DYJ

Indiana has always been a basketball school.  They never have been able to win at football – until the last two years when Curt Cignetti was hired last year.  They don’t like to talk about BC- before Cignetti – they like to talk about AC- after Cignetti.  They are 16-0 this year and National Champions. 

He does things differently.  While the NCAA limits the number of hours teams can spend on the practice field, Cignetti only uses about one third of that time.  He says that he doesn’t want to get his players hurt during the week, and he wants them to be at 100% strength at game time.  

Instead of being on the field practicing, they are in the film room watching film, writing out scenarios about how they see that the team can win, etc.  He believes that it is as much mental preparation as it is physical preparation.  Obviously, he is right.

Each football team in the playoffs had an average of forty + four-star and five-star players.  Indiana only had eight – they had no five stars!  I always heard that the team with the best players would be the ones that win – not this year.  Cignetti put together a staff that recruited people who could play positions, regardless of how many stars they had. 

Fernando Mendoza came to Indiana.  He had no stars.  He grew up in the shadows of the University of Miami football stadium.  He wanted to walk on, but Miami told him that he wasn’t good enough to be a walk on.  After Indiana beat Miami for the National Championship, and Mendoza won the Heisman Trophy Award – the people at Miami think a little bit differently now.

Mendoza was unbelievably good.  In the playoff games, he threw more touchdowns than he did incomplete passes.  He had the best percentage of first downs on third down of any quarterback.  He was the Most Valuable Player in the National Championship game.  

The best thing I loved about Mendoza is that in every interview he would begin by saying he wanted to give God all the glory, and he was where he is because of his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  He never missed that opportunity.  

Last year when he had decided to transfer to Indiana, he wrote ahead and asked for pictures and a bio on each player on the team.  When he arrived at Indiana, he knew the name of every player on the team, and he knew something about them.  He was prepared.

One of the most crucial plays in college football occurred when Indiana was leading 17-14 with 9:17 left.  It was fourth and six on the twelve-yard line.  Cignetti called a time-out.  He sent the offense back into the game.  Mendoza ran a quarterback draw and scored.  That put the game out of reach.

I don’t think that one of a thousand coaches would have gone for it on fourth down.  Cignetti did.  Mendoza scored.  In questions about the call, the coach said that they had practiced that one play for the possibility of that situation, and it was designed with special blocking, etc.

Most people called it a gamble.  It was a guarantee because the whole team and coaching staff believed that Mendoza could do it.  When God calls you to do something, and you obey, it’s not a gamble – it’s a guarantee.  I’ll guarantee that!

The team’s success is summed up in three letters – DYJ- Do Your Job.  DYJ is posted everywhere.  When God has something for you to do today, will you DYJ – Do Your Job?