The Scarlet and Gray

[toysoldier00]

Mendoza Makes Indiana Magical, but Also Very Real

By Bailey Lloyd
October 29, 2025



Fernando Mendoza didn’t just change Indiana’s offense. He changed the way Indiana is allowed to imagine itself.

The Hoosiers have had good teams before, teams that made a little noise, teams that flirted with the rankings, teams that briefly convinced you something might be different. Then the schedule tightened, the mistakes arrived, and the story returned to its usual shape. Indiana as a fun chapter, not the main plot.

Mendoza has rewritten that shape because he removed the most common way underdogs die: self-inflicted chaos.

Indiana is No. 4 in the College Football Playoff rankings, and the quarterback driving that ascent has produced like a contender without playing like a gambler. Through eight games, Mendoza has completed 221 of 314 passes for 2,638 yards and 25 touchdowns. He’s added 264 rushing yards and four more scores. He’s topped 300 yards six times. And the number that matters most, the number that tells you this isn’t a heater, is still sitting at zero: zero turnovers.

That stat isn’t a trivia nugget. It’s the foundation of Indiana’s legitimacy.

The moment the country started believing was Week 7 in Eugene, when Indiana didn’t just beat Oregon, it bullied Oregon. The 42–21 win wasn’t a fluke, wasn’t built on busted coverages or short fields. It was built on Mendoza calmly taking what was there until Oregon cracked, and then taking what he wanted once it did. It was the kind of road performance that doesn’t feel like “upset,” but like a team arriving.

Curt Cignetti has treated it that way. He hasn’t sold Indiana’s season as surprising. He’s sold it as earned.

“We need more dawgs on our team,” Cignetti said during the run that followed Indiana’s biggest wins, a line that sounded less like motivation and more like a mission statement. That’s what Mendoza embodies. He plays like someone who expects the game to get tight, and expects himself to be sharp anyway.

Indiana’s remaining path is light enough that it almost dares you to look ahead: road trips to Maryland, Penn State and Purdue, with Wisconsin coming to Bloomington. If the Hoosiers handle business, and quarterbacks who don’t turn it over tend to do that, the season starts to narrow toward the collision the league can’t stop thinking about: Indiana versus Ohio State for the Big Ten title.

That matchup will come with talent gaps and history and all the usual weight Ohio State brings into a room. Indiana’s counter will be the same thing it’s leaned on all season: a quarterback who doesn’t hand games away, and a program that finally plays like it believes it belongs.

[toysoldier00]

Week 10 Preview: Elimination Week Arrives for Vanderbilt–Texas, Oklahoma–Tennessee and a Strange Penn State Trip to Columbus

Marissa Bleday
October 30, 2025


By late October, college football stops being a story about “who looks good” and becomes a story about “who can survive.” Week 10 feels like the weekend where the sport’s middle class gets separated from its true contenders, and where a few teams still clinging to playoff oxygen either land a signature win or watch the room go dark.

#15 Vanderbilt Commodores (7-1) at #11 Texas Longhorns (6-2)
College GameDay is headed to Austin for the loudest stage: No. 15 Vanderbilt (7–1) at No. 11 Texas (6–2), a matchup that would have sounded like satire in August and now reads like a playoff eliminator. Texas can’t afford a third loss, not with Oklahoma, Georgia and Texas A&M still on the calendar. Vanderbilt probably can’t afford to miss its rare opportunities for top-end résumé wins if it wants the country to treat the Commodores as more than a fun October detour.

Steve Sarkisian framed it like a coach who understands the stakes but also knows panic is its own form of losing. “We’re not chasing headlines,” Sarkisian said this week. “We’re chasing consistency. If we play clean and play to our standard, the rest takes care of itself.”

Texas has leaned on defense all season, Colin Simmons and Anthony Hill Jr. have been as disruptive as any pair in the league, and that unit now faces the hardest kind of assignment: a quarterback who doesn’t play scared and an offense that lives on third down.

