Indiana put Oregon away early in its 56-15 win over the Ducks in the Peach Bowl.
Here are the five plays that defined Indiana’s blowout win to set up a matchup with Miami in the national championship game on Jan. 19.
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D’Angelo Ponds’ pick-6
It’s very, very difficult to score on the first play from scrimmage when you do not have the ball. Yet Indiana was up 7-0 without its offense even thinking about taking the field.
D’Angelo Ponds picked off Oregon’s Dante Moore on the first offensive play of the game and returned the ball for 25 yards and an early lead. Ponds clearly knew where Moore wanted to go with the ball at the snap and read the QB’s eyes perfectly for the score.
Oregon bounced back on its next drive with a 14-play, 75-yard possession that resulted in a 19-yard TD from Moore to Jamari Johnson. But it’s hard to deal with the game being 7-7 without the opposing offense taking the field.
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Dierre Hill Jr. knocks the ball out of Dante Moore’s hands
The Hoosiers scored on their first offensive possession of the game to take the lead back. After punting on their second offensive possession, Oregon had the ball at its own 13-yard line. And a self-inflicted disaster happened.
Moore elected to pass the ball on a run-pass option. After faking the handoff to Dierre Hill Jr. — the Ducks’ No. 3 RB forced into duty because of injuries to Noah Whittington and Jordon Davison — Hill was very close to Moore as Moore went to throw.
Too close, in fact. As Moore’s arm went backwards, the ball hit Hill in the shoulder and popped into the air. Mario Landino recovered at the Oregon 3-yard line.
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Three plays later, Indiana RB Kaelon Black was in the end zone for a two-score lead. Oregon would never get any closer.
Fernando Mendoza’s 36-yard TD pass to Charlie Becker
After Indiana went up 21-7, Oregon gained six yards and in five plays before punting back to the Hoosiers thanks to back-to-back sacks of Moore.
It didn’t take long for Indiana to score again after Oregon punted the ball. Just four plays after getting the ball back, Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza threw his second TD of the night with a perfectly-placed 36-yard bomb to Charlie Becker and a 28-7 lead.
Dante Moore’s second fumble
By now, you know where this is headed. Two plays after Becker’s touchdown, Moore was strip-sacked by Daniel Ndukwe. Landino was in the right spot at the right time again and recovered the football.
Guess what? Indiana capitalized on the turnover too. Moore fumbled with 2:36 to go in the first half. 97 seconds later, Mendoza threw his third touchdown of the game. This time, it was a 2-yard score to Elijah Sarratt.
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Daniel Ndukwe’s blocked punt
Indiana scored on its first possession of the second half to extend its lead to 42-7. The game was over at that point. There was no way Oregon was coming back.
But if you needed any more proof that Oregon was toast, Ndukwe provided it in the fourth quarter with his blocked punt of James Ferguson-Reynolds. Just look how Ndukwe fought through the block to get to the kick.
The ball was caught by Kaiden Turner and returned to the Oregon 7-yard line before Mendoza threw his fifth and final touchdown of the night for a 49-15 lead.
Ndukwe finished the game with three tackles, two sacks and the blocked punt. Those were the first two sacks he had all season after he entered the game with just one tackle for loss and eight tackles in 13 games.
