This one will be pretty short and to the point. Fernando Mendoza only had to throw the ball 16 times in the Rose Bowl route of Alabama, and it's not a hot take to say I think he’s going to need to throw a hell of a lot more in the Peach Bowl tonight.

Tosh Lupoi needs to be in his bag for this game tonight. The Indiana offense is built on timing, and the hardest thing for teams facing Indiana this season is that they can’t get Mendoza out of rhythm. Lupoi is the one who schemed up the best against Mendoza this season I’d argue. Mendoza finished 20/31 with 215 yards and a TD. 2 TDs if you count the INT he threw to the Oregon defense that got returned to the house. It was also the only game this season where Mendoza has been held without a completion of 30+ yards. 

Lupoi went with a blitz-heavy scheme that forced the ball out of Mendoza’s hands quickly and limited his opportunities for deep shots down the field. The approach from the Ducks defense likely has to be similar, as they can’t let Mendoza get comfortable or else he’ll have it Mike’s Way with that secondary. The adjustments will likely come from the offensive side of the ball with Indiana. 

And I say adjustments lightly because what I’m taking did occur in the first matchup. Out of Mendoza’s 20 completions in the first game, 15 of them went to Sarratt and Cooper. The other 5 went to underneath options Hemby and Nowakowski. I think the gameplan gets Mendoza comfortable taking those underneath looks early that the Oregon defense wants him to take. That includes the RBs (Hemby, Black), TEs (Nowakowski), and some of the depth WRs (EJ Williams, Jonathan Brady). The Cignetti offense is very willing to be methodical down the field attacking the flats if they’re open, and I think Hemby should have enough looks for 6+ tonight. And of course it may only take 1.