Diego Pavia has turned Vanderbilt into a national event. He’s been efficient through the air and lethal on the ground, and what makes the Commodores feel real is that their offensive success isn’t built on trickery, it’s built on staying on schedule, finishing in the red zone, and refusing to punt when the moment demands aggression.

Clark Lea called Pavia “the heartbeat,” then added the line that matters most for this trip: “We don’t want to be cute. We want to be tough. That travels.” If Vanderbilt hangs around into the fourth quarter, Texas will feel the pressure of every third down like it’s a referendum.

#19 Oklahoma Sooners (6-2) at
#16 Tennessee Volunteers (6-2)
Another eliminator lives in Knoxville: No. 19 Oklahoma (6–2) at No. 16 Tennessee (6–2), a game that feels like a last call for both teams’ playoff hopes. Oklahoma’s story is about defense and quarterback volatility, John Mateer’s concussion scare last week derailed the Sooners, and his return changes everything. Brent Venables said this week the focus is on “playing fast and playing smart,” but he also knows the reality: “You don’t beat good teams without your quarterback playing at his best.”

Tennessee’s pitch is simpler: pass rush, pass rush, pass rush. The Volunteers can wreck an offense without blitzing, and the trio of Dominic Bailey, Joshua Josephs and Jordan Ross has made Tennessee a weekly pocket-collapser. Josh Heupel didn’t hide what he wants.

“We have to win the line of scrimmage,” he said. “If you let a quarterback like Mateer get comfortable, you’re going to be in trouble.” The inverse is also true: if Tennessee’s offense can’t cash drives into touchdowns, it risks turning another game into a “field goals aren’t enough” lesson.

Penn State Nittany Lions (3-4) at #2 Ohio State Buckeyes (7-0)
In the Big Ten, the weekend’s most intriguing game might be the one that looks least competitive on paper: Penn State (3–4) at No. 2 Ohio State (7–0). Penn State’s season has fallen apart, and the Nittany Lions arrive in Columbus carrying four straight losses and a fan base in open revolt. But the talent is still there, which makes this matchup less about whether Penn State can “fix itself” overnight and more about how Ohio State handles a desperate opponent with real athletes.

“You can’t choose when teams play their best,” Ryan Day said this week. “All you can control is how you prepare and how you respond when it gets messy.”

James Franklin framed his week like a man trying to get his team back to basics. “We’re not looking for a magic switch,” Franklin said. “We’re looking for effort, execution, and pride.” That won’t erase the mountain Penn State is climbing, but it could create the kind of first-quarter tension Ohio State hasn’t felt since Texas.

#20 USC Trojans (5-2) at #21 Nebraska Cornhuskers (6-2)
The other Big Ten game with real stakes is in Lincoln: No. 20 USC (5–2) at No. 21 Nebraska (6–2), a matchup between two teams having good seasons that still need a defining win to prove they belong in the top-half conversation. USC’s edge has been ball security and takeaways, Lincoln Riley’s team has quietly built one of the best turnover margins in the league, and that matters against Nebraska’s redshirt freshman Marcos Davila, who has flashed brilliance and volatility in equal measure.

Matt Rhule called it a “discipline game,” adding, “If you give a team like that extra possessions, you won’t like the ending.”

Cincinnati Bearcats (7-1) at #25 Utah Utes (6-2)
In the Big 12, Cincinnati (7–1) at No. 25 Utah (6–2) feels like a standings-shaper disguised as a regional matchup. Cincinnati brings an electric run game, multiple backs capable of ending drives in the end zone, while Utah counters with an offense that can finally match the defense’s physical identity. Kyle Whittingham called it “a grown-man game,” and that’s exactly what it looks like: two teams built to run, hit, and test your depth in the fourth quarter.

Navy Midshipmen (7-0) at North Texas Mean Green (7-1)
And don’t overlook the American, where 7–0 Navy travels to 7–1 North Texas in a style clash that could decide the conference race. North Texas wants to sling it. Navy wants to suffocate you with the run game and a defense that has been as stingy as any in the country. If you like contrast, that’s your game.

