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Fernando Mendoza news has emerged following the Indiana Hoosiers win over the Miami Hurricanes in the championship.
Fernando Mendoza is not only the quarterback for the Indiana Hoosiers, he’s also now officially the quarterback of the 2026 College Football Champions. The Hoosiers took down the Miami Hurricanes on Monday, January 19, in a close but substantial win, with a 27-21 final score.
Only one team gets crowned the national championship team, and this year, that’s the Hoosiers. Watching Mendoza lead this team through an undefeated season has been special, and now, some news about the quarterback has surfaced following the Indiana win.
Of course, good news is nothing new to Mendoza. This year alone, he’s won the highly-covoted Heisman Trophy award and earned Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year. As the Heisman Trophy winner, he was actually the first Indiana Hoosiers player to win the award.
Mendoza decided to transfer to Indiana University from Cal on December 23, 2024, and his story has been magical ever since. His 2025-26 season brought the Hoosiers a Big Ten Championship and trip to the College Football Championship game. Now, it’s also brought a win.
He played three seasons at Cal before announcing his commitment to Indiana on Dec. 23, 2024. So, what’s the Mendoza news that emerged after the College Football National Championship game?
Indiana Hoosiers Quarterback Fernando Mendoza in the News
Directly after the game, Mendoza was awarded the Offensive Player of the Game. The honor was announced during the awards ceremony on the field after the showdown, and the player accepted it with a smile on his face. It was a thrilling award to receive after an equally exciting game.
At the end, it could have gone either way. The Miami Hurricanes had one final chance with 1:47 remaining. A roughing-the-passer penalty helped delete two incompletions, but at the end, quarterback Carson Beck threw an interception to Jamari Sharpe with 44 seconds left on the clock. That gave Indiana the chance to run out the clock and get its victory.
Fernando Mendoza Propelled Indiana
“Behind Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza, whose diving run on fourth down catapulted Indiana to a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter, and who helped keep Miami at bay later when the Hurricanes had trimmed that lead to just three,” Andrew Greif of NBC reported, “the Hoosiers completed a perfect season that would have been deemed nearly impossible even two years ago when Curt Cignetti was hired in Bloomington.”
Greif gives props to both teams, and it’s deserved. “Miami refused to go away meekly, scoring touchdowns on three consecutive possessions between the third and fourth quarters to have a chance at a game-winning drive,” he said, giving Miami kudos for their fight.”
Grief added, “That opportunity to win a national title in its home stadium was denied, however, by a costly underthrown pass by Beck in the final minute, a play that turned what long seemed impossible — an Indiana national title — into reality.”
Indiana led the entire game, but it wasn’t all dominant. However, all season, the Hoosiers were dominant. The team came into Monday night’s game having outscored their opponents by 473 points this season, and that tied with 2019 Clemson for the most entering the national championship game in the history of the CFP.
Anne Erickson is an award-winning reporter for Heavy Sports covering the NFL, NBA and college football. Anne Erickson has years of experience covering the NFL and additional sports, and her work has been published via ESPN, Fox Sports and more. She has interviewed some of the biggest names in sports, including Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff. Erickson also hosts several podcasts and is a Detroit-based radio host. More about Anne Erickson
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