EUGENE, Ore. — Fernando Mendoza threw for 215 yards and a key fourth-quarter touchdown and No. 7 Indiana remained undefeated with a 30-20 victory over No. 3 Oregon on Saturday.
Roman Hemby added a pair of scoring runs for the Hoosiers (6-0, 3-0 Big Ten), who frustrated the Ducks (5-1, 2-1) with stout defensive play. The win was Indiana's first over a top-five team since beating then-No. 3 Purdue 19-14 in 1967.
Dante Moore threw for 186 yards and a touchdown, but has two passes intercepted and was sacked six times in Oregon's first Big Ten regular-season loss. It snapped an 18-game winning streak at Autzen Stadium, the longest active streak in the nation.
With Oregon down 20-13 going into the fourth quarter, Brandon Finney intercepted Mendoza's pass and ran it back 35 yards to tie it with 12:42 left. Mendoza answered with an 8-yard scoring pass to Elijah Sarratt with 6:23 to go to give Indiana the lead for good.
On Oregon's next series, Moore's pass was intercepted by Louis Moore and Brendan Franke added a 22-yard field goal for the Hoosiers with 2:06 left for the final margin.
“Our defense was tremendous in the second half, our kicking game was really good all day, and the offense made plays when they had to," Indiana coach Curt Cignetti said. "Mendoza extended plays, made plays with his legs. And the play to Sarratt, obviously, was huge, huge.”
Both sides were coming off weeks off. In their last game, the Ducks beat Penn State 30-24 in double-overtime on the road in the annual White Out game. The Hoosiers beat Iowa 20-15 on the road.
Asked how significand the win was for the Hoosiers' program, Cignetti was pragmatic.
“Well, it depends on what we do with it from here,” he said. “You know, it's a great win against the (No. 3 ranked) team in the country on the road who had an 18-game home winning streak, right? And it puts us in position, if we can continue to be successful, which means we have to show up to work on Monday as a team, humble and hungry.”
On the first series of the game, the Ducks failed at a fourth-and-1 attempt, giving the Hoosiers good field position for their opening drive. It ended with Nico Radicic’s 42-yard field goal.
Oregon pulled ahead with Moore’s 44-yard touchdown pass to Malik Benson but Hemby rushed for a 3-yard touchdown before the end of the first quarter to make it 10-7.
Atticus Sappington’s 40-yard field goal tied it up for the Ducks, but a later 36-yard attempt that would have given Oregon the lead went wide left.
Franke kicked a 58-yard field goal as time ran out to give Indiana a 13-10 advantage at the break.
Sappington’s 33-yard field goal in the third quarter tied it again for Oregon but Hemby added his second touchdown for the Hoosiers, a two-yard dash late in the period.
The loss was a learning opportunity, said Oregon coach Dan Lanning.
“We didn’t have a fastball today,” Lanning said. “Everybody wants to look at players and say, ‘Oh this is the reason.’ That was a team effort, right? And that was a team loss, right? And their team played better than us. It wasn’t Dante. It was the whole group, the coaching staff, the players.”
The takeaway
Oregon will no doubt fall while Indiana will rise in the AP Top 25. The tight game was reminiscent of last year's regular-season showdown between Oregon and Ohio State at Autzen, when the Ducks prevailed 32-31. This game, too, could still have Big Ten title and College Football Playoff implications, but the Ducks don't have the No. 1 Buckeyes on the schedule this year. Neither do the Hoosiers.
It ain't over
Lanning reminded his team afterward that there's still football to be played.
“It’s hard to go unscathed in college football, especially against a good team. They played a better game than us, they were better coached than us today. And our guys recognize that every one of our goals is still in front of us and an opportunity to attack,” Lanning said.
Up next
Indiana: Hosts Michigan State next Saturday.
Oregon: At Rutgers on next Saturday.
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