And now, 20 Final Thoughts from Week 11, when it worked out quite nicely for many of us that the two best games of the day did not air on ABC or ESPN.
1. After spending most of the last century finding inexplicable ways to lose, Indiana is suddenly incapable of losing. Even on the road, short-handed, down 4 points with 1:30 left and no timeouts, facing second-and-17 from its own 13-yard line after its star quarterback was sacked to start the drive. A seemingly broken Penn State team rising and knocking off an unbeaten Indiana team looked imminent.
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But that’s not how things work anymore. In 2025, Indiana is the one that gets to break Penn State’s heart.
2. That aforementioned QB, Fernando Mendoza, got up from getting sacked and promptly led his team 87 yards, entirely through the air. He got help from tight end Charlie Becker, with his acrobatic sideline catch, and most notably, receiver Omar Cooper Jr., whose epic toe-grazing, back-of-the-end zone-touchdown catch helped deliver a 27-24 Hoosiers victory.
THE MOST INSANE TOE TAP YOU'LL SEE ALL SEASON Omar Cooper Jr. take a bow 👏@IndianaFootball pic.twitter.com/07MncUCK4d — FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) November 8, 2025
Nobody clinches the Heisman Trophy on Nov. 8, but Mendoza went from one of the front-runners to the front-runner with his latest road-game rescue. (Against Iowa, he threw a go-ahead 49-yard touchdown to Elijah Sarratt, who missed Saturday’s game.) The 10-0 Hoosiers, No. 2 in the College Football Playoff rankings, are two more wins (against 3-6 Wisconsin and 2-8 Purdue) from a potential conference championship game against 9-0 and No. 1 Ohio State.
If so, it would be the Big Ten’s first intraconference 1-versus-2 clash since the famous 2006 Ohio State-Michigan game. Imagine telling someone that day that the next one would involve Indiana.
3. In a similar fashion, Dante Moore and No. 9 Oregon refused to succumb to the rain or the long history of top-10 upsets at Iowa’s Kinnick Stadium. After the Hawkeyes drove 93 yards to go up 16-15 with 1:51 remaining, Moore’s 24-yard laser down the sideline to Malik Benson set up a game-winning 39-yard Atticus Sappington field goal. Oregon football has long been synonymous with speed and sizzle, but Dan Lanning’s Ducks — 14-1 in Big Ten play since the start of last season — have now shown rep
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