Le Journal

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Fernando Mendoza bulldozed his way into the end zone and Indiana bullied its way into the history books Monday night, toppling Miami 27-21 to put the finishing touch on a rags-to-riches story, an undefeated season and the national title.The Heisman Trophy winner finished with 186 yards passing, but it was his tackle-breaking, sprawled-out 12-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-4 with 9:18 left that defined this game — and the Hoosiers' season.Indiana would not be denied.“I had to go airborne,” said Mendoza, who had his lip split and his arm bloodied by a ferocious Miami defense that sacked him three times and hit him many more. “I would die for my team.”Mendoza's TD gave turnaround artist Curt Cignetti’s team a 24-14 lead — barely enough breathing room to hold off a frenzied charge by the hard-hitting Hurricanes, who came to life in the second half behind 112 yards and two scores from Mark Fletcher but never took the lead.The College Football Playoff trophy now heads to the most unlikely of places: Bloomington, Indiana — a campus that endured a nation-leading 713 losses over 130-plus years of football before Cignetti arrived two years ago to embark on a revival for the ages.“Took some chances, found a way. Let me tell you: We won the national championship at Indiana University. It can be done,” Cignetti said.Indiana finished 16-0 — using the extra games afforded by the expanded 12-team playoff to match a perfect-season win total last compiled by Yale in 1894.In a fitting bit of symmetry, this undefeated title comes 50 years after Bob Knight’s basketball team went 32-0 to win it all in that state’s favorite sport.That hasn’t happened since, and there’s already some thought that college football — in its evolving, money-soaked era — might not see a team like this again, either.Players like Mendoza — a transfer from Cal who grew up just a few miles away from Miami’s campus, “The U” — certainly don’t come around often.Two fourth-down gambles by Cignetti in the fourth quarter, after Fletcher’s second touchdown carved the Hurricanes' deficit to three, put Mendoza in position to shine.The first was a 19-yard-completion to Charlie Becker on a back-shoulder fade those guys have been perfecting all season. Four plays later came a decision and play that wins championships.Cignetti sent his kicker out on fourth-and-4 from the 12, but quickly called his second timeout. The team huddled on the field and the coach drew up a quarterback draw, hoping the Hurricanes would be in a defense they had shown before.“We rolled the dice and said, ‘They’re going to be in it again and they were,’” Cignetti said. “We blocked it well, he broke a tackle or two and got in the end zone.”Not known as a run-first guy, Mendoza slipped one tackle, then took a hit and spun around. He kept his feet, then left them, going horizontal and stretching the ball out — a ready-made poster pic for a title run straight from the movies.Maybe they’ll call it “Hoosiers.” This was a program so bad that a coach once stopped the game early to take a picture of the scoreboard when it read “Indiana 7, Ohio State 6.” The Hoosiers lost 47-7.This year, though, they beat Ohio State in the Big Ten title game on their way to the top seed in the playoff.They won their first two games by a combined score of 94-25 and Mendoza threw more touchdown passes (eight) than incompletions (five).This one was nowhere near as easy.Fletcher was a one-man force, hitting triple digits for the third time in four playoff games and turning a moribund offense into something much more.It ended as a one-score game, and the ’Canes — the visiting team playing on their home field — moved into Indiana territory before Carson Beck’s heave got picked off by Jamari Sharpe, a Miami native who made sure the only miracle in this season would be Indiana's.“Did I think something like this was possible? Probably not,” Cignetti said. “But if you keep your nose down and keep working, anything is…

A man died after being shot in the stomach in South Lawndale early Monday evening, police say.Police say they found the man about 5:35 p.m. in the 2300 block of South Sacramento Avenue. He was unresponsive near a sidewalk.The man was taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital in critical condition and later died.The man’s age could not be immediately determined.No one was in custody Monday night, police said. Detectives are investigating.

