Indiana
Purdue football vs. Indiana: Scouting report, prediction
Purdue football coach Ryan Walters previews Indiana
Ryan Walters met with media members on Monday to discuss Saturday’s Old Oaken Bucket game against the Indiana Hoosiers.
WEST LAFAYETTE − It all comes down to this.
Two in-state rivals with 3-8 records whose hopes for a positive season relies on hoisting an Old Oaken Bucket Saturday in Ross-Ade Stadium.
Neither team will play in a bowl game, so Saturday’s battle between Purdue football and Indiana is essentially the bowl game.
“They’re playing their best ball towards the end of the year,” Purdue coach Ryan Walters said of the Hoosiers. “They’ve got a lot of experienced guys up front offensively. The quarterback is a tough, bigger guy that can run around. The running backs are big, powerful, Big Ten type backs.”
Indiana’s last win Bucket game was in 2019, a 44-41 overtime victory at Purdue. The two teams did not meet in 2020 and Purdue was dominant against the Hoosiers in the last two seasons.
Here’s the skinny on Purdue’s season finale.
Scouting the Hoosiers
Indiana started 2-4 before making some wholesale changes. Coach Tom Allen fired offensive coordinator Walt Bell after a loss to Maryland. The Hoosiers elevated Brendan Sorsby to starting quarterback over Tayven Jackson after the two shared snaps earlier this season.
In the last four games, Indiana has a win over Wisconsin, hung with Penn State in a 33-24 loss at Beaver Stadium, and lost to Illinois and Michigan State each by a field goal.
Seniors lay the foundation
Purdue will honor its seniors prior to the game Saturday.
For Walters, it’s a special group, one that is mostly comprised of players who committed to a different coaching staff and scheme.
More: ‘Why would I leave?’ Fifth-year senior Cam Allen’s love for Purdue football runs deep
We know TJ Sheffield won’t go through the ceremonies. The senior receiver is no longer with the team, announcing on Wednesday he’s entering the transfer portal.
Some who go through senior day will still have the option of returning, but Purdue allows all seniors the opportunity even if they do come back.
The season has produced mixed results for a group hoping to build off an appearance in last year’s Big Ten Championship game, but Walters believes they’ve set up the program for future success.
“They’ve been awesome. They completely bought in and embraced the staff and the changes with open arms,” Walters said. “Obviously it ain’t all sunshine and rainbows, right? Every individual has their personal opinions, but the guys who have stuck with it and stayed have really put their head down and went to work.”
Curtis Painter returns
The former Boilermaker quarterback is Purdue’s honorary captain on Saturday.
Before playing in the NFL with the Indianapolis Colts and New York Giants, Painter amassed one of the greatest careers of any Boilermaker signal caller, culminating with his 448 yards and five touchdowns in a 62-10 victory over the Hoosiers.
The record of both teams entering that 2008 game? Both 3-8.
Prediction: Purdue 41, Indiana 20
Maybe the Boilermakers were saving all those failed scores in the red zone for a ceremonious send off. Sure, we’ll go with that. If Hudson Card plays last week, Purdue probably would be looking to end the regular season on a three-game winning streak.
By the way, Purdue is averaging better than 28 points per game at Ross-Ade Stadium and just 16 points on the road. Expect the offense to show up. That duo of Tyrone Tracy and Devin Mockobee in the backfield is clicking and the offense has been creative in utilizing what it has available, which, after injuries, isn’t a whole lot up front.
Sam King covers sports for the Journal & Courier. Email him at sking@jconline.com and follow him on Twitter and Instagram @samueltking.
INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Hoosier football team moved up one spot to No. 2 in this week’s Associated Press college football poll.
The move comes after Indiana dominated Michigan State, 38-13, in the Old Brass Spittoon Game on Saturday afternoon in Bloomington, while last week’s second-ranked team, Miami, was upset by unranked Louisville at home, 24-21, on Friday night.
The No. 2 spot breaks the record the Hoosiers set just last week for the highest ranking in program history. Indiana also received six first-place votes, the only No. 1 votes top-ranked Ohio State didn’t receive in this week’s poll.
The Hoosiers and Buckeyes are both 7-0 and the only two undefeated (4-0) teams left in the Big Ten. They are on track to meet in the Big Ten Championship Game at Lucas Oil Stadium on Saturday, December 6.
There are seven teams sitting at 3-1 in Big Ten play, including Indiana’s opponent on Saturday, UCLA. The matchup will be featured on FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff. You can watch the game on FOX59.
BLOOMINGTON — As Indiana’s historic season has unfolded across the last several weeks, a minor urban legend has taken hold here in Bloomington.
It’s been said that, on more than one occasion, team staffers checking in on the football offices late into the evening have found one light on, and one man working under its glare.
There, they discover Fernando Mendoza — a quarterback Curt Cignetti repeatedly describes as among the hardest-working he’s ever coached — combing through film and studying keys, long after teammates and even coaches have gone home.
