Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza delivered a storybook ending to a dream season for the Hoosiers after they beat the Miami Hurricanes 27–21 in the College Football Playoff on Jan. 19.
The Heisman Trophy winner only threw for 186 yards and rushed for -8 yards, but he scored a fourth-quarter rushing touchdown to propel his team to victory, right where he grew up in Miami.
“Victory is so sweet for everybody, for the entire Hoosier nation, but also, it’s super sweet … [for] myself,” Mendoza told ESPN after the game.
“I was a two-star recruit coming out of high school. I got declined a walk-on offer to the University of Miami. Full circle moment here, playing in Miami for all the friends and family. I can’t thank coach [Curt] Cignetti enough … for taking a chance on me and [I] just give all the glory to God.”
After Mendoza completed his high school career at Christopher Columbus in Miami, he spent three seasons with California and earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration. On the field, Mendoza tallied 4,712 yards passing and 30 touchdowns in 20 career games, and that was enough to get Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti’s attention in the transfer portal for 2025.
Mendoza took off with an Indiana program that had been irrelevant for more than a century but broke through into the 2024 College Football Playoff and lost to Notre Dame. He took the Hoosiers to new heights in 2025 with 3,349 yards and 41 touchdowns, and he made college football history with the first 16–0 team at the top level, or FBS, since the Yale Bulldogs in 1894.
North Dakota State also did it in 2019, but at the FCS level and against Cignetti’s James Maidson Dukes.
Mendoza originally committed to Yale, now an FCS program, and flipped his commitment to California. Mendoza is now projected as the top pick in April’s NFL Draft, which means he will likely land with the Las Vegas Raiders.
“There’s no words,” Mendoza said about winning it all in his hometown. “This is the most special moment of my life.”
It took Mendoza making a special play in a close game for the Hoosiers, a stark contrast to the bludgeoning they gave the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Oregon Ducks in the previous two rounds. Mendoza darted 12 yards for the end zone on fourth down and five in the fourth quarter, and he capped it with a leaping dive into the end zone, which gave the Hoosiers breathing room at 24–21.
“I had to go airborne [for the touchdown], and I’ll die for my team. Whatever they need me to do, they need me to take, you know, shots, in the front and the back,” Mendoza said.
“Whatever it is, I’m going to die for my team out there. And I know they’re going to do the same for me. That’s what makes us so close. And that’s what makes this national championship so special.”
Miami boasted one of the country’s best defenses and already took out the previous national champion, Ohio State, in the quarterfinals and Texas A&M in the first round. The Hurricanes also fended off Ole Miss in the semifinals, but the Rebels made some big offensive plays in the game.
“I mean, shout out to the Miami defense,” Mendoza said. “You can see why their two edges are [future] first-round picks. I mean, it was going to be a physical game, and you know, we had to play physical, and we did play physical.”
Miami edges Akheem Mesidor and Rueben Bain Jr. did all they could on Monday. Bain had eight tackles and a sack, and Mesidor had two sacks and three tackles.
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