From a legal standpoint, I can't think of a difference between the G League, Europe, or the NBA. I just can't squint and see what would stop someone like Rob Dillingham or Leonard Miller from returning to college and playing.
Don't show this to Paul Finebaum, he'll start making a case for Arkansas to be in the CFP. "Three or four kicks here and that's a national championship team. Could you say that about a team from the ACC?"
Indiana was a very good team and THEN they got Mendoza. They had a terrific offense last year with Kurtis Rourke. In fact, Rourke's success with Cignetti played a huge role in Mendoza considering Indiana.
The 2024 team averaged 41.3 points per game and Rourke was one of the best QBs in the Big...
I think it's probably pretty close to a wash but if I had to bet, I'd bet the 2026 WRs will be slightly better. It comes down to the fact that I think what we lost (Brockington) will have less of an impact than another year of development will have on our other receivers (Smith and Tracy)...
Couple things to note:
Cignetti kicked a FG 7 minutes later in a similar situation (up 3, 4th and 4 at Miami ~20) when a first down wins the game.
Indiana ran the ball 45 times (threw it 27 with a Heisman winner at QB) and had over 13:00 min advantage in TOP.
Indiana went for it on 4th down...
I think Mendoza was the icing on the cake but they would have been a very good team with just another decent QB. They were great last year with O'Rourke and they had better supporting pieces this year. As a MN fan, I wish it were as easy as just hitting the QB position, but they hit throughout...