It turns out this is the product of a scheduling quirk. Mendoza, who graduated from Cal-Berkeley with a business degree in just three years, maintains a strict and detailed daily schedule. One that often includes evening film study and solo preparation.
Most of the time, Mendoza told IndyStar, his day concludes somewhere between 9 and 9:30 p.m., when he returns to the off-campus apartment he shares with his brother and backup, Alberto.
But on Thursdays, Mendoza makes a point to take his offensive line out to dinner. Never one to abbreviate that routine, Mendoza pushes those end-of-day sessions a little later in the evening.
Usually, his Thursdays wrap sometime between 10 and 11 p.m. He’ll lengthen his day before he shortens his process.
As Mendoza’s first — and perhaps only — season in Bloomington matures, more and more teammates, coaches and fans are coming to appreciate the meticulousness with which he approaches his job, one he is doing just about as well as any player in the country right now.
After another superlative performance Saturday afternoon, one interrupted by lightning but never Michigan State, it’s fair now to start believing the answer to the question, “Can Fernando Mendoza win the Heisman Trophy?” is, in fact, yes.
“Don’t ever tell him I said this, because he hates hearing stuff like this,” wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr. said. “I feel like we’ve got the best quarterback in college football.”
IU students certainly made up their minds Saturday evening when, near the conclusion of a rain-soaked 38-13 homecoming victory over Michigan State, they began “HeisMendoza.”
Or maybe it’s “Heisman-doza.” We have time to work out the spelling, but the conversation needs having. Because Mendoza, who on Saturday helped Indiana retain the Old Brass Spittoon for the first time since 1969, certainly looks the part.
The redshirt junior widely considered among the best NFL prospects at his position in this draft class before the season began has done little to temper those expectations across the Hoosiers’ 7-0 (4-0 in Big Ten play) start.
He was ruthless against Illinois. He delivered game-winning moments in hard-fought victories at Iowa and at Oregon. And on Saturday, he unpacked Michigan State’s defense to the tune of 24 of 28, for 332 yards and four touchdowns.
Mendoza was not sacked once. He mixed in a handful of important quarterback runs, including one that converted a key third down. And he saved his best for his last, Mendoza’s final touchdown pass a 27-yarder dropped into a bucket, right on Elijah Sarratt’s facemask.
“This is the sharpest we’ve seen him, up to this point, in a game,” Cignetti said. “He continues to improve. He continues to prepare like nobody I’ve ever been around, and he’s getting better and better.”
Indiana’s coach has not always praised so publicly his latest transfer quarterback success.
A former quarterback himself, and a coach with considerable success developing players at that position, Cignetti keeps a high standard for his signal callers. Even as he often suggests quarterbacks get both too much praise and too much blame, that did not stop him demanding excellence of Kurtis Rourke, in 2024, and it has not stopped him setting the bar just as high (if not higher) for Mendoza, in 2025.
Increasingly, the Miami native is clearing it.
While it was not the toughest test he’s seen or will see in an Indiana uniform, Saturday felt in some ways like Mendoza’s most complete game thus far as a Hoosier.
The accuracy, the arm talent and the leadership qualities have always shined through, virtually since the day he set foot on campus in winter. The Spartans, though, felt the full force of a quarterback who looks more comfortable now than he has at any point so far this season.
Forty-one (41) sacks last season at Cal left Mendoza, by his own admission, with some undeniably bad habits: a lack of trust in protection, antsy feet in the pocket, a lack of comfort cycling through three or four reads each dropback.
Cignetti, quarterbacks coach Chandler Whitmer and offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan spent the offseason slowing Mendoza down, teaching him to trust, preaching patience and helping Mendoza understand the next level he could reach. The level his game now approaches.
Already an impressive quarterback with the Bears, Mendoza is now joining — whether he’ll admit it or not — conversations about the best quarterback in the country.
In fact, he’s more than joining them. He’s beginning to define them.
Mendoza teased this top-of-the-game dominance when he turned in back-to-back performances of similar quality against Indiana State and Illinois, two ends to the competitive spectrum that each suggested Mendoza’s abilities independent of the stage or the stakes.
“We have so many great players on our team,” Mendoza said. “Whatever spotlight that I might get from the offense’s success, I’m just trying to dish it out to all my teammates, because they really deserve it.”
He was not perfect at Iowa, nor at Oregon. But those are moments when a quarterback should be tough, not perfect, and in each game Mendoza delivered in the pivotal moment. First, the touchdown pass to Sarratt in Iowa City, then that decisive 12-play, 75-yard touchdown drive responding to his own pick-six in the fourth quarter against the Ducks.
On that decisive drive in Eugene, Mendoza was 5 of 7, for 62 yards and what turned out to be the game-winning touchdown.
No such heroics were required Saturday. Just a steady hand and a cool head. Mendoza delivered both.
“He keeps building on previous performances,” Cignetti said. “I can’t say enough good things about him.”
A Heisman Trophy, like a national championship, is a difficult thing to win. That Indiana and its rapidly ascending quarterback approach Halloween chasing both speaks to the remarkable nature of this remarkable season.
