MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (WDRB) -- They’ll hang the photo in living rooms across Indiana. Print it on posters. Freeze it forever on their lock screens.
Fernando Mendoza. Airborne. Football gripped and extended. Helmet first. Heart first. Headlong into history.
Nine minutes and change to go. Fourth and 4. Leading Miami by three points in the national championship game. The field-goal unit was on. Then off. And suddenly everything — the season, the story, the legacy — potentially rested on one play.
And its quarterback, the one with the loping stride and the leader’s soul, delivered the run that sealed a 27-21 win and a championship.
The Setup
“We always figure it out,” Mendoza said. “Whether it's Oregon, Penn State, Iowa … whenever Coach (Curt) Cignetti, Coach (Mike) Shanahan called that play, we knew, hey, we’re going to bet on ourselves one more time at the biggest stage of the game.”
It was a quarterback draw. Put in just for that situation. Medium package in the low red, as Cignetti described it. The staff had debated how to scheme the blocking against Miami’s scheme for 45 minutes earlier in the week. The line had to block it differently. Don’t overlook that: 45 minutes, one play. That’s just how long it took to determine how to run it, not practice it. The look from Miami wasn’t perfect. But the call came anyway.
“We didn’t feel good about kicking a field goal there,” Cignetti said. “The line did a great job. The back did a great job. And Fernando trucked the linebacker. Broke a few tackles.”
It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t smooth. It wasn’t supposed to be.
The Run
Mendoza hit the gas. Not fast. But decisive. Into the teeth of a Miami defense that had been hitting him all night. He needed 4. He got 12.
He broke one tackle, then another. He absorbed a hit. Then another. And when the last one came, he launched. Dove. Soared. Crossed a line no Indiana football team had ever reached.
“Everybody on the team, including Coach, makes fun of my running style,” Mendoza grinned afterward. “But as long as it gets the job done … it’s fourth down, so no matter how you run, no matter what it is, you’ve got to put it all on the line.”
And he did.
The Message
Cignetti saw it differently from most. Not just the run, but what it revealed.
“Fernando, I know he’s great in interviews and comes off as the All-American guy,” he said, “but he has the heart of a lion when it comes to competition. That guy competes like a warrior.”
That play — the play — didn’t win the game on its own. Indiana still had to finish. But it defined the night. The season. The program.
“That will be a snapshot in my head for years to come,” Indiana left tackle Carter Smith said. “I don’t think I’ll ever forget.”
Mendoza called it “the least I could do for my brothers.”
Maybe what separates the champions from the contenders isn’t just what they do. But who they do it for.
We’ve seen Mendoza do a great many things in this Heisman Trophy season. He’s been the precision passer. The efficient assassin. The purpose driven leader.
We hadn’t really seen this Mendoza. Fourth down, big call on the goal line, taking off up the middle like Rambo, bloody lip, bruised arm, running out of tackles. Running over tackles. Twisting toward destiny.
This was Mendoza signing the last page of this masterpiece season with a crimson flourish.
More Coverage:
CRAWFORD | Blood, sweat and champions: Mendoza leads Indiana past Miami 27-21 for national title
Hoosier fans pack Assembly Hall to watch school's first national football championship win
IMAGES | Pregame scenes from Indiana's championship game matchup with Miami
“No Tomorrow.” “No Magic Wand.” Must-read quotes from the Indiana-Miami title matchup
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