Week 10 doesn’t offer many places to hide. It offers stages, Austin, Knoxville, Columbus, where seasons either stay alive or start fading.






[toysoldier00]

Game Preview: Ohio State Faces Penn State’s Talent — and Penn State’s Crisis
By Zachary Anderson on October 31, 2025





Ohio State has spent two months turning the idea of a repeat into something that looks increasingly real. The Buckeyes are 7-0, they’ve beaten quality teams on the road at Washington, Illinois and Wisconsin, and they’ve looked sharper as the season has progressed. Penn State, meanwhile, has spent the same stretch living through the kind of collapse that most programs only talk about in nightmares.

The Nittany Lions were preseason No. 2, started 3-0, then unraveled after a home loss to Oregon, losing at UCLA, getting embarrassed 55-7 by Northwestern, and falling 37-35 at Iowa. Now they come to Ohio Stadium after a bye week for Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff, and the question isn’t playoff implications. It’s whether Penn State has anything left.

“It’s still Penn State,” Ryan Day said this week. “They’ve got talent. They’ve got pride. Coming off a bye, you’re going to get their best shot. Our job is to be ready for that.”

The CFP committee complicated the mood in Columbus earlier this week by ranking Ohio State No. 2 behind Texas A&M in its first set of rankings, despite the Buckeyes holding the top spot in the AP and Coaches polls for much of the season. Day downplayed it, but the timing makes it hard to ignore. Ohio State doesn’t get a lot of opportunities to feel slighted, and Penn State showing up at the Horseshoe the week after that ranking is the kind of coincidence that tends to end badly for visitors.

Penn State’s hope is that the bye week did what September and early October couldn’t: stop the bleeding.

“We’re not looking for a magic fix,” James Franklin said. “We’re looking for response. Effort, execution, and playing with the pride that’s supposed to come with wearing Penn State on your chest.”

The problem is that response arrives with real limitations. Penn State will be without two of its most important defensive linemen, Dani Dennis-Sutton (ribs) and Zane Durant (ankle), which is a brutal hit against an Ohio State offense that has become more efficient each week. Durant was leading the Big Ten in sacks when he went down, and Dennis-Sutton is the type of edge presence who can turn third downs into punts. Without them, Penn State’s defense loses the teeth it needed to make this uncomfortable.

That matters because Ohio State’s offense is built to punish cracks. Julian Sayin has settled into the job with 1,759 yards, 18 touchdowns and three interceptions, and he’s doing it with an arsenal that looks unfair when it’s healthy. Jeremiah Smith leads the Big Ten in receiving touchdowns (50 catches, 602 yards, nine scores), and even when defenses tilt toward him, Ohio State can pivot to Carnell Tate, Max Klare, Brandon Inniss or Mylan Graham without changing its identity. If Penn State can’t generate pressure with four and can’t hold up on third down, Ohio State leads the Big Ten converting 54%, the game could turn into a slow drowning.

Penn State’s path to making it a fight is on the ground. Kaytron Allen (528 yards, nine touchdowns) and Nicholas Singleton (436 yards, five scores) remain one of the best backfield tandems in the sport, and the easiest way to keep Sayin off the field is to string together long drives. But that plan runs directly into Ohio State’s biggest strength: the Buckeyes are allowing an absurd 36 rushing yards per game, the best mark in the country by a wide margin.

If Ohio State can choke off the run early, it will force Drew Allar to beat them, and Allar’s season has been the central disappointment of Penn State’s collapse. He’s at 1,464 yards with 10 touchdowns and four interceptions, but the real issue has been rhythm. The offense hasn’t consistently stayed on schedule, and when the score turns against them, it hasn’t shown the capacity to respond.

