NEW YORK, NY — Head coach Curt Cignetti said it best about Indiana Hoosiers Cuban-American quarterback Fernando Mendoza Monday night as championship confetti dropped down from Hard Rock Stadium.
“He wouldn’t be denied.”
Mendoza, hailing from Miami, Florida, with several family members and loved ones in attendance, led the No. 1 ranked Hoosiers to championship glory, defeating No. 10 Miami in the 2026 College Football Playoff National Championship by a final of 27-21—Indiana’s first-ever national title in program history.
And while that red and white championship confetti dropped down, over 67,000 in a stadium located just a few miles away from where Mendoza grew up, attending Christopher Columbus High School as a teenager, sang together the chorus of ABBA’s 1976 hit-track “Fernando.”
A Hollywood script for Mendoza in his hometown.
The junior quarterback, becoming the 10th QB ever to win the Heisman Trophy and national championship in the same season, the first since LSU’s Joe Burrow in 2019—manufactured 186 passing yards on 16/27 completions with one rushing touchdown.
His touchdown on the ground resulted in the ultimate play of the game, an additional Heisman moment and perhaps this year’s highlight of the college football season—a successful QB draw from Miami’s 13-yard line on fourth-down with six yards needed at the 9:27 mark of the closing quarter to give Indiana a 24-14 lead.
With the will and determination of a champion, he wouldn’t be denied.
In the red zone as well as in the entirety of the 2025-2026 campaign, leading Indiana to the second-ever 16-0 undefeated season in major college football history, joining the 1894 Yale Bulldogs.
“Shoutout to Miami’s defense. It was going to be a physical game, we had to play physical, and we did. We elevated it. This victory is so sweet for everybody, for the entire Hoosiers nation, but it’s also super sweet for myself,” Mendoza said after the game. “I was a two-star coming out of high school, I got declined a walk-on offer to the University of Miami. Full circle moment here, playing in Miami.”
Looking ahead for Mendoza, the consensus top prospect in this year’s NFL draft, which is set to take place in April in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, it’s expected that the Las Vegas Raiders select him as soon as the clock is on with the No. 1 pick.
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