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The No. 1 Indiana Hoosiers, led by Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza, look to advance to the Nationwide Championship Sport as they face Dante Moore and the No. 5 Oregon Geese within the Peach Bowl.
Comply with beneath for information, updates and evaluation on tonight's recreation.
Share your ideas with us at live@theathletic.com and you’ll want to take a look at our dwell protection schedule for this week here.
No. 5 Oregon vs. No. 1 Indiana (-3.5)
No group has been capable of transfer the ball on Indiana’s protection this season. Michigan State’s 367 yards are essentially the most by any opponent, and that got here in a 38-13 IU win. Penn State is the one group to attain greater than 20 factors on the Hoosiers, and 9 of 14 groups have scored 10 factors or fewer.
The Geese produced solely 267 whole yards and rushed for under 81 yards of their 30-20 house loss to Indiana in October. That was the worst efficiency of the season for Oregon’s speeding assault till final week’s 23-0 Orange Bowl victory, when Texas Tech held the Geese to 64 yards on 47 carries — albeit with a couple of sacks resulting in the paltry whole.
It’s in all probability no coincidence that the group that got here closest to beating the Hoosiers, Penn State, was one in every of two opponents to run for greater than 100 yards in opposition to them (Outdated Dominion was the opposite within the opener). Will Oregon’s speeding assault get the job executed Friday night time in Atlanta? That may go a great distance in figuring out the end result of the sport.
Prediction: Moore retains the Geese within the hunt heading to the fourth quarter, however a protracted Fernando Mendoza landing go to Cooper locks up a 27-17 win for the Hoosiers.
Indiana gamers get a heat reception as they trot onto the sector in Atlanta.
Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti has modified school soccer. However is Cignetti having a superb time?
That’s the query our Christopher Kamrani and Scott Dochterman tried to answer.
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Dante Moore’s main pass-catcher, star Oregon tight finish Kenyon Sadiq, says his quarterback has improved dramatically from the Geese’ loss to Indiana earlier this season:
💬 “I feel it's night time and day, when you go watch my first Indiana recreation and return to (the first-round win in opposition to) JMU, which ran related schemes, with pressures coming from nearly all over the place. Dante has a very mature mindset about it. Each week he is available in and assaults it, and everybody can see within the constructing. So all of us belief him. We all know he's going to get us the best play, the best verify, no matter it’s.”
Indiana alum (and donor) Mark Cuban attracts the most important pregame sideline commotion by far.
Indiana star linebacker Aiden Fisher refuses to underestimate Oregon, and he has not factored within the Hoosiers’ win in opposition to the Geese this season as he has ready for tonight’s recreation.
💬 “To me, it is a entire new group. I feel each side are an entire new group. They've improved drastically. Their O-line, particularly, and their quarterback are enjoying at an especially excessive degree. They've had new guys merge at receiver spots, and everyone is enjoying at a excessive degree. So for me, I'm scouting an entire new group. Schematically there are some issues that can carry over slightly bit, however for me I’ve to deal with it like an entire new recreation, an entire new group, as a result of we're in a special spot than we have been after we have been enjoying them.”
Oregon’s injury-battered large receiver corps is getting more healthy, which the Geese will want in opposition to star Indiana cornerback D’Angelo Ponds. However no matter who Ponds is matched up in opposition to, he’s anticipating a battle because of the familiarity Oregon may have together with his enjoying type:
💬 “I might say when it comes to my place, it’s type of tough. The receiver is aware of what I love to do. I do know what the receiver likes to do. So it's an opportunity to combine issues up and hold them guessing, mainly. And it's going to be a thoughts recreation on the market. So mainly that's what it's going to be.”
Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza is on the sector in Atlanta.
Dante Moore believes he is aware of why he struggled when going through Indiana, and he stated this week that he’s engaged on fixing these errors.
💬 “I made the sport greater than what it was. And this week I type of simply attacked it like how I've been doing these previous weeks. So ensuring I’ve the identical routine in relation to watching movie, getting ready my physique, simply preparing for this second like I've been doing with JMU and Texas Tech.
“However this week we're nonetheless the identical offense. We're simply having enjoyable. After all, follow we've been having slightly little bit of errors, however that's what follow is all about. You gotta study from it.
“(Within the first recreation) I used to be too quick on my progressions. There have been some occasions the place there was an open man, and, I imply, you’ll be able to say I used to be type of seeing ghosts on the market. Extra of simply making an attempt for get by way of my progressions too quick. And one other factor too is after I climbed to the pocket, I used to be making an attempt to hurry and get out. And there have been some occasions the place I might climb into the pocket, and there was no want for me to maneuver.”
Whereas Dan Lanning’s Geese are stocked with expertise, Oregon is bracing for 2 high-profile departures the minute its season ends. Each offensive coordinator Will Stein and defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi are juggling a number of jobs proper now — Stein is the brand new head coach at Kentucky, whereas Lupoi is the brand new head coach at Cal.
Meaning each coaches are busy assembling teaching staffs and establishing rosters at their new jobs whereas additionally ensuring their respective items at Oregon are ready for the Geese’ greatest recreation in over a decade. No stress!