Ohio State’s defense is built to amplify those problems. Caden Curry has been a terror off the edge (8.5 sacks, 14 tackles for loss), Arvell Reese has emerged as a star in the middle, Sonny Styles is back healthy, and Caleb Downs remains the kind of defender who turns “safe” throws into dangerous ones. Ohio State allows just 11.4 points and 262.4 yards per game, and even when Minnesota threw for yards last week, the Buckeyes still controlled the game with pressure and turnovers. Penn State’s offense, already shaky, now has to prove it can win on the road against the most consistent defense in the country.

The last time these teams played, it was a grinder, Ohio State won 20-13 in Happy Valley, with both teams leaving that game 7-1 and both eventually reaching the playoff semifinals. This year is different. Ohio State is again built like a title team. Penn State is searching for itself.

That’s why Saturday feels like two games in one. For Ohio State, it’s another step in a perfect march, and an opportunity to remind the committee what No. 1 football looks like. For Penn State, it’s a test of whether the program’s foundation still holds when everything has been shaking.

As Franklin put it, “The only way out is through.”

Noon in Columbus will tell us whether Penn State can actually walk through it, or whether Ohio State turns the crisis into a rout.

Date	Opponent	Stadium	TV	Result
Aug. 30	Texas Longhorns	Ohio Stadium		W, 31-13
Sept. 6	Grambling State Tigers	Ohio Stadium		W, 46-6
Sept. 13	Ohio Bobcats	Ohio Stadium		W, 40-10
Sept. 20	BYE
Sept. 27	Washington Huskies	Husky Stadium		W, 37-16
Oct. 4	Minnesota Golden Gophers	Ohio Stadium		W, 53-22
Oct. 11	Illinois Fighting Illini	Memorial Stadium		W, 38-6
Oct. 18	Wisconsin Badgers	Camp Randall		W, 38-7
Oct. 25	BYE
Nov. 1	Penn State Nittany Lions	Ohio Stadium		12:00 PM
Nov. 8	Purdue Boilermakers	Ross-Ade Stadium
Nov. 15	UCLA Bruins	Ohio Stadium
Nov. 22	Rutgers Scarlet Knights	Ohio Stadium
Nov. 29	Michigan Wolverines	Michigan Stadium

[Count]

Time to smoke Penn State. Then have a nice easy stretch leading up to the Michigan game

[toysoldier00]

Time to smoke Penn State. Then have a nice easy stretch leading up to the Michigan game

Kick then take

[toysoldier00]

Ohio State 31, Penn State 13: Buckeyes Blitz Penn State Early, Survive Sayin’s Late Wobble to Win
By Zachary Anderson on November 1, 2025


Mylan Graham's first quarter touchdown put the Buckeyes up 14-0, enough to see the game out in Ohio State's favor.



Ohio State didn’t just start fast Saturday in the Horseshoe, it started like it already knew how the story was supposed to end.

Penn State took the opening kickoff and, on the second play from scrimmage, quarterback Drew Allar tried to fit a throw into a window that never existed. Jermaine Mathews Jr. jumped it cleanly for the interception, and before the stadium had even settled into noon noise, Ohio State had the ball with a short field and a crowd that could smell blood.

One snap later, the blood was on the scoreboard.

James Peoples took Ohio State’s first offensive play 33 yards to the house, bursting through a crease and outrunning angles like he’d been waiting all year for a moment like this. Three plays into the game, the Buckeyes led 7–0, and Penn State already looked like a team trying to recover from the kind of punch that’s been following it all season.


The Buckeyes took an early lead thanks to a 33-yard touchdown run by James Peoples.

“It was exactly the start you want in a game like this,” Ryan Day said afterward. “Defense gives you the ball, offense finishes it, crowd gets involved that’s the formula.”

Penn State’s offense did manage a response drive, moving into Ohio State territory and briefly giving the game the shape of a normal Big Ten heavyweight. But on third-and-2, Caden Curry knifed into the backfield to drop Kaytron Allen for a three-yard loss, forcing the Nittany Lions to try a field goal that clanged off both posts and bounced out. It was the kind of moment that has defined Penn State’s last month: the drive exists, the opportunity appears, and then something goes wrong in the most deflating way possible.

