Long before he became the face of Indiana football, Fernando Mendoza was just another South Florida kid dreaming in the stands at Hard Rock Stadium. His father was high school teammates with Hurricanes head coach Mario Cristobal at Christopher Columbus High School, the same school Fernando and his brother Alberto attended. The connections run deep.
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Fernando remembers the face paint, the noise, the feeling that one day he might be down on that field himself. That moment arrives Monday night when Mendoza leads the Hoosiers into the first national championship game in program history, back home in the 305.
“I love Miami. It’s my hometown, and it’s just a great place,” Mendoza told ESPN. “I would say it’s a cultural melting pot. There’s great food, great culture. Miami is a very lively city, and it’s always on the go. I think it’s really matched my personality. I always want to be uber-productive. I have a very strong routine, and it’s always go, go, go.”
“I watched Miami,” he said with a smile. “I have a picture of myself face-painted out, growing up watching games in Hard Rock Stadium, always dreaming to play as a University of Miami football player. And now being able to play against them in the national championship, it’s going to be a full-circle moment.”
While Mendoza appreciates his community, he knows where his loyalty lies, “I would say it’s going to be great sharing the field with those guys and with those other Christopher Columbus brothers that I have. As much as I love them, I’m going to do everything possible to make sure the Hoosiers leave victorious on Monday,” he told Hoosier Huddle.
Mendoza has already achieved what no Indiana player ever had before: a Heisman Trophy. His season has been historic. 3,349 passing yards, a nation-leading 41 touchdowns, and a staggering postseason stat line of eight touchdowns to only five incompletions. Yet the quarterback insists the bronze statue isn’t what will define this year.
“It’s great to win the individual awards like the Heisman,” Mendoza said, “but truth of the matter is, when I’m 50 years old and looking back on it, talking to my kids about the season, it’s going to all be about the national championship.”
Indiana enters the title game at 15-0, chasing a perfect 16-0 mark that hasn’t been achieved by a major program since Yale in 1894. Mendoza is attempting to join elite company as well. Only four quarterbacks have ever won both the Heisman Trophy and a national championship in the same season, the last being Jameis Winston in 2013.
The odds haven’t always favored Heisman quarterbacks on this stage. Since the start of the BCS era, they are just 4–7 in title games. Mendoza can either become the fifth legend to complete the double or the latest reminder of how difficult the final step can be.
Indiana fans have followed him everywhere, turning the Rose Bowl and Peach Bowl into seas of cream and crimson. Now they’ll watch him return home with everything on the line. Kickoff is set for 7:50 p.m., and Mendoza will take the field not just as a Heisman winner, but as a Miami kid chasing the trophy he’s always valued most.
