Indiana didn’t just beat Ohio State — it rewrote the balance of power in Big Ten football and crashed the front door of the College Football Playoff.
On Saturday night at Lucas Oil Stadium, No. 2 Indiana stunned No. 1 Ohio State 13–10 to win the Big Ten championship, finish a perfect 13–0, and all but lock up the No. 1 overall seed in the College Football Playoff. It’s Indiana’s first Big Ten title since 1967 and its first win over Ohio State since 1988, snapping one of the league’s most lopsided historical matchups.
A Championship Decided by Inches
This was not the high-flying shootout many expected from two of the nation’s best quarterbacks. It was a
heavyweight defensive fight where every yard felt like a negotiation.
- Indiana led most of the night behind a
relentless defense that held Ohio State to
322 total yards and just
4-of-11 on third down.
- Both starting QBs — Indiana’s
Fernando Mendoza and Ohio State’s
Julian Sayin — threw a touchdown and an interception in a game defined more by pressure and mistakes than by explosive plays.
- The final minutes turned into a
“game of inches” sequence that social media immediately froze in time — particularly a controversial short spot on a Sayin sneak and the chaos around the Buckeyes’ last scoring opportunity.
According to the AP recap, Indiana’s win officially
ended its Big Ten title drought and virtually assured that the Hoosiers will be ranked
No. 1 in the final CFP standings, with Ohio State still expected to land a playoff bye despite the loss.
The Playoff Earthquake
Coming in, this was billed as a de facto battle for the
top CFP seed between the only two undefeated Big Ten teams. Indiana’s win flips the postseason board:
-
Indiana (13–0): Expected to be
No. 1 overall in the playoff, drawing the winner of the
No. 8 vs. No. 9 first‑round game in a New Year’s Six quarterfinal.
-
Ohio State (12–1): Still widely projected to make the playoff and receive a bye, but now slides behind Indiana in seeding.
As one analyst put it, this felt less like an upset and more like a
changing of the guard — a program historically on the Big Ten’s fringes finally breaking through at the expense of one of college football’s perennial powerhouses.
Curt Cignetti’s Instant Classic
Head coach
Curt Cignetti has turned Indiana into one of the sport’s most surprising power programs in record time. This season:
- First time
13–0 in program history
- First
outright Big Ten title since 1945- First Big Ten title of any kind since
1967- First win over Ohio State since
1988Cignetti’s team leaned into its identity:
defense-first, disciplined, and opportunistic. Against one of the nation’s most loaded offenses, Indiana made Ohio State look ordinary for the first time this year.
The Hoosiers’ front consistently collapsed the pocket around Sayin, while the secondary took away chunk plays that have defined Ohio State’s season. The result: drives stalled, frustration grew, and by the fourth quarter, a Buckeye offense used to rolling opponents was desperately scraping for field position.
Social Media Meltdown: Refs, Missed Kicks, and a “Magical” Season
If the game felt wild on the field, it was absolute chaos online.
SportsCenter blasted out
“NO. 2 INDIANA DEFEATS NO. 1 OHIO STATE TO WIN ITS FIRST BIG TEN TITLE IN 58 YEARS!”, instantly framing it as one of the season’s defining upsets.
Reactions focused on three big flashpoints:
-
Officiating outrage: Thousands of fans complained about missed holding calls on Indiana’s offensive line and a controversial spot on Sayin’s late-game sneak, calling it a literal “game of inches.”
-
Kicking drama: Clips of Ohio State’s failed late-game field-goal attempt — and the reaction to it — spread quickly, with fans jokingly roasting the Buckeyes’ special teams in viral posts.
-
Indiana’s “magical” run: Many framed this as the culmination of a
storybook season, with Mendoza’s “run-of-the-mill heroics” and the Hoosiers’ bend-but-don’t-break defense becoming cult favorites outside Columbus.
One local reporter laid out the historical stakes plainly: this win meant
first outright Big Ten title since 1945, first league crown since 1967, and first 13–0 season in school history. That’s not just a good year — that’s a program reboot in real time.
What This Means for Ohio State
For Ohio State, this is less a collapse and more a
gut-punch detour:
- The Buckeyes still sit at
12–1, with a résumé strong enough to keep them squarely in playoff contention.
- But instead of entering as the presumptive No. 1, they now face a tougher path and much louder questions about their ability to finish close games against elite defenses.
Ohio State’s defense largely did its job, limiting Indiana to 13 points and holding Mendoza in check for long stretches. The problem was situational: stalled red-zone trips, missed chances on third down, and a failure to land the knockout blow they’ve delivered all season.
Inside the program, this will sting twice: as a
missed Big Ten title and as the moment another league rival — not Michigan, not Penn State, but Indiana — stole the spotlight.
Why This Night Will Be Remembered
Zoom out, and this game checks every box for an instant classic:
-
No. 1 vs. No. 2 in a conference title game
- A
defensive slugfest in an era dominated by offense
- A historically marginalized program breaking a
58-year championship drought- Massive
playoff implications with both teams still likely in the field
More importantly, it sends a clear message: the Big Ten — and by extension, the national title race — no longer belongs exclusively to the usual suspects.
Indiana just kicked down the door, grabbed the trophy, and likely claimed the top playoff seed. And if this was truly a
preview of a future College Football Playoff rematch, as some analysts suggested, then we may not have seen the last chapter of Indiana–Ohio State this season.
For now, though, the Lucas Oil scoreboard — and the Big Ten trophy — belong to the Hoosiers.
Sources
1. Indiana vs Ohio State live score updates: IU is Big Ten football ...
2. Indiana Hoosiers vs. Ohio State Buckeyes Live Score and Stats
3. Social Media Reacts to Indiana's Magical Win Over Ohio State to ...
4. No. 2 Indiana TAKES DOWN No. 1 Ohio State to win the Big Ten ...
5. Indiana 13-10 Ohio State (Dec 6, 2025) Game Recap - ESPN
6. Big Ten Championship Game Highlights: No. 2 Indiana Defeats No ...
