sacked 5 times Saturday, which is the most he’s been sacked in an Indiana uniform. However, only two of the sacks were able to be credited to blockers (Kahlil Benson and Riley Nowakowski). Mendoza wasn’t really under a ton of pressure during the game (only 7 pressured dropbacks); it’s just when he was under pressure, it was fatal to the play. Wisconsin did a solid job of scheming open rushers, and it did so with one of the lowest blitz rates in the country. This is becoming a bit of a concerning trend for Indiana’s front.
As noted in the Preview, Wisconsin DC Mike Tressel runs a similar 3-3-5 scheme to Old Dominion — two schemes that rank 25th and 26th in EPA/rush allowed in short-yardage situations. But neither is that effective at stopping the run altogether (both rank outside the top-90 in rushing success rate allowed). Yet, Wisconsin limited Indiana to its lowest rushing total (83) and per-carry average (2.2) for the season.
Observations:
Indiana’s OL has been regressing in recent weeks, surrendering ground to Ohio State as the 2nd-highest graded unit by PFF.
This week, while Fernando Mendoza was sacked 5 times, it was the run blocking where the Hoosiers faltered the most. The Hoosiers had zero rushing plays of 10+ yards, and if it wasn’t between Adedamola Ajani and Pat Coogan, Indiana struggled to run between the tackles.
On the other side, Indiana is pacing the conference in DL havoc still. The Hoosiers should finish the regular season as the most ruthless Big Ten DL.
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