Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza was feeling the moment after beating Miami 27-21 in the College Football Playoff national championship Monday night in Miami Gardens, Fla. During a postgame interview on ESPN, the famously polite signal caller publicly let out a curse word — while still smiling ear to ear.
Mendoza was far from the first athlete to swear on camera during a moment of heightened emotion. But for Mendoza, who often references his Christianity in interviews and is known for his passionate but squeaky-clean postgame remarks, the use of profanity seemed like a major departure from his norm.
The 2025 Heisman Trophy winner told reporters afterward that the uncharacteristic outburst felt warranted after Indiana completed a historic 16-0 season and won the school’s first football national championship.
“I’d say overall my emotion, it’s the pinnacle peak,” Mendoza said. “All season, sometimes I’ve had these cookie-cutter responses and media-trained responses, where it’s been like, ‘On to the next game, on to the next play.’ And now, we did it. We did it. So, at that point, I think it was only fitting to kind of open the floodgates, per se, try to break my stereotype.”
Mendoza’s polished interview style had become a college football talking point throughout Indiana’s undefeated regular season and CFP championship run. After the Hoosiers defeated Ohio State for the Big Ten title on Dec. 6, the quarterback edited his comments in real time, shouting, “The Hoosiers are flippin’ champs!” during an interview with Fox sideline reporter Jenny Taft.
A segment of college football fans has doubted whether Mendoza’s over-the-top enthusiasm, frequently cracking voice and modest persona could be genuine. “People might think it’s fake, but it’s 100 percent him,” said his brother Alberto Mendoza, Indiana’s primary backup quarterback who recently entered the transfer portal.
After a title game performance punctuated by Mendoza’s 12-yard touchdown run, complete with a Superman lunge through two Miami defenders, which put the Hoosiers ahead 24-14 in the fourth quarter, it’d be hard to argue that the quarterback hadn’t earned the right to let a joyful curse slip.
He’s the flippin’ champ.
