With the Fox Big Noon Kickoff crew in town last week ahead of Indiana’s game against UCLA, quarterback Fernando Mendoza sought out some advice.
With the Heisman Trophy noise growing with each week, Mendoza reached out to former USC quarterback and 2004 Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart, an analyst on the Fox pregame show.
Among other things, Leinart says he told Mendoza to focus on one play, and one game at a time, which was likely music to IU coach Curt Cignetti’s ears.
But the very idea his quarterback was even thinking about that outside noise enough to discuss it with Leinart meant it was time for Cignetti to have a conversation with Mendoza.
“Coach Cignetti made sure to call me into his office and tell me not to worry about that stuff and stay focused on every game. ‘Winning those postseason awards will only happen if we win the next game,'” Mendoza told CBS Sports’ Jenny Dell this week.
Cignetti is right.
Mendoza has been listed among the favorites to win the Heisman since a dominant early season performance against Illinois. But a poor performance that leads to an Indiana loss would knock him down a rung, while also harming Indiana’s pursuit of championships.
The intervention by Cignetti is something Mendoza says he has seen often from the IU staff, and it isn’t always what you think.
“Everybody here does a good job of keeping your ego down,” Mendoza said. “If you’re up, they’ll kick you right down, they’ll chirp you, and if you’re a little bit down, they do a great job of bringing you up.”
To this point Mendoza is having a career-best season in Bloomington, completing 72.9% of his passes for 1,923 yards, with 24 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. He has also rushed for 196 yards and three more scores.
The Miami, Fla. product already has the most touchdowns he’s had in a season, both throwing and rushing, he has the most rushing yards he’s had in a season, he’s on pace for his most passing yards, and his completion percentage is a career-best.
Why the big jump in production? Mendoza says he saw the potential to grow considerably as a quarterback after noticing how much his younger brother Alberto progressed as a freshman at IU in 2024.
“Coach Cignetti and Coach Shanahan have had a fantastic track record of developing quarterbacks, and especially transfer quarterbacks and turning them around in one year,” Mendoza said.
“I’ve been able see that personally with my little brother also in that quarterback room. When I spent three years in college and he only spent one (at Indiana) and I’m like ‘Wow, this guy’s basically smarter than me. He’s able to dissect defenses better than me.’ I had a little vulnerable moment when I saw that, like ‘Wow, am I doing something wrong, am I giving myself the best shot?'”
Fernando has gotten up to speed on how to play like an elite quarterback.
And his head coach is going to make sure his mind doesn’t wander beyond the next play.
For complete coverage of IU football, GO HERE.
The Daily Hoosier –“Where Indiana fans assemble when they’re not at Assembly”
- You can follow us on X: @daily_hoosier and find us on Facebook and Instagram
- Seven ways to support completely free IU coverage at no cost to you.
