Fernando Mendoza led the Indiana Hoosiers to what many viewed as an improbable season, at least by the standards typically associated with the program. Only in the last two years have the Hoosiers posted back-to-back double-digit win seasons for the first time in school history.
A major reason for that is head coach Curt Cignetti, who has quickly turned Indiana into one of college football’s biggest stories. In Year 1, Indiana did the unthinkable by reaching the College Football Playoff. In Year 2, the Hoosiers proved they had the missing piece to take it even further — a Heisman Trophy winner in Mendoza.
Indiana, along with Mendoza, became the defining story of the college football season, especially after capping it all off with the program’s first national championship. And in the title game against Miami, it was Mendoza who delivered the moment most people won’t forget.
With Indiana clinging to a 17-14 lead, Cignetti decided to go for it on fourth-and-4 from the Miami 12-yard line, looking to put the game away. Whether the call was designed simply to move the chains or pick up a few extra yards, Mendoza took it into his own hands on a quarterback keeper, weaving through traffic and diving into the end zone to make it 24-17.
It was a bold decision by Cignetti, and the play instantly became a signature moment in Indiana football history. But not everyone is buying into the hype.
Dan Le Batard Questions Mendoza’s Diving Touchdown
Some moments don’t just stick out in the context of a game — they live on forever. That’s exactly what happened with Mendoza’s touchdown run, especially the dramatic stretch and dive at the goal line.
Noted Hurricanes fan and media personality Dan Le Batard believes that part of the play was “for the cameras.”
“I actually believe everything about Mendoza is both sincere and sweet, and yet, when he jumped into the end zone there and extended the ball… I’m like — wildly unnecessary,” Le Batard said. “He could have just run in. He did that because he knew the size of the moment.”
Le Batard’s co-hosts immediately pushed back, insisting he was “crazy,” and questioned how Mendoza would even be thinking that way in real time.
“I’m not even criticizing him for it,” Le Batard added. “I’m simply saying that that part, he was giving you a little extra because he knew the size of the moment.”
On the now-famous run, Mendoza burst up the middle, bounced off two Miami defenders, spun away from contact, then absorbed another hit as he stretched into the end zone.
Fernando Mendoza Explains Touchdown Run on The Tonight Show
Days after Indiana’s national championship win over Miami, Mendoza appeared on “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.”
Fallon didn’t hesitate to ask him about the viral touchdown run, and Mendoza described himself as a “human pinball machine.”
“So, it’s a running play, and I’m a quarterback, I’m a passer,” Mendoza said. “So at first I’m like, ‘OK, here we go.’ And I was supposed to run left. And all of a sudden, some instinct tells me, ‘Let’s run right.’ So it’s like when you miss your exit on Maps, and you’re like, ‘Oh shoot…’ And luckily it was an exit to a touchdown.”
Le Batard’s reaction to Mendoza’s score comes off more like sour grapes than anything — or simply a media personality searching for the next viral take. Either way, the bigger viral story remains Indiana and its star quarterback, who delivered the defining moment of a championship season.
Dan Le Batard Calls Out Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza’s Viral CFP Title Touchdown Moment