Indiana is just not solely driving a wave of on-field momentum after its dramatic Rose Bowl win. Issues are rolling for the Hoosiers off the sector, too. Billionaire businessman and Dallas Mavericks minority proprietor Mark Cuban, an Indiana alum, has elevated his donations to his alma mater’s athletic division, he advised Entrance Workplace Sports activities just lately.
On a maybe very associated word, Indiana has been a giant winner on this switch portal cycle. The Hoosiers have already got their successor to probably NFL-bound Fernando Mendoza in highly-regarded former TCU quarterback Josh Hoover. They’re additionally already reloading their offensive talent place and defensive position teams. The message is clear: The Hoosiers are here to stay.
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I feel I'm most interested in Oregon quarterback Dante Moore/the Geese' offense and if they will deal with Indiana's stress and disguises higher than they did within the first assembly. Moore threw two interceptions and was sacked six occasions. It will likely be a protracted night time if the Geese don't have extra solutions from the soar this time.
Each Indiana’s Curt Cignetti and Oregon’s Dan Lanning have one thing in frequent — they each hung out as an assistant at Alabama below Nick Saban. Cignetti was Saban’s first large receivers coach and recruiting coordinator in Tuscaloosa earlier than leaving to educate Division II Indiana College of Pennsylvania in 2011. Lanning was a graduate assistant on Saban’s famously loaded 2015 Alabama workers, which additionally included Lanning’s future Georgia boss Kirby Sensible and Miami’s Mario Cristobal.
However Cignetti and Lanning should not Saban, nor do they attempt to be. There’s a lesson in that for packages on the lookout for a championship blueprint on this model new period of school soccer, Will Leitch opines.
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Each coaches have been coy this week when requested in regards to the rematch facet of the Peach Bowl however I do assume it's a recreation like it is a revealing take a look at of a coach and his workers with the ability to modify and predict how an opponent will modify to the primary matchup. Curt Cignetti alluded to it throughout the week however with the ability to predict how an opponent goes to repair what they did poorly and lean into what they did effectively and with the ability to have solutions to that may be a fascinating piece of the chess match we'll see tonight.
Is the Large Ten the brand new heavyweight convention in school soccer?
Lots across the sport assume the tide has turned, no pun meant, after Indiana’s assertion drubbing of Alabama within the Rose Bowl. Right here’s what one coach advised Bruce Feldman about the state of the SEC following a dismal postseason for the convention:
💬 “In the end, and that is y’all’s job, not my job, however there must be an analysis of this narrative of the SEC is these huge, dangerous m————, as a result of they’re getting their asses whipped in these video games.”
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Whatever the consequence of this recreation, Large Ten commissioner Tony Petitti may have cause to have fun. His convention will see one in every of its group play for a nationwide title for a 3rd yr in a row — and a 3rd totally different group will achieve this.
Earlier than Michigan received all of it after the 2023 season, the Large Ten had a university soccer nationwide championship drought relationship again to Ohio State in 2014. Then the Buckeyes matched their archrivals by profitable one other title final season.
This time, the varsity carrying the Large Ten banner ahead might be not be a conventional convention energy however a logo of a facet of school soccer’s new period — both the switch portal (Indiana) or convention enlargement (Oregon).
As Justin Williams talked about in his preview, that is already the fourth School Soccer Playoff rematch of a regular-season recreation. The group that misplaced the primary matchup is 2-1 within the Playoff rematches, and Group of 5 entrant Tulane accounts for that loss. Right here’s the complete listing.
It’s another Playoff rematch of a regular-season game, this yr’s fourth. Indiana won 30-20 on Oct. 11 at Oregon, handing the Geese their solely loss. A 35-yard decide six by Oregon freshman cornerback Brandon Finney Jr. knotted the rating within the fourth quarter, nevertheless it wasn’t sufficient to conquer Indiana and quarterback Fernando Mendoza, who responded with a 12-play, 75-yard landing drive to take the lead for good.
That recreation formally legitimized Indiana as a nationwide title contender, foreshadowing the Hoosiers’ eventual Large Ten championship and No. 1 CFP seed, in addition to Mendoza’s Heisman Trophy. Oregon will look to avenge that outcome and show that final yr’s humbling quarterfinal Playoff exit was an aberration.
That is the fifth all-time matchup between the latest convention foes, with the collection tied 2-2. Earlier than the 2025 regular-season assembly, Indiana final beat Oregon in Eugene in a 2004 nonconference recreation, whereas the Geese received the primary two conferences, house and away, in 1963 and 1964.
The Hoosiers will play of their third Peach Bowl, having misplaced of their earlier appearances in 1987 and 1990. That is the primary Peach Bowl look for the Geese.
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How has Curt Cignetti utterly overhauled the tradition of one of many worst main school soccer packages ever so shortly? Is he ever truly completely satisfied? (Spoiler alert: No.)
To get an inside take a look at what it’s wish to be a part of a Curt Cignetti-led group, Jayson Jenks talked to former James Madison operating again Percy Agyei-Overweight, who performed for Cignetti with the Dukes and is now a center college soccer coach. It’s a fascinating look behind the curtain on the present hottest coach in school soccer.
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I performed for Curt Cignetti. Sure, he’s by no means completely satisfied. Right here’s why that’s a superb factor
