Hoosier Madness 2 🥳🏀 🏈🏆🥇🚴🚴‍♀️🚴‍♂️

More conditioning, more stairs, more sprints, more laps, more miles, more drills, more discipline, more mental toughness. No more losing big leads in 2nd half.

[Bleacher Report @BleacherReport]

Coach told her "I believe in you." 🥹

Love to see this energy from Maryland HC Brenda Frese 🙌

[The Winning Difference @thewinningdiff1]

"Life is all about habits and choices and decisions.
When you have the right habits, you tend to make better decisions and choices.
It's going to go a long way in determining what kind of person you are and how successful you are."

[Hoosier Madness 2 🥳🏀 🏈🏆🥇🚴🚴‍♀️🚴‍♂️ @HoosierMadness2]

@kpLUCH 😆👍🥳 yep !!!

[Hoosier Madness 2 🥳🏀 🏈🏆🥇🚴🚴‍♀️🚴‍♂️ @HoosierMadness2]

@RonCordry91537 @TheIndianaBison 😆👍🥳 yep.

[Mark “5⭐️” Alter @d1father]

806 days ago this man made a statement about IU Football and over delivered.

Indiana University stays blessed

-mark

[Colin McMahon @ColinMcMahon31]

Probably the best sign I’ve seen before the #NationalChampionship.

Just one more box to check for #iufb here at Hard Rock Stadium.

[Homegrown Hoosier @HomegrwnHoosier]

Hang it in the Louvre. #IUFB

[Colin McMahon @ColinMcMahon31]

Curt Cignetti.

A national champion.

All the emotions.

#iufb

[FOX College Football @CFBONFOX]

Fernando Mendoza has updated his LinkedIn 👀

And it's everything you would expect and more😂👏

[Jason @Hoosier Faithful @JasonSi34121919]

Is this for real or AI ? #iufb @IUHoosiers

[kidraydc @kidraydc]

@MrInd1ana Never!

@Adidas and Indiana University, after so many years, finally got the #Hoosiers unis and helmet right. Finally.

#iufb

[DK🇺🇸🦅🇺🇸 @1Nicdar]

130 schools said no.
He led the losingest program in college football history to a national championship anyway.
Fernando Mendoza was a 2-star recruit from Miami.

He tried to walk on at his hometown school. They passed.
So did FIU.
So did FAU.
So did everyone else.

At 17, he was sitting in his bedroom, crying over a silent recruiting inbox—after driving to 18 camps with his dad and sending highlights to more than 100 programs.
Not one FBS offer.
His only option? Yale. No scholarship. No NFL path.

Everyone told him to be “realistic.”
“Know your place.”
“Be grateful.”
He didn’t listen.
Because Mendoza understood something most people miss:
The worst outcome isn’t failing.
It’s never getting the chance to try.

Two weeks before signing day in 2022, his phone rang.
Cal needed a body. One offer. Out of 134 schools.
He took it.
He arrived as the third-string quarterback.
Spent a year on the scout team.
Lost his first four starts.
Got sacked 41 times behind a broken offensive line.

Still got up. Every time.
Then Cal brought in a transfer instead of building around him.
So Mendoza left the only school that had ever said yes.
He transferred to Indiana—the losingest program in college football history.

People laughed.
“Career suicide.”
“Graveyard program.”
“Nobody wins there.”
One coach told him something different:
“I’m going to make you the best Fernando Mendoza possible.”
That was enough.
Mendoza wasn’t just playing for football.
His mother has battled multiple sclerosis for 18 years.

Before every snap, he thought of her.
“My mother is my why.”
Indiana went 16–0.
Beat six Top-10 teams.
Won their first Big Ten title since 1945.
Mendoza threw 41 touchdowns.
Won the Heisman—first in school history.
First Cuban-American to ever do it.

Then came the title game.
Miami. Near his hometown.
Fourth-and-4. Season on the line.
Quarterback draw.
The kid 134 schools rejected spun through defenders and dove into the end zone.

Game over.
Indiana—national champions.
The losingest program became the best team in America.
All because a 17-year-old refused to believe “no” was the end.

Rankings don’t decide your ceiling.
Gatekeepers don’t write your ending.
Being overlooked isn’t a verdict—it’s a starting point.

Sometimes all you need is one shot…
and the courage to bet on yourself when nobody else will.
Don’t quit.

Credit: Barclay Mullins

[Colin McMahon @ColinMcMahon31]

Here’s the game-sealing interception from Jamari Sharpe and how he was welcomed once he got back to Indiana’s sideline.

Special moment for the Miami native, now he’s a national champion for #iufb.

[Chancellor Johnson @ChancellorTV]

Fernando Mendoza’s touchdown was so incredible he even managed to get a reaction from Curt Cignetti

[Jen Lada @JenLada]

Fernando Mendoza keeps a Mark Twain quote in his phone that he says inspired his decision to leave Cal & transfer to IU:

“So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
@CFBPlayoff #NationalChampionship

[Zach Browning @ZachBrowning17]

Perhaps the loudest I’ve ever heard the Indiana fight song. #iufb

[Nicole Auerbach @NicoleAuerbach]

Indiana AD Scott Dolson and Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti react to the game-winning interception.

[Mick Akers @mickakers]

The Indiana band and cheer team were surprised by QB Fernando Mendoza walking through the hallway giving them high-fives as they are exiting Hard Rock Stadium after the CFP Playoff championship. #indiana #miami #cbplayoff

[Matt Baker @MattBakerCFB]

Assembly Hall. Chaos