Fernando Mendoza's mother Elsa watched all his interviews this season.
TheIndiana footballquarterback is earnest to a fault — a trait his family knows all too well — and he put that on full display earlier this fall when he told a reporter winning aHeisman Trophywould be "great and all," but what he really wanted was a national title.
"I just thought, oh my gosh, I hope none of the voters see that," Elsa said with a laugh. "Maybe don't say it like that."
Heisman moments:How finalists made their pitch this season
The close-knit Mendoza family actually never had a conversation about the Heisman until the day before the votes were due, even though he had long been a favorite to reach New York. Mendoza's focus throughout the fall was "playing for his brothers" as his father, Fernando IV, said with a note of pride in his voice.
Mendoza never campaigned for the award, and IU's athletic department followed his lead. He's still headed tothis weekend's Heisman Trophy ceremony as a finalist, and heavy favorite for the award.
IU coach Curt Cignetti met with Fernando Mendoza at midseason for all of 14 seconds about him being a frontrunner for the Heisman.
It was enough time for the two to have a fleeting conversation as the team's starting quarterback walked through his coach's office in the north end zone of Memorial Stadium without even sitting down.
"Let's keep the main thing the main thing, and that is to win football games," Mendoza said of Cignetti's message.
Cignetti kept the chat brief knowing Mendoza was already on board with his advice based on how the quarterback handled IU's success throughout the season, even as the spotlight on him burned brighter.
"I've just tried to follow his example," Mendoza said.
Mendoza cemented his status as a Heisman favorite in a Week 4 win over then-No. 9 Illinois. He threw for five touchdowns in the 63-10 rout to help the Hoosiers score the most points by a Big Ten team against a top-10 opponent in league history.
He became just the second FBS player (C.J. Stroud) with five passing touchdowns while completing 90% of his passes against an A-ranked opponent in the past 30 years.
"Some of my friends said it to me like, 'oh, you know, you're in the Heisman race.'" Mendoza told reporters Tuesday night. "And I was like, 'that's so cool, maybe I can show my kids, hey, I was in the Heisman race.'"
He had added a series of Heisman-worthy moments in the weeks that followed with three game-winning drives on the road. Histouchdown throw to Omar Cooper Jr. in the back of the end zone at Beaver Stadiumhad Fox's play-by-play announcer Gus Johnson telling viewers to "give him the Heisman Trophy now."
Mendoza still avoided mentioning the topic unless he was asked. When the questions became unavoidable, he would turn the focus on how his teammates were equally deserving of recognition.
"I wanted him to be a tennis player because I was, but he just loved that team mentality," Elsa said. "He's a team player in every sense of the word."
It wasn't until he officially became a finalist for the award that Mendoza finally felt comfortable talking about it, but he still wants people to know the only reason he's going to New York is thanks everyone in his orbit.
"There's an analogy like, the only reason we're able to see stars in the sky is because the light reflects from all different types of stars," Mendoza said. "And I have so many stars around myself, whether it's my teammates, my coaches, my family, the support staff, that I'm able to shine now in this light. And I'm just so happy for everyone to be a part of this."
There's a long history of programs trotting out flashy marketing stunts to create buzz around potential Heisman candidates.
Oregon was responsible for one of the more prominent examples of that back in 2001 with their "Joey Heisman" campaign to promote quarterback Joey Harrington for the award. The school spent somewhere in the neighborhood of $250,000 to purchase an 80-by-100 billboard across the street from Madison Square Garden to boost Harrington's visibility.
Indiananever considered taking that kind of approach.
See the four finalists for the Heisman Trophy in action
"Coach Cig and I were 100% on the same page on this, the best thing we could do to help Fernando win the Heisman was to develop him and put him in position for success," Indiana athletic director Scott Dolson said. "That's the same thing Fernando wants."
Dolson credited the program's strategic communication for striking the perfect balance of promoting Mendoza's incredible numbers throughout the season without overshadowing the team's overall success.
"We didn't want this to look like some political campaign," Dolson said. "No one was interested in that."
It also wasn't necessary thanks to the way Indiana's fan base rallied around Mendoza.
On a rain-soaked afternoon in Bloomington, the student section braved the elements and a lightning delay to watch Mendoza throw for 332 yards and four touchdowns while completing 85.7% of his attempts.
The students turned their shirts into rally towels andstarted chanting "HeisMendoza" as Fernando put the finishing touches on a 38-13 win over Michigan Stateon Oct. 18.
"The fans did a lot of the heavy lifting," senior associate athletic director for strategic communications Jeremy Gray said. "The best marketing is organic and authentic, the fans did the chants and made the hashtag, and national media picked it up. Every good throw he had, someone was tweeting 'HeisMendoza.' That's better than any ad buy."
Now that we have reached the second bye week of the season, we wanted to take a minute to discuss quarterback Fernando Mendoza.On the field, Mendoza has put up nation-leading stats & program records. Off the field, he uses his platform to engage with the community & aid causes…pic.twitter.com/O3E5dbSQAA
— Indiana Football (@IndianaFootball)November 17, 2025
