Later today Fernando Mendoza will take the stage on one of the biggest, and most historic, stages in all of college football. He will do so as the quarterback of an undefeated team, a Heisman Trophy winner, and a potential first-overall selection in the NFL Draft.
But for a time, Mendoza’s future was at a different historic venue instead of the Rose Bowl.
Mendoza originally committed to Yale ahead of his senior season, and while on a tour of the campus he posed with the Heisman Trophy won by running back Clint Frank back in 1937, the only Yale player ever to win college football’s most prestigious award.
“They used it as a marketing prop, but I took it, and it was kind of like more of a funny thing,” Mendoza said ahead of the Heisman Trophy ceremony. “Like, wow, look how cool it is. I get to hold the Heisman.”
Just over four years later Mendoza was holding the Heisman not as a marketing prop, but rather as the 91st winner of the trophy itself.
Mendoza’s path diverted from New Haven to Berkley, and finally Bloomington. Later today, he’ll take the field not as a quarterback in the latest installment of Harvard-Yale, but rather at the helm of the Indiana Hoosiers, as they enter the College Football Playoff as the top-ranked team in the field. On the other side of the field will be Alabama, one of college football’s legendary programs.
Alabama has been a juggernaut forever. “They’re historically the best college football program of all-time,” said Mendoza on Tuesday ahead of the Rose Bowl. ”It is a great opportunity for us to play against an SEC opponent, which will be a fantastic opportunity for all our players. We’re just so honored to do it. It’s such a high conference of football. It’s going to be a great matchup.“
Mendoza later flipped his commitment from Yale after bigger programs came calling, and signed with California. After redshirting during the 2022 campaign he took over as the starting quarterback early in the 2023 season, and finished the year having completed 63 percent of his passes for 1,708 yards and 14 touchdowns. California finished 6-7, and secured a spot in the Independence Bowl.
As a redshirt sophomore in 2024 Mendoza won the starting job in training camp, beating out graduate transfer Chandler Rogers. That was his breakout season, as he finished the year passing for 3,004 yards and 16 touchdowns.
But with an eye on his NFL future, he entered the transfer portal, deciding to play for Curt Cignetti at Indiana.
“To have an offensive-minded coaching staff was extremely important for me and to get that development was really important for me.” Mendoza said earlier this fall.
”Because whenever I would talk to people — former coaches, mentors — they were like we really think you’re doing well but to take that next level and really get where you want to go . . . aka the NFL, you really need to be a bit more polished and more consistent. That was a big thing I was looking to accomplish at Indiana.”
The move paid off immediately. Not only has Mendoza secured the Heisman Trophy under Cignetti, but he is considered one of the top quarterbacks in the upcoming NFL Draft, and could be the first player selected.
Studying Mendoza on film, you can see why.
There are many reasons the Indiana quarterback secured the Heisman Trophy — Indiana’s 13-0 record, a Big Ten Championship, a thrilling comeback against Penn State — but with an eye towards the NFL, his toughness in the pocket and a willingness to fight back there stand out.
Take this play against UCLA:
Mendoza opens to the left, to peek at a shallow crossing route. But with the Bruins dropping into zone coverage he quickly gets his eyes to the front-side concept (a double-dig combination along with a deep post route). But with the coverage good in the early part of the play, and the pocket breaking down around him, he starts to slide to his left
But rather than pull the football down, as many young quarterbacks do, Mendoza keeps his eyes downfield and slides just enough to create time and space for the throw, ultimately hitting the dig route for a huge gain.
That toughness showed up on this play against UCLA:
Mendoza’s toughness also showed up in the Big Ten Championship Game against Ohio State. Mendoza was blasted on a throw early in the game by Buckeyes pass rusher Caden Curry, and stayed down on the turf for a moment at Lucas Oil Stadium:
But the Indiana quarterback returned to action, leading the Hoosiers to the win. Speaking after the game, Mendoza admitted that he thought he had cracked a rib right after the collision.
“It was like I got hit by a freight train with no brakes,” Mendoza said with a laugh on the Pat McAfee Show.
“He cracked me, like bad,” Mendoza said. “It was tough, to that point I didn’t even see him, and it was like I got hit by a freight train with no brakes and I’m on the floor, did I break a rib or something? I realized the air had got knocked out.”
Mendoza has emphasized that toughness throughout the year. Speaking after Indiana’s comeback win over Penn State, he talked about how he would “die on that field for my brothers.”
He also knows that toughness will matter at the next level.
“I’m all for playing football, playing rough and dirty, like here we go, let’s get the pads going,” Mendoza said of the hit in the Big Ten Championship Game on the Pat McAfee Show. “I know the NFL is going more toward an offensive game, however as a quarterback and competitor, I’m all for competing and that was a great shot and hit.”
But there is more to Mendoza’s game than his toughness, although that will certainly attract the attention of NFL scouts. There is also his arm talent, a positive combination of accuracy, velocity, and aggression. That combination shows up on throws like this one, a deep out route from the left hashmarks to the right sideline. One can consider this an “NFL throw.”
This is also an NFL throw, from Indiana’s game against Iowa:
The Hawkeyes spin into Cover 2, and Mendoza drills the hole shot on the vertical route along the right sideline. Throws like this from Justin Herbert get the social media timeline buzzing on NFL Sundays, and here is Mendoza making a similar throw at the college level.
But his aggression, the willingness to make big throws in bigger moments, stands out as well.
And there were none bigger than this go ball to ice the game against Ohio State:
After the win over Ohio State, Cignetti called it a “great” throw and play from his quarterback.
“And I wasn’t going to play not to lose. We were playing to win. And the one thing, we do spend a lot of time on the clock, how many plays are left in the game, things of that nature. We kind of figured we had to get about three first downs. That’s what I told the team,“ said the Indiana head coach.
“You’ve got to get a first down. I wasn’t going to punt the ball back to them with two minutes to go and no timeouts. We had to give our guys an opportunity to make plays. We were getting on top of them at certain points in that game, and Fernando was throwing great deep balls. And it was a great play.”
Great throws and plays have brought Mendoza to this moment, where he will take the field at the Rose Bowl having led Indiana to an unblemished record, a Big Ten Championship, and secured the Heisman Trophy.
But bigger moments lie ahead, both into 2026 and beyond.
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