Curt Cignetti’s first season coaching the Indiana Hoosiers could not have gone much better. Indiana embarked on a stunning run to the College Football Playoff, among the most surprising developments of the 2024 season. But the task of returning to that elite field of 12 teams is the next challenge for Cignetti in 2025.
Cignetti guided the long-suffering Hoosiers program to its first-ever 10-0 start last year, meriting a contract extension until 2032 in the process. Indiana ended the year 11-2, and its offense finished second in the nation in points per game — largely thanks to the lethal pocket passing of quarterback Kurtis Rourke.
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But with Rourke now in the NFL, Indiana will have a new starting quarterback for the fourth time in as many years — and Cignetti is excited over what California transfer Fernando Mendoza will bring to Bloomington.
“You know, we moved Kurtis Rourke 0.25% of the time last year. Not even one percent. Everybody knew where he was launching it from,” Cignetti told college football analyst Greg McElroy. “We’ll move that launch point a little bit more this year and you’ll probably see, you know, a little quarterback run here and there.”
Mendoza transferred from Cal in December and has two years of NCAA eligibility remaining, which will mark rare stability at the quarterback position for Indiana. At 6’5” and 225 pounds, Mendoza has a prototypical pocket-passer build, and he threw for 3,004 yards in the ACC last season, tossing 16 touchdowns to six interceptions.
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Unfortunately for Mendoza, he was sacked 41 times in 2024, the most among FBS signal-callers, negating how much damage he could do with his legs.
Cignetti is confident that Mendoza will be able to thrive as a dual-threat QB behind a stronger offensive line at Indiana. And it is in large part thanks to the successes of 2024 that he has arrived through the portal at all.
“There’s no doubt about it. I think without that success, you don’t land a Fernando Mendoza or a Pat Coogan or some of the other guys we were able to get,” Cignetti told McElroy.
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