Ohio State didn’t waste the escape. The Buckeyes’ next drive was a reminder that Julian Sayin has grown from “promising” to “dangerous” over the first half of the season, not just as a thrower, but as a runner when Day chooses to stress the defense. Sayin kept the ball four times on the series, including a 27-yard burst that flipped the field, and then finished the drive by firing an 11-yard touchdown to Mylan Graham with 2:41 left in the first quarter. 14–0.

Down two touchdowns and desperate for calm, Penn State got chaos instead. Allar forced another throw. Jaylen McClain picked it. And suddenly, it felt like Penn State’s season had followed them into Ohio Stadium, the same spiraling energy, the same inability to survive adversity, the same sense of a team playing with the weight of its own disappointment.


The Buckeyes intercepted Drew Allar twice in the first half to give themselves a huge early cushion.

Three plays later, Peoples scored again, this time on an 18-yard run, and the Buckeyes were up 21–0 before Penn State had any chance to find its footing.
“It’s not how we wanted it,” Penn State head coach James Franklin said.

“You can’t start like that against a team like Ohio State. You can’t spot them points. You can’t chase the game from the first quarter and expect it to work out.”

For a stretch after that, though, Penn State’s defense did something important: it stopped the bleeding. The Nittany Lions forced punts. They tightened on early downs. They started getting the game into the kind of rhythm they probably needed from the opening whistle. And late in the second quarter, the offense finally found a way to lean on its best players, Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen, long enough to generate points.

A 32-yard Singleton run and a 20-yard Allen burst pushed Penn State into range, and this time kicker Ryan Barker calmly hit a 33-yard field goal to make it 21–3 with 3:52 left in the half.

When Penn State’s defense forced another stop after that, the visitors had one more chance to cut the margin into something psychologically manageable before halftime. They got into range again. Barker tried a 50-yarder as the clock expired. He missed.

At halftime: Ohio State 21, Penn State 3, and Penn State had already left 6 points on the field with two missed field goals, while giving away two possessions with interceptions.

“I actually liked how we fought back after the first quarter,” Franklin said. “But you can’t leave points out there, and you can’t give them the ball. Against that team, those mistakes multiply.”

Ohio State received the second-half kickoff, and for a moment, the Buckeyes looked like they were ready to turn the game into a long, quiet, merciless suffocation. Sayin had missed a few throws in the second quarter and looked slightly off rhythm to start the third, but on third-and-12 from Ohio State’s own 41, he delivered the throw that reminded everyone why the Buckeyes trust him.


Jeremiah Smith's third quarter touchdown ended any hopes of a Penn State come back.

Sayin went deep to Jeremiah Smith, who caught it in stride and walked into the end zone for a 59-yard touchdown. 28–3 with 10:28 left in the third quarter. The stadium roared, and the game seemed finished.

And then Ohio State’s offense vanished.

From that point on, the afternoon turned into a strange battle between Ohio State’s early dominance and its late self-sabotage. Penn State finally found a chunk play, scheming tight end Luke Reynolds into space for a 44-yard catch-and-run that flipped the field. Ohio State’s defense tightened again, forcing three straight stops inside the red zone, but Barker hit a 35-yard field goal to make it 28–6 and at least give Penn State a pulse.

Then Sayin made the mistake that cracked the door open. He forced a ball in the red zone, and Penn State safety Daryus Dixson intercepted it.

Ohio State’s defense responded with a quick punt, and when the Buckeyes got the ball back, it looked like they’d simply reset and move on. Instead, Sayin fumbled at the Penn State 7. King Mack scooped it and ran 93 yards for a touchdown.

In a blink, the scoreboard that had looked unthinkable flipped into something uncomfortable: 28–13 with 6:03 remaining.

“I thought our defense was outstanding all day,” Day said. “But we gave them life. We can’t do that. We’ve got to finish drives and protect the football. That’s on all of us.”


The Buckeyes defense did an excellent job of containing Drew Allar all game.

Penn State suddenly had the ball down 15 with four minutes left, and for the first time all afternoon, it felt like the Buckeyes had something to lose.

