Fernando Mendoza

#15 · QB · Jr. · Indiana6′5″ · 225 lb · Miami, FL · Miami Columbus

Fernando Mendoza: QB · Indiana · #15.

Fernando Mendoza

QB · Indiana · Jr · #15

Picks you apart underneath and protects the ball. The three seasons span two programs and two head coaches: Justin Wilcox and Curt Cignetti. All-America (Consensus) in 2025 made it two straight seasons on the honors list. A game that shows it: 332 passing yards and 18 rushing yards against Michigan State — Week 8, 2025.

Fans

No outlet on our list has written about this player by name this season.

Indiana in the news

Josh Hoover benched for OT winNov 1
Indiana ends 56-year winless streak at MichiganThe Daily Hoosier Oct 28
Becker apologized to DayThe Herald-Times Oct 21
Indiana's historic win streak endsUSA Today Oct 17

Where to follow

Career stats

Swipe the table sideways for more columns.

Season	Team
2025	Indiana	273	379	72.0%	3,535	9.3	41	6	182.9	90
2024	California	265	386	68.7%	3,004	7.8	16	6	144.6	48
2023	California	153	243	63.0%	1,708	7.0	14	10	132.8	50
Career		691	1,008	68.6%	8,247	8.2	71	22	156.2	63

Season	Team
2025	Indiana	90	276	3.1	7	21
2024	California	87	105	1.2	2	50
2023	California	49	86	1.8	2	16
Career		226	467	2.1	11	50

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 16 games

Box score · CFBD

Swipe the table sideways for more columns.

Wk	Opp	CMP/ATT	YDS	TD	INT	YPA	QBR	Note
Wk 1	W 27-14vs Old Dominion	18/31	193	0	0	6.2	66.9	5 TD passes
Wk 2	W 56-9vs Kennesaw State	18/25	245	4	0	9.8	66.6	4 TD passes
Wk 3	W 73-0vs Indiana State	19/20	270	5	0	13.5	93.4	5 TD passes
Wk 4	W 63-10vs No. 9 Illinois	21/23	267	5	0	11.6	93.6	5 TD passes
Wk 5	W 20-15@ Iowa	13/23	233	2	1	10.1	68.5
Wk 7	W 30-20@ No. 3 Oregon	20/31	215	1	1	6.9	88.6
Wk 8	W 38-13vs Michigan State	24/28	332	4	0	11.9	97.1	Season-high 332 yds
Wk 9	W 56-6vs UCLA	15/22	168	3	1	7.6	91.3	3 TD passes
Wk 10	W 55-10@ Maryland	14/21	201	1	1	9.6	96.1
Wk 11	W 27-24@ Penn State	19/30	218	1	1	7.3	75.0
Wk 12	W 31-7vs Wisconsin	22/24	299	4	0	12.5	91.5	4 TD passes
Wk 14	W 56-3@ Purdue	8/15	117	2	0	7.8	69.4
Wk 15	W 13-10vs No. 1 Ohio State	15/23	222	1	1	9.7	90.2
Bowl	W 38-3vs No. 11 Alabama	14/16	192	3	0	12.0	96.7
Bowl	W 56-22vs No. 5 Oregon	17/20	177	5	0	8.9	98.5
Bowl	W 27-21vs No. 10 Miami	16/27	186	0	0	6.9	90.6
Total		273/379	3535	41	6	9.3	—

Highs and lows

Only games with 20 or more plays count for best and lowest.
Best by our grade	Michigan State	W 38-13 · Graded great · 332 yds, 4 TD, 0 INT · Rush 5 for 18 · Sacked 0
Lowest by our grade	Miami	W 27-21 · Graded solid · 186 yds, 0 TD, 0 INT · Rush 7 for -8, 1 TD · Sacked 3
Biggest game	Ohio State	No. 1 at kickoff · W 13-10 · Graded solid · Slow start, strong finish · 222 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT · Rush 5 for -3 · A first-quarter interception took the team's chance of winning from 60% to 37% · Sacked 3
Costliest play	at Oregon	Interception, returned for a touchdown, Q4 12:42 · Win chance 71% to 40%

Passing profile

Pass Profile · True throw depth (charted plays)

Adjusted ANY/A, sack rate, and where the yards came from

273/379 (72.0%) · 41 TD · 6 INT

364 of 379 attempts matched to play-by-play

135 of 364 attempts charted for true throw depth

Totals here are the box score's. Play-by-play lists 364 passing plays (256 completions) against the box score's 379 attempts (273 completions), and the depth buckets use play-by-play.

