How Indiana football and its 'bunch of misfits' impacted 12-0 season

WEST LAFAYETTE — Pat Coogan’s night ended with him belting out the Indiana football fight song in the locker room at Ross-Ade Stadium.

It started with him giving a pregame speech to the offense that set the table for a 56-3 blowout win over Purdue that gave the No. 2 Hoosiers (12-0, 9-0 Big Ten) the program’s first undefeated regular season and clinched a spot in the Big Ten title game.

“He’s like look at us, a bunch of misfits, guys from FCS, G5, JMU coming up, bunch of transfers, bunch of rejects that got replaced at their old school coming to Indiana, now we have a chance to go 12-0,” Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza said.

Coogan considered himself one of those misfits.

He was a lifelong Notre Dame fan that realized his dream of playing in South Bend and helped the team reach the CFP finals last season as a starter on the offensive line with his fiery personality gaining national notoriety along the way.

Coogan’s career took an unexpected detour after the season with the coaching staff making it clear they didn’t envision him starting as a senior.

While Coogan had a few more stars to his name coming out of high school than most of IU’s locker room, his experience of being underestimated was a common theme on the roster coach Curt Cignetti assembled and highlighted that bond in his speech.

“It really resonated with a lot of us,” Mendoza said.

As coveted of a transfer prospect as Mendoza was, his former high school coach begged college teams that visited Miami Columbus High School to offer him a scholarship and didn’t find any takers.

The Heisman candidate almost ended up playing for Yale in the Ivy League.

Indiana had misfits from all the categories Coogan listed — FCS schools (Elijah Sarratt), the Group of Five (Stephen Daley), James Madison (Kaelon Black) and former Power Four starters (Roman Hemby) — make an impact against Purdue.

Hemby was encouraged to hit the portal as Maryland (his homestate school) embarked on a rebuild. He rushed for 152 yards with an 82-yard touchdown right before halftime left Purdue that was IU’s longest play from scrimmage this season.

It was a career-long for the fifth-year senior who has talked all season long about being grateful for getting a “second chance” in Bloomington.

“I was always doubted,” Hemby said earlier this season. “I was always overlooked. I never gave up on myself.”

Indiana linebacker Aiden Fisher can say many of the same things as a former unranked prospect who didn’t have any Power Four scholarship offers. He followed Cignetti from James Madison to Bloomington where he nurtured that shared purpose as one of the leaders on the team.

“A like-minded team is a dangerous team,” Fisher said.

Fisher recommended anyone trying to figure out the secret to IU’s success over the last two seasons to start there.

"It's a team that really loves each and no one wants to let each other down,” Fisher said. “It's an intrinsically motivated team that it doesn't matter who our opponent is, it doesn't matter when we're playing, what time, Friday or Saturday, whenever we play we just want to win. We know we have something special with this team. We know we can take this thing pretty far."

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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana football 'bunch of misfits' deliver perfect season with win at Purdue