Associated Press
Dec 13, 2025, 08:00 PM ET
NEW YORK — Fernando Mendoza, quarterback of No. 1 Indiana, won the Heisman Trophy on Saturday night, becoming the first Hoosier to capture college football’s most prestigious award since it began in 1935.
Mendoza totaled 2,362 points, including 643 first-place votes, outpacing Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia (1,435 points), Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love (719) and Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin (432).
The redshirt junior guided Indiana to its first No. 1 ranking and the top seed in the 12-team College Football bracket, throwing for 2,980 yards and a nation-leading 33 touchdown passes while adding six rushing scores. Indiana, the last unbeaten team in major college football, will play a CFP quarterfinal in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1.
“I haven’t seen the numbers yet,” Mendoza said. “But it’s such an honor to be mentioned with these guys. It’s really a credit to our team. It’s a team award.”
A transfer from California and the Hoosiers’ first-year starter, Mendoza is the centerpiece of an offense that shattered program records for touchdowns and points after last season’s surprise run to the CFP. He is the second Heisman finalist in school history (Anthony Thompson was runner-up in 1989), the seventh Indiana player to finish in the top 10, and the program’s first winner. Indiana also produced back-to-back top-10 finishers for the first time; Kurtis Rourke was ninth last year.
“This trophy might have my name on it,” Mendoza told the crowd, “but it belongs to all of you. It belongs, for the first time, in Bloomington. Playing in front of Hoosier Nation is one of the greatest privileges of my life.”
Mendoza’s Heisman followed other honors this week: he was named The Associated Press Player of the Year and picked up the Maxwell and Davey O’Brien awards Friday night. Love won the Doak Walker Award.
Diego Pavia, the confident Commodore, set a Vanderbilt single-season record with 3,192 passing yards and 27 touchdowns while leading Vanderbilt to its first 10-win season and six SEC victories, including four over ranked teams. Vanderbilt reached No. 9 in the AP poll, its highest since 1937. Pavia is Vanderbilt’s first Heisman finalist. The graduate student from Albuquerque went from junior college to New Mexico State to Vanderbilt via the transfer portal and played this season under a preliminary injunction as he challenges NCAA eligibility rules. Vanderbilt will play Iowa in the ReliaQuest Bowl on Dec. 31.
Julian Sayin led Ohio State to a No. 1 ranking for much of the season, throwing for 3,329 yards and tying for second nationally with 31 touchdown passes. The sophomore from Carlsbad, California, arrived at Ohio State after an initial commitment to Alabama and a portal move following a coaching change. Sayin had three games this season with at least 300 passing yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions and a completion rate of at least 80% — a feat matched in the last 40 years only by Geno Smith in 2012. Ohio State faces a CFP quarterfinal in the Cotton Bowl on Dec. 31.
Jeremiyah Love put himself in Heisman contention as one of the nation’s top rushers. The junior from St. Louis finished fourth in the FBS with 1,372 rushing yards, averaged 114.3 yards per game (fifth), and scored 18 rushing touchdowns (third). Love was the first player in Notre Dame history to record multiple runs of 90 yards or longer — a 98-yarder against Indiana in last year’s playoffs and a 94-yarder against Boston College this season. His balance and ability to break tackles were season highlights, and he formed a potent backfield duo with Jadarian Price that helped first-time starter C.J. Carr emerge as a top young quarterback.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
