Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza balled out this season and has been rewarded with some esteemed hardware.
Mendoza won the 2025 Heisman Trophy Award on Saturday night, beating out fellow quarterbacks Julian Sayin (Ohio State) and Diego Pavia (Vanderbilt) and Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love.
Mendoza claimed 2,362 first-place votes. Pavia was second (1,435 votes), Love was third (719 votes) and Sayin was fourth (432 votes). A total of 930 ballots were collected: 870 from media members, 59 from living former Heisman winners and one collective vote from the public through the Heisman Fan Vote.
Mendoza is the first player in Hoosiers history to win the Heisman and just the second player in program history to finish as a finalist for the award; running back Anthony Thompson, a two-time All-American and two-time Big Ten Player of the Year, was the runner-up for the 1989 Heisman Trophy Award.
The 6-foot-5 Mendoza has been at the center of the best season in Indiana history, with the Hoosiers (13-0) beating Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship Game last week and claiming the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff.
Through 13 games, Mendoza has totaled 2,980 passing yards, a Big Ten-high 33 passing touchdowns, six interceptions and a 181.4 passer rating this season, while completing 71.5% of his passes. He has also rushed for 240 yards and six touchdowns. In doing so, Mendoza won 2025 Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year honors.
Mendoza spent the first two seasons of his collegiate career at Cal (2023-24), throwing for 3,004 yards in 2024 and averaging 15 passing touchdowns per season over that span.
Mendoza and the Hoosiers will play the winner of No. 9 Alabama vs. No. 8 Oklahoma in the quarterfinal round of the CFP on Jan. 1 in the Rose Bowl.
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