Two days after leading Indiana to its first Big Ten championship in 58 years, Fernando Mendoza was announced as one of four finalists for the Heisman Trophy on Monday.
Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia, Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love and Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin joined the Hoosiers quarterback as the finalists.
The winner will be revealed Saturday night in New York.
Mendoza defeated Sayin and the Buckeyes in the Big Ten championship game on Saturday to earn the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff. The Hoosiers (13-0) will face either No. 8 Oklahoma (10-2) or No. 9 Alabama (10-3) in a quarterfinal in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1.
Mendoza clinched the victory with a 33-yard strike to Charlie Becker on third down, which allowed the Hoosiers to run out the clock in the 13-10 victory to remain unbeaten. He passed for 222 yards and the go-ahead touchdown in the third quarter, as Indiana knocked off the Buckeyes after 30 consecutive defeats that dated to 1988.
“We were never supposed to be in this position,” said Mendoza, the game’s MVP, “but now we’re the flipping champs.”
Mendoza – considered the betting favorite to win the Heisman – will try to make more history this weekend. The Hoosiers have never had a Heisman winner, although running back Anthony Thompson finished runner-up in the voting to Houston quarterback Andre Ware in 1989.
Mendoza, a junior, transferred to Indiana from Cal during the offseason.
The Heisman has been awarded to the nation’s most outstanding college football player since 1935. The top four vote-getters determined by more than 900 voters are selected as finalists. The voting panel includes members of the media and former Heisman winners.
Though Vanderbilt didn’t make the playoff, Pavia is having an historical run for the Commodores, as well.
The senior led Vanderbilt to its first 10-win season in school history and set school records with 3,192 passing yards and 27 passing touchdowns.
Love and the Fighting Irish also narrowly missed out on the playoff, as Miami (10-2) jumped Notre Dame (10-2) in the final rankings.
He scored 21 all-purpose touchdowns, passing Jerome Bettis (1991) for the most in a season in Notre Dame history. Love, a junior, also ended the regular season fourth nationally with 1,372 rushing yards and third with 18 rushing touchdowns, while averaging 6.89 yards per carry.
Though he fell short in the Big Ten championship to Mendoza, Sayin had a spectacular first season starting for the Buckeyes. The Carlsbad High product ranks second nationally with a QBR of 89.6 and currently owns the best completion rate (78.4%) in FBS history. Sayin, a sophomore, threw three touchdowns on Nov. 29, as the Buckeyes snapped a four-game losing streak to Michigan with a 27-9 victory in Ann Arbor.
Ohio State (12-1) is the No. 2 seed in the playoff, and like the Hoosiers, will have a first-round bye before facing the winner of the game between No. Texas A&M (11-1) and No. 10 Miami in the Cotton Bowl on New Year’s Eve in Arlington, Texas.