From Doormat to Dynasty: Indiana’s Rise, Mendoza’s Redemption, and the Blueprint for Cal’s Future
Two years ago, Indiana football was a program buried in the basement of the Big Ten. A perennial afterthought, the Hoosiers had just 11 winning seasons in more than 75 years of play.
Most seasons, they were out of contention before mid-October. The idea of Indiana as a national champion?
Laughable-until it wasn’t.
Fast forward to now, and the Hoosiers are 16-0, national champions, and the talk of college football. What Curt Cignetti and his staff pulled off in Bloomington isn’t just a feel-good story-it’s a roadmap for how to win in the new era of the sport.
No blue-chip recruiting pipeline. No decades of tradition to lean on.
Just smart roster building, a relentless belief in their vision, and one quarterback who turned out to be the missing piece.
That quarterback? Fernando Mendoza.
The moment will live forever in Hoosier lore: fourth down, season on the line, and Mendoza delivers a dart in the biggest moment of the year. It’s already an iconic image-one that defines this Cinderella run.
But for those who have followed Mendoza’s journey closely, it was more than just a great throw. It was vindication.
Mendoza’s path to glory didn’t follow the usual script. He started at Cal, fought through ups and downs, and ultimately made the gut-wrenching decision to leave Berkeley in search of a better fit.
It wasn’t easy. But on Monday night in Miami, he proved that choice was the right one.
He took hit after hit, kept getting up, and when the game demanded greatness, he delivered.
Now he’s a Heisman winner. Now he’s a national champion. And through it all, he’s still a Cal Bear at heart-Cal graduate, Cal alum, and forever part of the program’s story.
His departure hurt, no doubt. But Mendoza’s time in Berkeley wasn’t wasted.
He helped spark something in the fan base, brought energy and belief back to a program that had been drifting. His connection with the Cal community was real, and that love?
Still there. Complicated?
Sure. But real.
As for Cal, the program has been fighting its own uphill battle since the collapse of the Pac-12. The Bears made the decision to go all-in on football, understanding that survival in the modern college landscape meant competing, not coasting. The pieces started coming together-donors stepped up, the transfer portal became a lifeline, and talent started arriving in Berkeley.
But the results didn’t follow. Justin Wilcox couldn’t quite get the most out of the roster he assembled.
In 2024, four brutal losses in five weeks-each in the final moments-effectively ended his tenure. The most painful?
A collapse against Miami. That was the moment that sent Mendoza searching for a new home.
Now, Cal is turning the page.
Enter Tosh Lupoi. The former Oregon defensive coordinator is now leading the Bears into a new era, armed with a fresh staff and a promising young quarterback in Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele. Lupoi hasn’t even had a full offseason yet-he was splitting time during Oregon’s playoff run-but already, he’s helping assemble one of the most intriguing transfer portal classes in the country.
Offensively, Cal is upgrading fast. Skill position talent is arriving in bunches, and the offensive identity is shifting toward explosiveness.
On the defensive side, the Bears are welcoming a mix of Power 4 athletes and experienced, productive players from the mid-major and FCS levels. The roster isn’t complete, and there will be growing pains.
But the ceiling? It’s rising fast.
This is the NIL era, and Cal is finally playing the game. Fans and alumni are contributing in ways they never could before, helping the Bears land players they previously had no shot at. The Berkeley degree still matters, and when you combine that with a serious football commitment, Cal becomes a much more attractive destination.
Lupoi is more than just a recruiter-he’s a salesman, not just to players, but to donors and decision-makers. And the buy-in is growing.
Athletic director Ron Rivera and Chancellor Rich Lyons are on board. The urgency is real.
Cal knows it has to win now, before the next wave of realignment reshuffles the deck again.
Let’s not forget-Cal was one vote away from being left out of the Power Conference picture altogether. That’s how close they came to irrelevance.
If Indiana had been in a similarly unstable situation, maybe their story never happens. But they had stability, they had vision, and they went for it.
Now they’re national champions.
Cal doesn’t have to dream about what’s possible. They just watched it play out in real time.
Indiana is the proof. With the right leadership, the right investments, and the right belief, a program can go from forgotten to feared.
The Bears are stepping into an uncertain future. But for the first time in a long time, it’s a future filled with hope.
The sport is changing, and Cal is finally moving with it. Maybe-just maybe-Indiana’s miracle isn’t just a one-off.
Maybe it’s a blueprint.
And maybe, one day soon, Cal writes its own version of the story.