NEW YORK – Indiana redshirt junior quarterback Fernando Mendoza won the school’s first Heisman Memorial Trophy as college football’s most outstanding player Saturday night, capping a stunning two-year turnaround for the Hoosiers, the No. 1 seed in this year’s College Football Playoff.
Mendoza coming out of nowhere to win the award is an understatement, as he was not listed on any of the Heisman Trophy oddsmakers’ lists or the Big Ten Conference’s preseason honors lists.
None of that mattered to the 22-year-old Miami, Florida product, as he completed 71.5% of his passes for 2,980 yards. He led the nation with 33 touchdown passes (an Indiana school record), ranked second in passer rating, and was the third Big Ten quarterback since 2000 with three-straight games of at least four passing touchdowns and no interceptions.
Mendoza becomes the first Heisman winner from the Big Ten since Ohio State QB Troy Smith won in 2006.
A quarterback winning the Heisman is, of course, no surprise now that 20 of the past 24 winners played the position. Three Alabama players — running backs Mark Ingram (2009), Derrick Henry (2015), and wide receiver DeVonta Smith (2020) — and last year’s winner, two-way star Travis Hunter of Colorado, are the only non-quarterbacks who have had their personalized identity engraved on the nameplate of the 45-pound trophy.
Mendoza, who transferred to Indiana from Cal this past offseason, received 643 first-place votes and 2,362 total points. Diego Pavia, who put the perennial cellar-dweller Vanderbilt on the map and led them to their first 10-win season in 122 seasons of playing football, was second in the voting (189 first-place votes, 1,435 points).
Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love came in third (46, 719) and Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin was fourth (8, 432).
Mendoza was on 95.16% of the total ballots and won all six voting regions.
Texas Tech linebacker Jacob Rodriguez was fifth in the balloting (and got 17 first-place votes), followed by Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith, Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton, and Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss. Ohio State safety Caleb Downs and Georgia Tech quarterback Haynes King rounded out the top 10.
Before getting back to business and preparing for the College Football Playoff, where the top-seeded Hoosiers will take on the winner of No. 8 seed Oklahoma and No. 9 Alabama in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1, Mendoza, who is full‑time Master of Business Administration student at Indiana’s Kelley School of Business, spent the week racking up lots of other awards, taking home the Maxwell Award, Davey O’Brien Award, Walter Camp Award and the AP College Football Player of the Year award.
Mendoza’s journey to the top of college football was a story in itself. Playing at Christopher Columbus High School, a private Catholic school, he was a two-star recruit and was ranked the 72nd-best quarterback prospect in his class by ESPN. With only one Power Four scholarship offer, Mendoza initially committed to Yale before shifting his focus to California.
Even after arriving at Berkeley, he didn’t find immediate success, redshirting in 2022, but took control the next season, starting the final eight games for the Bears. Over three seasons at Cal, he threw 30 touchdowns, achieving that success despite playing for three different offensive coordinators.
But transferring 2,200 miles east to Bloomington proved an easy decision, as his younger brother, Alberto, was already on the roster as a quarterback and he had earned his undergraduate degree from Cal in just three years. And despite a playoff appearance last season, Indiana still entered the season with the most losses in college football history, was 9-27 in the three seasons before coach Curt Cignetti arrived, and had not won a bowl game since 1991.
This season, with expectations through the roof, the Hoosiers were ranked No. 19 in the preseason AFCA Coaches Poll, and they dominated their first eight opponents, including a major road win against then-No. 3 Oregon, setting the stage for Mendoza’s two Heisman moments.
On Nov. 8, the Hoosiers trailed Penn State 24-20 with 1:51 remaining in the fourth quarter. Despite being sacked on the drive’s first play, Mendoza completed four straight passes before delivering the game-winning throw, a strike to Omar Cooper Jr., who made an exceptional catch for a 7-yard touchdown in the back of the end zone with 36 seconds remaining to finish the 10-play, 80-yard drive and keep their undefeated season alive.
In the season’s biggest moment in the Big Ten Championship game against top-ranked Ohio State, Mendoza led Indiana on a crucial drive to start the second half, completing a 51-yarder to Charlie Becker before throwing his only touchdown pass, a 17-yarder to Elijah Sarratt.
He then clinched the game late in the fourth quarter, connecting with Becker again for a 33-yard gain to convert a third down, allowing Indiana to run down most of the clock and win their first Big Ten championship since 1967.
Now, Mendoza, who is the seventh transfer to win the Heisman in the last nine years, will attempt to lead his team to another unprecedented accomplishment – a first national championship.
