Most of Fernando Mendoza’s greatest accomplishment at Indiana came very soon after adversity.
He threw fourth quarter interceptions at Iowa, Oregon and Penn State — and led game winning drives after all of them.
Mendoza also demonstrated on multiple occasions he could take a big hit, pop right back up, and play even better.
The entire team seemed to rally around Mendoza when he took a wicked hit at Iowa along the sidelines and didn’t miss a beat. And he quickly shook off bone-jarring shots in the Big Ten and national championship games to lead IU to victory.
Mendoza has often credited his mother and her battle with multiple sclerosis for his resiliency. He believes he has no choice but to be tough in light of her ongoing battle with the unforgiving disease.
Ohio State defensive coordinator Matt Patricia had studied enough film on Mendoza to know one thing — if you’re going to knock him down, you had better knock him out.
The Buckeyes tried to do just that in the Big Ten title game.
On the game’s first play from scrimmage, Mendoza went down with an injury after taking a hit from OSU defensive end Caden Curry.
Mendoza is injured pic.twitter.com/fuUfqzou6A
— LandonTengwall (@LandonTengwall) December 7, 2025
The Lucas Oil Stadium crowd watched in stunned silence as trainers tended to Mendoza.
In the end Mendoza simply got the wind knocked out of him on a clean hit by Curry.
But Patricia knew it was so much more.
“He goes down and I was like ‘Okay, alright, here we go,'” Patricia said Friday on Good Morning Football.
“And then he got up and I was like ‘Uh oh, we’ve got a problem.’
Despite going head-to-head at the Big Ten Championship in December, there’s a lot of mutual respect between Mendoza and Patricia.
Mendoza grew up a Patriots fan when Patricia was the defensive coordinator there.
Patricia said Mendoza sought him out at the NFL Draft Combine.
“I love this guy,” Patricia said of Mendoza. “I think he was probably the most challenging quarterbacks we faced all year. A guy that can make all the throws on the field. Very smart. Really good in the pocket.
“And I just have to say, tough, straight tough. Caden Curry hit him so hard.
“I’m excited. I think that’s a great pick for the Raiders, and we’ll see what he does.”
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