Adjusted ANY/A

9.851 of 206 QBs

Sack rate

5.5%131 of 206 QBs

Sacked on 5.5% of dropbacks (131 of 206) — and still 1 of 206 in Adjusted ANY/A.

Adjusted ANY/A uses full-season box-score totals (attempts, yards, TDs, INTs); sack rate is play-by-play-derived.

Behind LOS · Negative air yds

14% of attempts (19)

79%comp2 INT

Air -2.6 · YAC 11.3 avg

Short · 0–9 air yds

47% of attempts (64)

72%comp1 INT

Air 4.4 · YAC 3.6 avg

Middle · 10–19 air yds

24% of attempts (33)

67%comp1 INT

Air 13.5 · YAC 2.0 avg

Deep · 20+ air yds

14% of attempts (19)

53%comp

Air 30.8 · YAC 8.9 avg

Overall 72.0% completion on 379 attempts · 53% completion on 19 deep attempts (20+ air yds).

Situational

Is he a different quarterback when it matters

Each situation vs his own 2025 baseline

No situation moves him more than 35 percentile points from his baseline.

BaselineThis situation

Down 1

-31 pct pts vs baseline · sacks 6/153 (3.9%) · league sack rate 4.2%

Down 2

+13 pct pts vs baseline · sacks 6/112 (5.4%) · league sack rate 4.5%

Down 3+

+35 pct pts vs baseline · sacks 7/93 (7.5%) · league sack rate 7.8%

Deltas are vs. this player’s own season baseline, never a league average. League sack rate by down is shown as context because sack attribution isn’t incompletion-denominated.

Teams and coaches

2023California6-7HC: Justin Wilcox · Run-leaning

2024California6-7HC: Justin Wilcox · Balanced

2025Indiana16-0HC: Curt Cignetti · Run-heavy

Our ratings

CFB Zeitgeist Score 91 (#3 of 146). Show the ratings

Where this profile ranks vs the QB cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles · 2025 season

91All-America level #3 of 146 · 2025?

Breakout13 metrics · season cumulative

2025 score: the 2026 sample is not big enough yet. The rows below are 2026 so far. Elite: success rate (99th percentile). Strength: epa / dropback (98th percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

Success rate#3 / 183 · 99th pct

54.8%

EPA / dropback#4 / 183 · 98th pct

0.43

Explosive rate#17 / 183 · 91st pct

12.6%

Interception rate#53 / 183 · 71st pct

1.6%

Sack rate#117 / 183 · 36th pct

5.7%

Box-score rates (8)

Pass TDs#1 / 183 · 100th pct

Completion %#4 / 183 · 98th pct

72.0%

Yards / att#6 / 183 · 97th pct

9.3

Pass yards#15 / 183 · 92nd pct

3535

Fumbles lost#1 / 174 · 91st pct

Rush TDs#39 / 183 · 78th pct

Rush yards#58 / 183 · 68th pct

276

Interceptions#70 / 183 · 56th pct

Season trend

Last seasonThis season

EPA / dropback

78th → 98th percentile

Success rate

82nd → 99th percentile

Explosive rate

39th → 91st percentile

Sack rate

13th → 36th percentile

Interception rate

95th → 71st percentile

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps in 2025. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).

Zeitgeist Passer Rating

2025 · our own passing-efficiency number, shown next to the 1979 formula it does not replace.

After 347 dropbacks

90Zeitgeist Passer Rating3rd of 142 FBS QBs

NCAA passer rating 182.9 1st of 142 FBS QBs

Positive-play rate weight 24%

56.4%99th pct of FBS QBs

share of dropbacks that gained expected points · +0.2% schedule adj.