Then the defense closed the story the way it opened it: with control.

Penn State drove near midfield, faced a crucial fourth-down, and Ohio State covered it well enough to force a throw short of the sticks. On the next series, defensive tackle Jason Moore delivered a sack that flipped the field and bled more clock. Ohio State ran the ball, protected the ball, and forced Penn State to burn timeouts.

The Buckeyes stalled with 41 seconds left and chose to kick, with Jayden Fielding drilling a 47-yard field goal to push the final score to 31–13, a tidy ending to an afternoon that was anything but tidy after halftime.

Statistically, the game told two stories. Ohio State’s early advantage meant Penn State couldn’t fully lean on its running backs, even though both teams ran effectively when they did call runs. Ohio State finished with 32 carries for 160 yards and two touchdowns. Penn State had 18 carries for 105 yards. Each team committed two turnovers, but Ohio State’s came late, while Penn State’s came early, and that timing was the difference.

Sayin’s final line reflected both his brilliance and his wobble: 21-of-31 for 230 yards, two passing touchdowns, one interception, plus 12 carries for 36 yards and the lost fumble. Peoples was Ohio State’s offensive anchor with 10 carries for 74 yards and two touchdowns. True freshman Bo Jackson added 50 yards on 10 carries, giving the Buckeyes steady balance even when the passing game hit turbulence.


QB Julian Sayin finished 21-of-31 for 230 yards with two touchdowns.

In the receiving game, Ohio State’s biggest moments came from Smith’s 59-yard touchdown (four catches, 95 yards, one score), but the chain-movers were Carnell Tate (seven catches, 51 yards) and Max Klare (seven catches, 62 yards), repeatedly keeping Ohio State alive on third down when the offense looked stuck.

For Penn State, Allar finished 23-of-40 for 227 yards with two interceptions. Kaytron Allen had 12 carries for 63 yards, and Singleton was explosive in limited chances (40 yards on two carries plus four catches for 23). Defensively, edge rusher Enai White flashed late with back-to-back sacks in the fourth quarter and finished with five tackles and three tackles for loss, while Dixson, a true freshman corner, played one of his best games with eight tackles, a sack and the interception.

The most important takeaway for Ohio State is both simple and urgent: the Buckeyes proved they can bury a talented team early, and they proved they can survive their own second-half mistakes. But they also put on tape the exact kind of red-zone sloppiness and quarterback overuse that could cost them against better opponents later.

Penn State, meanwhile, showed fight for the first time in weeks, but the early turnovers, missed kicks, and inability to finish drives made it another long afternoon in a season that continues to ask hard questions.

“We’ve got to respond again,” Franklin said. “That’s the only way forward.”

Ohio State’s way forward is clearer: 8–0, still chasing the No. 1 seed, and still learning that the difference between winning and dominating can be as small as protecting the football at the goal line.

Qtr	Time	Team	Result	Play	OHST	PNST
1st	12:09		TD	James Peoples, 33 Yd run	7	0
1st	2:37		TD	Mylan Graham, 11 Yd pass from Julian Sayin	14	0
2nd	11:50		TD	James Peoples, 19 Yd run	21	0
2nd	3:48		FG	Ryan Barker, 33 Yd FG	21	3
3rd	10:21		TD	Jeremiah Smith, 59 Yd pass from Julian Sayin	28	3
3rd	4:59		FG	Ryan Barker, 33 Yd FG	28	6
4th	5:46		TD	King Mack, returned fumble 93 Yds	28	13
4th	0:36		FG	Jayden Fielding, 46 Yd FG	31	13

[djp73]

Closer than I expected

[The Hunted]

Love the layout on this man, nice and clean. not a Buckeyes fan at all but glad you took care of business over PSU not hopefully you can kick Michigan's ass as well.

[The JZA]

Good job knocking off PSU, though I'm surprised it wasn't closer.

[Captain Canada]

Penn State gave you a real run for your money on that one, but you stayed perfect