There are still miles left to travel. No Big Ten schedule forgives complacency, the thing that might be Cignetti’s greatest enemy between now and the end of the season.
So long as IU’s offensive line keeps Mendoza upright — he took no sacks Saturday — quarterback play isn’t something Cignetti needs to sweat. He’s got a good one. Maybe a great one.
Maybe the best, as Cooper suggested, in all of college football.
Want more Hoosiers coverage? Sign up for IndyStar’s Hoosiers newsletter. Listen to Mind Your Banners, our IU Athletics-centric podcast, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Watch the latest on IndyStar TV: Hoosiers.
Indiana
What channel is Indiana football vs Michigan State on TV today? Start time, streaming, schedule
The Indiana football team is 6-0 going into today’s game against Michigan State (3-3) at Memorial Stadium.
Last week, IU defeated Oregon on the road, 30-20, in what was one of the biggest wins in program history. The Hoosiers are No. 3 in the US LBM Coaches Poll. The Hoosiers are 3-0 in the Big Ten, while the Spartans are 0-3.
Through six games, IU quarterback Fernando Mendoza has thrown for 1,423 yards, 17 touchdowns and two interceptions. Elijah Sarratt leads the Hoosiers with 39 receptions, 533 yards and seven scores.
Michigan State owns wins over Western Michigan, Boston College and Youngstown State. They have lost to USC, Nebraska and UCLA. Aidan Chiles has thrown for 1,019 yards, nine touchdowns and three interceptions.
Earlier in the week, coach Curt Cignetti signed a new to contract with Indiana. Cignetti’s new deal raised his average annual compensation to $11.6 million through 2033.
Watch Indiana vs Michigan State with Peacock
When is Indiana vs Michigan State game in Week 8 of the college football season? What date is MSU football at Indiana?
Indiana vs Michigan State is Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025, at Memorial Stadium Bloomington.
What time does Michigan State vs Indiana game start today, Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025? When does IU football vs MSU begin?
IU vs Michigan State begins at 3:30 p.m. ET Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025.
What channel is Indiana football vs Michigan State game today? How to watch Michigan State at IU football on TV
TV: Peacock with Dan Hicks (play-by-play), Jason Garrett (analyst) and Zora Stephenson (sideline)
Watch IU football vs Michigan State on Peacock
Where to stream, watch IU vs MSU football game today, Saturday, October 18, 2025? Streaming Indiana football vs Michigan State at Memorial Stadium
Streaming options include Peacock.
Catch Indiana vs Michigan State on Peacock
How to watch, stream the Indiana football vs Michigan State game today, Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025? Streaming IU vs MSU at Memorial Stadium
Catch all the action between Indiana football and Michigan State from Bloomington on Peacock.
Watch Indiana and MSU live on Peacock
How to listen to Indiana vs Michigan State game today on radio, Saturday, Oct. 18? Streaming IU vs MSU football at Memorial Stadium
- Radio: Indiana Hoosier Sports Network with Don Fischer (play-by-play), Buck Suhr (analyst) and John Herrick
- Streaming: SiriusXM Channel 85
Indiana football vs Michigan State tickets
Ticket prices for the Indiana vs Michigan State game at Memorial Stadium start at $86 on StubHub.
Buy Indiana vs Michigan State tickets
Who is favored between Indiana football and Michigan State? Predictions, picks, betting odds for IU vs MSU
Odds courtesy of BetMGM
- Indiana 40, Michigan State 20: “It’s difficult to imagine the Spartans struggling so much in their second season under Jonathan Smith as they did their first. Aidan Chiles will be a year older and wiser. But Indiana will also be at home. Depth becomes a factor after three difficult Big Ten games. If IU is healthy, Hoosiers win.” – IU reporter Zach Osterman
- Spread: Indiana by 27.5
- Over/under: 49.5
- Moneyline: Indiana -10000, Michigan State +1750
See what coach Darian DeVries learned from Curt Cignetti
Coach Darian DeVries shared what he’s learned from Curt Cignetti and the Indiana Hoosiers football team.
Big Ten football schedule for Week 8
- Fri., Oct. 17: Nebraska at Minnesota, 8 p.m., Fox
- Sat., Oct. 18: Washington at Michigan, noon, Fox
- Sat., Oct. 18: Purdue at Northwestern, 3 p.m., BTN
- Sat., Oct. 18: Ohio State at Wisconsin, 3:30 p.m., CBS
- Sat., Oct. 18: Michigan State at Indiana, 3:30 p.m., Peacock
- Sat., Oct. 18: Oregon at Rutgers, 6:30 p.m., BTN
- Sat., Oct. 18: Penn State at Iowa, 7 p.m., Peacock
- Sat., Oct. 18: Maryland at UCLA, 7 p.m., FS1
- Sat., Oct. 18: USC at Notre Dame, 7:30 p.m., NBC/Peacock
Want more Hoosiers coverage? Sign up for IndyStar’s Hoosiers newsletter. Listen to Mind Your Banners, our IU Athletics-centric podcast, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Watch the latest on IndyStar TV: Hoosiers.
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