Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza led his team to a historic upset and their first Big Ten championship in over 50 years, attributing his incredible success to faith and his mother's inspiration.



The quarterback who engineered the greatest season in Indiana football history told a national television audience Saturday that faith has been key to his success.

Quarterback Fernando Mendoza passed for 222 yards and one touchdown in Indiana’s 13-10 upset win over previously unbeaten Ohio State, giving the Hoosiers their first Big Ten football championship since 1966 and vaulting them to No. 1 in every major poll for the first time in school history.

Indiana is 13-0 heading into the College Football Playoff, and Mendoza is a favorite for the Heisman Trophy, given to college football’s most outstanding player.

“I want to give all the glory to God. We were never supposed to be in this position, but by the glory of God, the great coaches, the great teammates, everyone we have around us, we were able to pull this off,” an exuberant Mendoza told Fox in a postgame interview that quickly went viral thanks to his unbridled joy. “Whoever thought the Hoosier would be here? But now the Hoosiers are flippin champs. Let's go!”

Earlier this season, Mendoza told host Pat McAfee on The Pat McAfee Show that a weekly Bible study has helped him and his teammates grow closer.

“I think it's really good to be one of the guys. We try to go out to dinner every single week on Thursdays. We always do team Bible study,” he said. “So really having that camaraderie with the guys instead of just being teammates, it's different because we really are brothers.”

Mendoza was an unknown quarterback on the national stage out of high school but eventually signed with Cal before transferring to Indiana, where he blossomed into a superstar under head coach Curt Cignetti.

“When I had no offers coming out of high school, [my mom] was like, ‘Hey, just keep on praying, it's gonna come,’ and everything that she's basically told me that's gonna come to light has always,” he told McAfee. “She's my inspiration and my positive hope.”

Mendoza’s mother has multiple sclerosis.

“To see her fight multiple sclerosis, whenever she's fighting and having a hard day, it gives [me] no excuse if I have a bad practice, if I have a bad lift to not study and watch more film, because she is my ‘why’ and I do it for her.”

Indiana will play in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1, meeting the winner of the Alabama-Oklahoma first-round matchup in a College Football Playoff quarterfinal.

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