‘Highest Level’ – Focus and Intentionality Fuel Mendoza
Pete DiPrimio | IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Fernando Mendoza is the last person defenses want to see when the game is on the line.
Or, perhaps, at any time.
Indiana’s Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback has thrived in the biggest moments, proving it with clutch fourth-quarter performances at Iowa, at Oregon, at Penn State and against Ohio State in the Big Ten title game in Indianapolis.
A final opportunity to showcase that crunch-time ability could come Monday night when the top-seeded Hoosiers (15-0) face 10th-seeded Miami (13-2) in the national championship game at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium.
Fourth-quarter heroics weren’t necessary in IU’s blowout wins over Alabama in the Rose Bowl and Oregon in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, in part because Mendoza was so sharp. He’s a combined 31-for-36 for 379 yards, eight touchdowns and no interceptions in those two games with an exceptional quarterback rating of 245.5.
Mendoza has only thrown five incompletions in the playoffs, and one was a catch at first until a big hit by an Alabama defensive back jarred the ball loose from tight end Riley Nowakowski.
Still, if a clutch final 15 minutes are necessary against a Miami team that beat seventh-seeded Texas AM, second-seeded Ohio State and sixth-seeded Ole Miss in the playoffs, Mendoza figures to be ready.
“It's the fourth-quarter mentality,” he says. “You see a lot of people trying to adopt it by putting the fours up. It's a different type of mentality of, ‘Hey, you really got to focus in. It's college football. Small margins and playing great teams.’
“We have to have extreme focus and intentionality, especially in the fourth quarter, because you want to make sure you're putting your best foot forward. All those plays count so much more than maybe the first quarter, second quarter. Every play counts. We want to make sure we have extreme intentionality to every play.”
Head coach Curt Cignetti pushes this approach, has for all of his 15 years as a head coach, and for years before that at assistant coaching stops that included Alabama and North Carolina State, but no quarterback has taken it to Mendoza’s extreme, which explains his evolution from good University of California quarterback to great Hoosier.
“He prepares unlike anybody I've ever been around collegiately and at the quarterback position,” Cignetti says. “He wants to be great. His idol was Tom Brady. He's a real intelligent guy.
“You've heard in his interviews how impressive he is. He's somebody that can channel all his energy into one thing and has the discipline to do that and commitment to be great.
“His preparation is organized, specific, and detailed. You can work, but you’ve got to work smart. He's made a lot of improvement when you look at him from the first game to where he is now. He's played really well at the end of games. He's a warrior.”
The day before IU routed Oregon 56-22 in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, Cignetti added this laughter-generating comment:
“I really can't say enough good things about what he's done since the day we got him, except that he's gotta play damn good tomorrow.”
Mendoza did by shredding Oregon for five touchdown passes while going 17-for-20. Receivers Elijah Sarratt, Omar Cooper Jr., E.J. Williams Jr. and Charlie Becker all caught TD passes.
“I’m like a point guard,” Mendoza says, “throwing to the open guy, and they shoot the threes. I get the glory and the fame, but those guys are the ones that make the shots, make the threes.”
Mendoza’s success is more than just elite arm talent and toughness packed into a 6-foot-5, 225-pound frame that has produced 73-percent accuracy, 3,349 passing yards, and a program-record 41 touchdowns against just six interceptions. He embraces all the behind-the-scenes work that produces those numbers.
“I can be here for hours talking about the process,” Mendoza says. “However, I would say that having an intentional process, I wouldn't say so much of superstition that you're doing crazy stuff here and there. I would say more things that actually are going to translate to your productivity. Being really intentional with those.
“My process is getting more than eight hours of sleep a night. Sleep is so important, and there are so many different unsung heroes in my process, whether it's sleep, whether it's nutrition, whether it's film studies. I make sure to keep that a constant.”
The best quarterbacks thrive as leaders. Mendoza, who had Miami as one of his finalists after deciding to transfer last season, has excelled at that since arriving at IU in January of 2025.
“The best way to lead a team is to perform well, especially at the quarterback position,” Cignetti says. “I've never tried to make that guy the leader in spring ball because his performance will speak for itself. (Mendoza) is highly, highly respected in the locker room, and the way he's played speaks for itself.”
Cignetti says Mendoza has played better since winning the Heisman Trophy.
“He's upped his level of play. He's a special guy. H's extremely intelligent, and people recognize that. What he's done behind the scenes to bring the offensive unit even closer together -- and those are a lot of things that I'm not aware of at the time. I find out later. In every single area where you could impact team success, he's been front and center.
“Then, he says the right things. He'll be really successful one day when football ends, whatever he chooses to do.”
For now, the choice centers on leading IU to its first football national championship.
“Whenever I have my process, it's really a system that I follow,” he says. “That means I've done everything possible to prepare for this game, so when I step on that field, I am confident because I know that my preparation is unmatched. I know that's the most that I can do possibly, so when I go on the field, I'm confident that my process has taken me here and that I can compete at the highest level.”