Yards per attempt weight 56%

9.0998th pct of FBS QBs

sacks excluded · +0.4 schedule adj.

Sack rate weight 21% (penalty)

4.9%63rd pct of FBS QBs

the input passer rating cannot see · -0.6% schedule adj.

Opponent-adjusted; garbage time excluded (39 of 386 dropbacks dropped). 50 = FBS average; the number is pulled toward 50 when the sample is thin. How ZPR is built.

Splits

Home and road splits, scheme and staff

Splits · Per-game

2025 season · 16 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	YDS/g	TD/g	YPA	INT/g
Home7g	253	3.6	10.4	0.1
Road5g	197	1.4	8.3	0.8

First half vs Second half

	YDS/g	TD/g	YPA	INT/g
Weeks 1-79g	220	2.8	9.5	0.2
Weeks 8+7g	222	2.3	9.5	0.6

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2025 season

Head Coach

Curt Cignetti

Pass share

38.7%

404 pass / 641 run

Plays / game

65.3

16 games

Scheme: Run-heavy.

Awards

Player standing · 2025

Heisman Trophy winner

The trophy is in the case.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Zeitgeist Score

91 · #3 of 146 QBs · 2025

Two-star recruit. Now #3 at the position.

One of 52 players who were elite at two different things in 2025. See the others ›

Selector Grid · 2025

AP1st

FWAA1st

AFCA1st

WCFF1st

SN—

SI1st

Named Consensus All-American — recognized on 3+ of the 5 NCAA-recognized selector lists.

Starter

The No. 2,535 recruit in the country is starting at quarterback in the Big Ten as a junior.

Four seasons, two schools, drafted

2026 Drafted in round 1, No. 1 by the Las Vegas
2025 Indiana Cignetti
Year 4 · 16 games
Davey O'Brien
Heisman
Manning
Dec 2024 Entered the transfer portal
California to Indiana
2024 California Wilcox
Year 3 · 11 games
2023 California Wilcox
Year 2 · 9 games
2022 California Wilcox
Year 1 · on the roster, no stat line
High school Miami Columbus
Miami, FL · Class of 2022
Two-star, No. 2,535 in the 2022 class. Signed with California.
Also from Miami Columbus: T.J. Capers (Louisville), Bryce Fitzgerald (Miami), Jabari Ishmael (Memphis) and 10 more.

Season by season

Moves

Transferred from California to Indiana, Dec 24, 2024.

Career, closed

Gone at No. 1 overall.

How it ended

Three seasons, at California and Indiana, 8,247 passing yards, the Heisman Trophy (2025) — drafted at No. 1 overall by the Las Vegas Raiders.

Recruited as a two-star, and honored since.

The week the volume broke through — put up 51 yds at Wake Forest.Wake Forest · W 46-362024

2022

Signed with CaliforniaTwo-star, out of Miami Columbus

2024 11 games

All-ACC

2025 16 games

Transferred to Indianafrom California
All-Big Tenfirst
All-America9 selectors
Davey O'Brienwinner
Heismanwinner
Manningwinner
Maxwellwinner
Walter Campwinner
Big Ten Graham–George Offensive Player of the Yearwinner
Big Ten Griese–Brees Quarterback of the Yearwinner

2026

Drafted by Las Vegas Raidersround 1, pick 1

Trophy case · Confirmed honors

What the selectors said

23 honors · 4 categories

ALL-AMERICA · CONSENSUS

Consensus AA (2025)

9 first-team selectors

National awards

Heisman, Maxwell, Walter Camp +2 more

2025 season

ALL-BIG TEN · 1ST TEAM

All-Big Ten 1st team (2025)

Weekly recognition

3 weekly honors (2024)

5 career weekly honors across 2 seasons

Coaching lineage · 2022–2025

2 coaches

2022–2024

Justin Wilcox

California

2025

Curt Cignetti

Indiana

era →

Played for 2 head coaches at 2 schools: Justin Wilcox and Curt Cignetti.

Next stop · NFL

Las Vegas Raiders2026 NFL rookie season

#1Rd 1 · Pick 1

Las Vegas Raiders2026 NFL rookie season

View college career stats ↓