NEW YORK — Fernando Mendoza, Indiana’s mercurial No. 1 quarterback, 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 received 2,362 first-place votes. He beat out Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia (1,435 votes), Notre Dame Jeremiah Love (719) and Ohio State quarterback Julian Saine (432).
Mendoza led the Hoosiers to a No. 1 ranking and No. 1 seed in the 12-team College Football Playoff bracket, throwing for 2,980 yards and a national-best 33 touchdowns while also running for six scores. Indiana, the last undefeated team in major college football, will play a CFP quarterfinal game in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1.
12 Teams, 11 Games—and One Champion: A Guide to the College Football Playoff
Mendoza, the Hoosiers’ first-year starter after transferring from California, is in charge of an offense that surpassed program records for touchdowns and points set during last season’s surprise run to the CFP.
A redshirt junior, the 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 finish in the top 10 in Heisman balloting and marks another first in program history — to have had back-to-back players finish in the top 10. Hoosiers quarterback Curtis Rourke was ranked ninth last year.
Quarterbacks have won the Heisman four times over the past five years, with two-way player Travis Hunter of Colorado finishing in the race last season.
The presentation of the Heisman Trophy came after a number of honors had already been awarded. Mendoza was named the Associated Press Player of the Year earlier this week and took home the Maxwell and Davey O’Brien Awards on Friday night while Love won the Doak Walker Award.
Brigadier General Al-Wathiq
Pavia threw for a school-record 3,192 yards and 27 touchdowns for the Commodores, who were pushing for a CFP berth all the way up until the race was announced. He is the first Heisman finalist in Vanderbilt history.
Generously listed at 6 feet tall, Pavia led Vanderbilt to its first 10-win season along with six victories 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 unemployed out of high school to junior college at New Mexico State and finally Vanderbilt in 2024 through the transfer portal.
Bold and confident, the graduate student from Albuquerque, New Mexico, calls himself “a chip on the guy’s shoulder” and has been feisty off the field, too: He played his fourth Division I season under a preliminary injunction as he defies NCAA eligibility rules; He maintains that his college years should not count against his eligibility, citing potential losses in profits from name, image and likeness deals as an illegal restriction on free trade.
Vandy next plays in the ReliaQuest Bowl against Iowa on Dec. 31.
Box leader
Sain led the Buckeyes to a No. 1 seed for most of the season, throwing for 3,329 yards while ranking second in the country with 31 TD passes heading into the CFP quarterfinals in the Cotton Bowl on Dec. 31.
The sophomore from Carlsbad, Calif., arrived at Ohio State after initially committing to Alabama and entering the transfer portal following a coaching change. He played four games last season before winning the starting job. He led the Buckeyes to a 14-7 win in the preseason opener against No. 1 Texas and kept the team atop the AP Top 25 for 13 straight weeks, tying his second-longest run.
Sain was the second Bowl Subdivision quarterback in the last 40 years to have three games in a season with at least 300 receiving yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions, and a completion rate of at least 80%. West Virginia’s Geno Smith was the other in 2012.
Signe follows a strong lineage of Ohio State quarterbacks since the arrival of coach Ryan Day in 2017. Dwayne Haskins (2018), Justin Fields (2019), CJ Stroud (2021) and Kyle McCord (2023) averaged 3,927 yards, 40 touchdowns and six interceptions, along with a 68.9% completion rate during their senior seasons.
Irish love
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 finished fourth in the Bowl Subdivision in rushing yards (1,372), fifth in average per game (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 the bowl game.
Notre Dame announces CFP ‘musical chairs’, ‘strained’ relationship with ACC and opts out of bowls
He was the first player in Notre Dame history to produce multiple TD runs of 90 yards or more, a 98-yarder against Indiana in the first round of last year’s playoffs and a 94-yarder against Boston College earlier this season.
He peppered his Heisman resume with a series of highlights displaying an uncanny ability to maintain his balance while tripping defenders, spinning out of tackles or rolling over opponents. He teamed with Jadarian Price to create one of the best backfield duos of the season, a combination that has helped first-time starter CJ Carr emerge as one of the best young quarterbacks in the country.