Marking a landmark achievement for Indiana football, electric quarterback Fernando Mendoza captured the Heisman Trophy on Saturday night. This achievement crowns him as the first player from Indiana to be honored with college football's preeminent individual award since its creation in 1935.
A Decisive Victory
Mendoza's triumph was nothing short of emphatic. He secured a total of 2,362 points, which included 643 first-place votes. When the votes were counted, he finished ahead of Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia (1,435 points), Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love (719 points), and Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin (432 points).
“I haven't seen the numbers yet,” Mendoza stated, “however, I'm deeply humbled to be mentioned with these talented players. The real recognition belongs to my teammates. To me it’s a team award.”
The numbers behind his win were historic. Mendoza was ranked number one in all six Heisman voting regions, something not seen since by Caleb Williams in 2022. He was named on 95.16% of all ballots, tying him with Marcus Mariota (2014) for the second-highest percentage in the award's annals. Furthermore, he earned 84.6% of all possible points, the seventh-best figure ever recorded.
Piloting Indiana to Record Heights
With his play, Mendoza guided the Hoosiers to their first No. 1 national ranking and the top seed in the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff bracket. His arm was a constant threat, throwing for 2,980 yards and a FBS-best 33 touchdown passes, and he supplemented that with six rushing touchdowns. As the last remaining undefeated team in major college football, Indiana is preparing for a Playoff quarter-final in the Rose Bowl on January 1st.
In his debut season as the starter after arriving from California, Mendoza served as the triggerman for an offense that surpassed program records for touchdowns and total points, marks which had been set just last season during a unexpected run to the playoff.
An Historic Figure for the Hoosiers
Now in his junior season, the previously under-the-radar Miami native is also the second Heisman finalist in Indiana history, joining 1989 runner-up Anthony Thompson. Mendoza is the seventh Hoosier to finish in the top 10 in the Heisman voting, and his selection marks another program first: back-to-back top-10 finishers, following quarterback Kurtis Rourke's ninth-place finish last year.
When asked about the journey, Mendoza indicated that a realistic chance of winning the Heisman first seemed tangible after the Hoosiers' decisive 63-10 victory over then-No. 19 Illinois on September 20th. “At that point my teammates said we might end up in New York for the ceremony,” he recalled. “It was a joke at the time, but the conversation began.”
Broader Significance
Mendoza's win extends a pattern of quarterback dominance, with signal-callers having won the Heisman in four of the last five years. He is the 43rd quarterback to win the award and is now the second winner of Latin American descent to hold the trophy, following Stanford's Jim Plunkett in 1970.
“While I grew up in America,” Mendoza commented, “my all four grandparents are from Cuba. Getting the opportunity to visit there was important to me. I credit this love and support to my grandparents and the entire Hispanic community.”
The Heisman announcement capped off a week of major accolades for Mendoza. He was earlier honored as the Associated Press Player of the Year and also collected the Maxwell and Davey O’Brien awards just Friday night.
Additionally, Mendoza's journey underscores the changing landscape of college football, specifically the impact of the transfer portal. He is the seventh different transfer player to win the Heisman in the last nine years, a trend also reflected in finalist Diego Pavia, for whom Vanderbilt is his third different school.
