College Football Playoff Quarterfinal - Rose Bowl Presented by Prudential: Alabama v Indiana
Getty Images

Indiana's perfect season appeared to be slipping away in the second half at Beaver Stadium on Nov. 8. A 20-10 lead had devolved into a 24-20 deficit, and the Hoosiers were stuck in neutral.

Fernando Mendoza, the author of great finishes in wins at Iowa and Oregon that propelled IU to 9-0, was struggling as the Hoosiers went punt-interception-punt to begin the fourth quarter. Now, a hostile crowd of 105,231 felt Penn State closing in on an elusive moment of glory during a season of frustration for the underperforming Nittany Lions.

With just 1:51 remaining, Mendoza trotted back out onto the field having completed just three of his last eight passes. His poor stretch was marred further by a rare interception, which led to Penn State's go-ahead touchdown.

Was Mendoza merely a great quarterback capable of leading the Hoosiers back to the College Football Playoff? Or was he a Heisman-caliber legend who could lead them to championships?

That question hung in the air as Penn State's Zane Durant flew around the right side of the Hoosiers' offensive line and wrestled Mendoza to the ground for a loss of seven on first down. 

Now facing a second-and-17 without any timeouts, Indiana had 87 yards to go within 90 seconds as the clock ran against a Nittany Lions defense playing up to its vast potential.

It was in this moment, with a dropping sun casting long shadows across the field on a crisp fall day in Big Ten country, that Mendoza answered the question.

He hit Omar Cooper Jr. for a gain of 22 yards on the next play to give the Hoosiers new life. Eight plays later, he capped a drive for Indiana lore by hitting Cooper again for a toe-tapping touchdown grab with 36 seconds left, lifting the Hoosiers to a thrilling 27-24 victory.

It was Mendoza's Heisman moment, and it embodied why this IU team is cut out to win the national championship.

More CFP predictions: Why Miami can win it all | Why Ole Miss can win it all

Indiana minimizes mistakes

Indiana rarely makes mistakes. But when mistakes happen, the Hoosiers do not magnify them. Instead, they have a quarterback in Mendoza who makes amends for them.

Such was the case against Penn State and on numerous occasions for the No. 1 seed Hoosiers, who will play No. 5 seed Oregon in the Peach Bowl on Friday with a spot in the CFP National Championship Game on the line.

IU's plus-18 turnover margin is tied with Arizona for the best in college football. Only two teams have committed fewer turnovers than the Hoosiers, who have coughed up the football just eight times in 14 games.

Indiana's only multi-turnover game came in a 56-6 drubbing of UCLA on Oct. 25, and the Hoosiers have committed just one turnover in their past four games entering their CFP semifinal rematch with the Ducks.

This team simply doesn't beat itself.

Of IU's eight turnovers, just one has come in the red zone, which has helped the Hoosiers score touchdowns on a whopping 72.1% of their red zone trips. That mark is tops among teams left in the field, and it only tells part of the story.

The Hoosiers' defense also deserves ample credit for elite red zone performance. Opponents have scored touchdowns on just 26.1% of their red zone trips, which makes Indiana's red-zone defense the best in the nation by a wide margin.

By contrast, Oregon's opponents have scored touchdowns on 67.7% of their red zone trips.

What Indiana proved along the way

What made Indiana's 30-20 win at Oregon on Oct. 11 so impressive is that Mendoza made arguably his worst mistake of the season but kept his composure and recovered from it. The Cal transfer threw a potentially devastating pick-six early in the fourth quarter that allowed the Ducks to tie the game at 20-20. 

On the ensuing possession, he led a 12-play, 75-yard touchdown drive capped by an 8-yard pass to Elijah Sarratt. The Hoosiers' defense also allowed just 10 points on three Oregon red zone trips while following a familiar blueprint to a statement victory.

Two weeks earlier, IU pulled off the redemption routine for the first time, as Mendoza recovered from a late interception in a 20-15 win at Iowa to lead a game-winning, 76-yard touchdown drive capped by a 49-yard scoring strike to Sarratt.

It's almost as if Mendoza's interceptions -- rare as they are -- unlock his best moments. Instead of diminishing his confidence, the miscues have set the stage for his greatest triumphs.

Mendoza's interception in the first half of the Big Ten Championship Game against Ohio State left him just 3 for 8 to start the game and established the Buckeyes with a short field. They used it to score a quick touchdown and take a 7-3 lead. But Mendoza responded by completing 12 of 15 passes the rest of the way, including a go-ahead 17-yard strike to Sarratt in the third quarter, which proved to be the decisive score in a 13-10 win.

Just four times this season has Indiana played a game decided by 10 points or less. On all four occasions, Mendoza bounced back from an interception to shine. More often, the Hoosiers simply trounced the opposition.

Such was the case in a 38-3 Rose Bowl beatdown of No. 9 seed Alabama in the CFP quarterfinals. That's the gear Indiana has been in for much of the season as the Hoosiers regularly obliterated the opposition.

But when those close calls came, the Hoosiers, led by Mendoza, showed an unflappable resilience that sets them up perfectly to win two more games and cap the program's storybook two-year ride to the top of college football under coach Curt Cignetti.