LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Fernando Mendoza is the kind of quarterback who looks like he’s late for an Econ final, not a two-minute drill.
You hit him, he gets right back up. You ask him a question, he answers it with eloquence and eye contact. You throw the kitchen sink at him, he completes a 17-yard out to the tight end and asks if you need help with the disposal.
He's the quarterback Indiana always knew it needed, but grew never to expect. Until now.
He didn’t come from five-star camps. He came from Cal. From Miami. From the transfer portal, that great American shake-up button. They say he was the 134th-ranked quarterback in his high school class. Indiana may put that number on a statue one day.
Because this 10-0 miracle tour which resumes Saturday at noon with its final home-field stop against Wisconsin, is as much his as anyone’s. The numbers don’t always scream. But in this case they do. Leads the nation in touchdown passes (26). Second in the nation in passer rating (178.6), sixth in completion percentage (71.3).
With the game slipping away Saturday afternoon at Penn State, Mendoza got sacked on the first play of Indiana’s last drive. You know the one. Then he bounced up. Because that’s what he does. Not just for show. Not for the Heisman highlights. They asked him about it after the game and he listed a bunch of teammates who had taken hits all day. Like a guy checking on the rest of the lifeboat while he’s still bleeding.
“I’m going to put my life on the line for my team, I would die on that field,” Mendoza said. “I would never sub myself out in that situation and I would die on that field for my brothers.”
Excuse me for a minute while I go run through a wall.
All of that is quite cinematic. But you do have to get back up and actually do something. What was in Mendoza’s head?
“I just had to go back to the fundamentals,” Mendoza said. “Coach (Curt) Cignetti always preaches one play at a time, 0-0.”
Just get the play, drop back and complete a pass. Throw a good ball into the seam and see what happens. And that's what he did. It's a beautiful thing. Just go out and play the next play. The right way. Demand some excellence of yourself. Do your job. Care about it.
This is why we love sports, right? Politicians don’t talk about playing the next play. This stuff is motivating. It makes you want to be better. I'm sitting up, it's late at night. I want to write this column better. I want it to do justice to what these guys are doing. It’s not something you hear all the time. But it’s something we need to hear. That I need to hear.
In an age of chaos quarterbacks and highlight heroes, Mendoza is a walking huddle. A man with a pulse slower than your sleep cycle. He’s the guy who calms your nerves by asking about your day, all while looking off a safety.
Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza takes a look at the defense before a first-half snap against Michigan State.
He threw the winning touchdown pass with defenders closing in like debt collectors.
He didn’t run. He didn’t panic. He didn’t check social media. He stepped back a couple of times to avoid the rush just long enough to make a read and see Omar Cooper getting a step in the middle of the end zone. Then he delivered the ball high and to the back of the boundary just before being hit from both sides.
After Cooper made the catch of his – or anyone else’s – life, Mendoza sprinted to him to congratulate him.
While Penn State tried to use the half-minute it had left to get into field goal position, Mendoza stared into a tablet, going over defenses. Just in case. Because there were still 35 seconds left. And you never know.
When it was finally over, he fist bumped the guys from his quarterback room, then walked out to greet the Penn State players and coaches. Like a diplomat after a summit. The world was screaming. He was nodding and shaking hands.
Curt Cignetti didn’t know Mendoza in high school. But he knew what he saw on tape from Mendoza’s games at Cal.
Mobility. Poise. Accuracy. Evidence of film study. A guy who could get knocked down and get better.
Cignetti has been around a lot of football. He’s not given to rhetorical flights of fancy. But he didn’t hold back this week talking about his QB.
“Fernando never ceases to amaze me,” he said. “He's so deep. He's so intelligent. He's such a good and caring, giving person. He's an A++ every single interview. He'll be a huge success in anything he decides to do one day when football ends. He's just a special, unique person. And it's all real.”
Mendoza will play his Indiana final home game Saturday. Let that sink in.
The quarterback who may be the calmest man in college football, who may win the biggest trophy, and who may be leading the most unlikely title contender this side of Hollywood … has only one more home game in Memorial Stadium.
You blink and he’s out the door. The season goes that fast. These one-year guys drive home the brevity of the season a little more. It’s not just a race anymore. It’s a sprint in cleats and NIL paperwork.
But he’s one of the guys who make it all worth watching.
I’ve been lucky enough to cover a Heisman Trophy winner one time. His name was Lamar Jackson. I didn’t think I’d see another story that outlandish, that unthinkable.
If Mendoza’s name is called in New York? It would be pretty close. And if Indiana were to win a College Football Playoff championship? I might need to reevaluate.
There would be a new clubhouse leader. With not many holes left to play.
Sports aren’t always about who jumps the highest or runs the fastest. Sometimes they’re about the guy who just does the next thing right.
And if that’s the case, Fernando Mendoza just might be the best player in the country.
Copyright 2025 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.
