Fernando Mendoza wins the Heisman Trophy, becoming the 1st Indiana player to win the award – Chicago Tribune

NEW YORK — Fernando Mendoza, Indiana’s No. 1 quarterback, won the Heisman Trophy Saturday night, becoming the first Hoosier to win college football’s most prestigious award since its inception in 1935.

Mendoza earned 2,362 first-place votes. He beat out Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia (1,435 votes), Notre Dame running back Jeremiah Love (719) and Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin (432).

Mendoza guided the Hoosiers to their first No. 1 ranking and top seed in the 12-team College Football Playoff bracket, throwing for 2,980 yards and a national-best 33 touchdowns while also scoring six scores. Indiana, the last undefeated team in major college football, will play a CFP quarterfinal game at the Rose Bowl on January 1.

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Mendoza, the Hoosiers’ first-year starter after transferring from California, is the spark behind an offense that has surpassed program records for touchdowns and points set during last season’s surprise run to the CFP.

A redshirt junior, the once lightly recruited Miami native is the second Heisman finalist in school history, joining 1989 finalist Anthony Thompson. Mendoza is the seventh Indiana player to finish in the top 10 in Heisman voting and it marks another first in program history – having back-to-back players in the top 10. Hoosiers quarterback Kurtis Rourke was ninth last year.

Quarterbacks have won the Heisman four in the last five years, with two-way player Travis Hunter of Colorado ending the race last season.

The Heisman Trophy presentation came after a number of honors had already been handed out. Mendoza was named Associated Press player of the year earlier this week and won the Maxwell and Davey O’Brien awards Friday night while Love won the Doak Walker award.

Confident Commodore

Pavie threw for a school-record 3,192 yards and 27 touchdowns for the Commodores, who were pushing for a CFP spot until the bracket announcement. He is the first Heisman finalist in Vanderbilt history.

Generously listed as 6 feet tall, Pavie led Vanderbilt to its first 10-win season as well as 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.

Pavie went from being unrecruited out of high school to college, to New Mexico State and finally to Vanderbilt in 2024 via the transfer portal.

Brash and confident, the graduate student from Albuquerque, New Mexico, considered himself “a guy with a chip on his shoulder” and he was equally feisty off the field: He played his fourth Division I season under a preliminary injunction while challenging NCAA eligibility rules; he argues that his college years should not count toward his eligibility, citing potential revenue losses related to name, image and likeness deals as an illegal restriction on free trade.

Vandy will next play in the ReliaQuest Bowl against Iowa on December 31.

The leader of the Buckeyes

Sayin led the first-ranked Buckeyes for most of the season, throwing for 3,329 yards while ranking second in the nation with 31 touchdown passes before their CFP quarterfinal at the Cotton Bowl on December 31.

The sophomore from Carlsbad, Calif., came to Ohio State after initially committing to Alabama and entering the transfer portal following a coaching change. He played in four games last season before winning the starting job. He led the Buckeyes to a 14-7 victory in the preseason opener against No. 1 Texas and kept the team atop the AP Top 25 for 13 straight weeks, tying its second-longest streak.

Sayin was only the second Bowl Subdivision quarterback in the last 40 years to play three games in a season with at least 300 passing yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions and a completion rate of at least 80 percent. West Virginia’s Geno Smith was the other in 2012.

Sayin follows a strong line 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) have averaged 3,927 passing yards, 40 touchdowns and six interceptions, along with a 68.9% completion rate during of their first seasons.

Irish love

The last running back to win the Heisman was Alabama’s Derrick Henry in 2015. Love threw himself into the mix with a breakout season for Notre Dame.

The St. Louis junior finished fourth in the Bowl Subdivision in rushing yards (1,372), fifth in per-game average (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 a bowl game.

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He was the first player in Notre Dame’s storied history to produce multiple touchdown 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 padded his Heisman resume with a series of highlights displaying an uncanny ability to maintain his balance while obstructing defenders, breaking out of tackles or picking off opponents. He teamed with Jadarian Price to create one of the best running back duos of the season, a combination that helped first-time starter CJ Carr become one of the best young quarterbacks in the country.