CRAWFORD | Heisman hero heads home: Mendoza, Hoosiers set for title showdown at Miami

ATLANTA, Ga. (WDRB) – On the biggest stage of his life, Fernando Mendoza sounded less like a Heisman-winning quarterback and more like a philosophy professor on loan from Bloomington’s lecture halls.

“There’s always things to improve,” Mendoza said after throwing five more touchdown passes in Indiana’s 56–22 romp over Oregon in the College Football Playoff semifinal. “Although the scoreboard does not show it, there is still a lot I have to improve on.”

I don’t know. In two playoff games, Mendoza has thrown five incomplete passes. And eight touchdowns. And it’s no aberration. He’s thrown more TDs than incompletions in five games this season.

But that’s the Mendoza method: play like a monster, process like a monk. He calls it “delayed gratification.” He’s talked about mindfulness and stoicism as much as passing schemes and blitz packages. He called Indiana’s national championship bid “an opportunity to uphold discipline” and compared himself to a point guard, saying: “I throw it to the open guys. They shoot the threes.”

But make no mistake: Mendoza was the difference.

Louisville | Kentucky | Indiana | Eric Crawford

He’s now 38-for-43 with eight touchdowns in two playoff games. Against Oregon — a team many thought could solve him — Mendoza diced them again. He hit four different receivers for touchdowns. He extended plays with his legs. And he even completed a pass to D’Angelo Ponds, the defensive back who’d opened the game with a pick-six.

It wasn’t just precision. It was poise. When the Ducks brought pressure, Mendoza adjusted protections. When Oregon disguised coverage, he checked down calmly. When the game slipped out of Oregon’s reach, it was Mendoza who had placed it there.

I give him his credit. Somebody I'm going to stay in touch with when it comes to just talking ball, talking life," Oregon quarterback Dante Moore said.

You are seeing, sports fans,  the final frontier of quarterbacking: when you don’t just beat an opponent, you leave them enlightened.

One year ago, to the day, Mendoza arrived on Indiana’s campus. He thanked Hoosier Nation and said he was “forever in debt.” On Jan. 19, he’ll return home to Miami to play for a National Championship, against a school across the street from where he grew up, and where his father once played with Mario Cristobal.

That’s the kind of story even stoicism can’t suppress.

“It's a very full-circle moment for myself,” he said. “If you open Google Maps and put my address, the University of Miami campus, it's under a mile away. And I walked there, biked there, played basketball rec games in the offseason there.”

Now, he has led an offense – the first in college football in more than a century – that has topped 55 points seven times. And won seven games by 30 points or more.

And now, he has marched a program, and a state, to the doorstep of a national championship.

“It’s something that every young boy who plays football dreams of, and something I’ll look back on for the rest of my life,” Mendoza said. “So I’m going to make sure I pour every ounce of preparation I have into this game, to go up against a great team, the Miami Hurricanes.”

Mendoza says it’s about discipline. About poise. About preparation.

Maybe so. But it’s also about destiny.

The kid from down the street is coming home, with a title shot, a Heisman, and a history-making team in tow.

More Indiana Football Coverage:

CRAWFORD | Indiana Unleashed: Hoosiers throttle Oregon, eye national title

PREGAME | Mark Cuban credits 'organization and strategy' for Indiana football’s rise

CRAWFORD | Pray to play: Indiana's Mendoza looks inward, and upward, for pregame edge 

CRAWFORD | Production over Potential: Indiana offense runs on something better than stars

CRAWFORD | Indiana's Curt Cignetti promises — he's smiling on the inside (sometimes)

CRAWFORD | Indiana’s defense is no illusion — but it thrives on creating them

Copyright 2026 WDRB News. All Rights Reserved.