Homewood-Flossmoor’s Darrius Hawkins Jr. was thrown into the fire last season, facing challenge after challenge as a freshman point guard running the show for a talented, ranked team.Hawkins passed the test. And Mount Carmel’s Ron Johnson is doing the same this year, but some games are learning experiences. That was the case on Monday as Hawkins and the Vikings attacked Johnson and Mount Carmel’s inexperienced backcourt with pace and pressure on the way to an 80-63 win in the final game of MLK “The Dream Continues” Classic in Flossmoor.“We just had to take advantage of the matchup,” Hawkins said. “We have a lot of small scrappy guards and we wanted to get on them and cause a lot of ruckus, a lot of havoc. Pressure and pace is our identity.”Hawkins scored 20 points. Junior Danny Ruffin led the defensive charge and finished with 10 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals. Senior Ethan Jackson led the No. 12 Vikings (17-2) with 23 points.“Any time you play a team that is well-coached and disciplined, you have to attack where they are uncomfortable,” H-F coach Brandin Brown said. “We really tried to do that early on. We didn’t know what to expect. They are so well-coached [that] even if we pressured them, we expected them to do well. But it worked out for us tonight.”No. 14 Mount Carmel (15-6) had 14 turnovers. Johnson, however, is one of the area’s elite freshmen and didn’t wilt under the pressure. He found his footing in the second quarter and finished with 18 points.“You should see Johnson in the huddle,” Caravan coach Phil Segroves said. “He has great insight. To see that from a 15-year-old freshman is incredible. I’m proud of the way he played. But [H-F’s] speed is something we haven’t seen before, and it showed.” Homewood-Flossmoor’s Ethan Jackson (3) shoots a three in the first half against Mount Carmel.Allen Cunningham/For the Sun-Times The Vikings jumped out to a 25-8 lead in the second quarter and led by 32 late in the third. The Caravan kept coming, however, and Johnson’s three-point play with 3:20 left cut the deficit to 65-51.“We are never going to quit,” Segroves said. “Kudos to them. You can see it on film, but you can’t simulate that [speed] in practice.”Junior guard Logan Wessel had 16 points and six rebounds for the Caravan. Freshman guard Da’Kylen Heard added nine points, six rebounds and four blocks.Homewood-Flossmoor is still im-proving after a strong start. Marvin Douglas, a 6-4 senior wing who’s becoming a factor in the post, had 12 points and eight rebounds. Guard Samuel Carter (four points, four rebounds) and guard Jayden McDonald (three points, four rebounds) made significant contributions off the bench after playing key roles when Ruffin and Hawkins missed a couple of games with injuries.“It was terrible sitting out and watching us lose to Thornton [earlier this month],” Ruffin said. “But it was good to see some guys step in and play well, and that will help us.”

Chicago is bracing for another light snow and then may see some of the coldest temperatures yet this winter later in the week.Though there have already been a couple of subzero days since early December, temperatures may dip to 10 degrees below zero Friday or Saturday, according to the National Weather Service.The forecast could still change before then, but those colder temps could be accompanied by wind chills of minus-20 to minus-30 degrees, said meteorologist Rafal Ogorek with the NWS office in Romeoville.“There’s some uncertainty how low they will go but at least 20 below,” Ogorek said of the expected wind chill. “It could be even more.”Mid-January through early February is typically the coldest time of the winter, Ogorek said. Bitterly cold wind chills are expected again tonight. A period of accumulating snow is possible Tue night, mainly north of I-80, with another quick hit of snow possible Wed eve. Thereafter, another significant blast of arctic cold is expected Fri into the weekend. #ILwx #INwx pic.twitter.com/kRR8wyXtzF— NWS Chicago (@NWSChicago) January 19, 2026 Because Chicago has had a mix of mild and very cold weeks, the average temperature has been just above 28 degrees, Ogorek said. That is about average for this point in the winter, he said.“It’s been kind of a seesaw this winter,” he said.Before the arctic air hits, light snow is expected Tuesday night and Wednesday. Related Skaters play pond hockey as wind chills plummet below minus-20 in Chicago area Bears fans braved an especially cold night Sunday during the team’s loss to the Rams.That cold weather continued Monday with bone-chilling wind chills as protesters rallied downtown. The temperature at O’Hare dropped to minus-1 degree Monday, marking only the second time this winter that it was that cold. Dec. 14 was the only other below-zero day recorded.On Monday, a group of skaters took advantage of the cold temps and played hockey on the North Pond in Lincoln Park.Contributing: Mary Norkol and Mohammad Samra

One of the first things many home labbers install is Pi-hole, the DNS sinkhole that cleans up unwanted traffic on your network by preventing your devices and browsers from resolving domain names. It's a great program, but because it uses DNS, troubleshooting it when it goes wrong isn't easy.