QB Mendoza first Hoosier to win Heisman Trophy

NEW YORK — Fernando Mendoza, the quarterback of No. 1 Indiana, won the Heisman Trophy on Saturday night, becoming the first Hoosier to win college football’s most prestigious award since its inception in 1935.

Mendoza claimed 2,362 points, including 643 first-place votes. He beat Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia (1,435 points), Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love (719 points) and Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin (432 points).

Mendoza guided the Hoosiers to their first No. 1 ranking and the top seed in the 12-team College Football Playoff bracket, throwing for 2,980 yards and a national-best 33 touchdown passes while also running for six scores. Indiana, the last unbeaten team in major college football, will play in the CFP quarterfinal at the Rose Bowl Game presented by Prudential on Jan. 1.

«I haven’t seen the numbers yet,» Mendoza said. «But it’s such an honor to be mentioned with these guys [Pavia, Love and Sayin]. It’s really a credit to our team. It’s a team award.»

Mendoza, the Hoosiers’ first-year starter after transferring from California, is the star of an offense that surpassed program records for touchdowns and points set during last season’s surprise run to the CFP.

Indiana coach Curt Cignetti was in attendance at the ceremony. As Mendoza greeted Cignetti after winning, the coach simply said, «Great job, bro. You deserve that one.»

The final voting totals for the Heisman Trophy 🏆 pic.twitter.com/DA5Qkg76xw

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A redshirt junior, the once lightly recruited Miami native is the second Heisman finalist in school history, joining 1989 runner-up Anthony Thompson. Mendoza is the seventh Indiana player to earn a top-10 finish in Heisman balloting, and it marks another first in program history: having back-to-back players in the top 10. Hoosiers quarterback Kurtis Rourke was ninth last season.

«This trophy might have my name on it,» Mendoza said at the lectern, again acknowledging his teammates back on campus. «But it belongs to all of you, it belongs, for the first time, in Bloomington. Playing in front of Hoosier Nation is one of the greatest privileges of my life.»

Quarterbacks have won the Heisman in four of the past five years, with two-way player Travis Hunter of Colorado ending the run last season.

The Heisman Trophy presentation came after several accolades were already awarded. Mendoza was named The Associated Press player of the year earlier this week and picked up the Maxwell and Davey O’Brien awards Friday night, and Love won the Doak Walker Award.

THE CONFIDENT COMMODORE

Pavia threw for a school-record 3,192 yards and 27 touchdowns for the Commodores, who were pushing for a CFP berth but fell short. He is the first Heisman finalist in Vanderbilt history.

Pavia led Vanderbilt to its first 10-win season, along with six wins against Southeastern Conference foes. That includes four wins over ranked programs as Vandy reached No. 9, its highest ranking in The Associated Press Top 25 since 1937.

Pavia went from being unrecruited out of high school to junior college, New Mexico State and finally Vanderbilt in 2024 through the transfer portal.

The graduate student from Albuquerque, New Mexico, calls himself «a chip on the shoulder guy,» and he was feisty off the field, too: He played his fourth Division I season under a preliminary injunction as he challenges NCAA eligibility rules; he contends his junior college years should not count against his eligibility, citing the potential losses in earnings from name, image and likeness deals as an illegal restraint on free trade.

Vandy next plays in the ReliaQuest Bowl against Iowa on Dec. 31.

THE LEADER OF THE BUCKEYES

Sayin led the Buckeyes to a No. 1 ranking for most of the season, throwing for 3,329 yards while tying for second in the country with 31 TD passes ahead of their CFP quarterfinal at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic on Dec. 31.

The sophomore from Carlsbad, California, arrived at Ohio State after initially committing to Alabama and entering the transfer portal following a coaching change. Sayin played four games last season before winning the starting job. He led the Buckeyes to a 14-7 win in the opener against preseason No. 1 Texas and kept the team atop the AP Top 25 for 13 straight weeks, tying its second-longest run.

Sayin was only the second FBS quarterback in the past 40 years to have three games in a season with at least 300 yards passing, three touchdowns, no interceptions and a completion rate of at least 80%. West Virginia’s Geno Smith was the other in 2012.

Sayin follows a strong lineage of Ohio State quarterbacks since coach Ryan Day arrived in 2017. Dwayne Haskins (2018), Justin Fields (2019), C.J. Stroud (2021) and Kyle McCord (2023) averaged 3,927 passing yards, 40 TDs and six interceptions, along with a 68.9% completion rate, during their first seasons.

THE LOVE OF THE IRISH

The last running back to win the Heisman was Alabama’s Derrick Henry in 2015. Love put himself in the mix with an outstanding season for Notre Dame.

The junior from St. Louis was fourth in the FBS in yards rushing (1,372), fifth in per-game average (114.3) and third with 18 rushing touchdowns for the Fighting Irish, who missed out on a CFP bid and opted not to play in a bowl game.

He was the first player in Notre Dame’s storied history to produce multiple TD runs of 90 or more yards, a 98-yarder against Indiana in the first round of last season’s playoffs and a 94-yarder against Boston College this season.

He padded his Heisman résumé with a series of highlights that displayed an uncanny ability to maintain his balance while hurdling defenders, spinning out of tackles or rolling off opponents. He teamed with Jadarian Price to create one of the season’s top running back duos, a combination that helped first-time starter CJ Carr emerge as one of the nation’s best young quarterbacks.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.