The national championship 2025 couldn’t have ended any better for the Indiana Hoosiers. We have witnessed a couple of crazy plays throughout the game. Still, nothing tops Fernando Mendoza’s legendary rushing touchdown on the play called by Mike Shanahan and approved by Curt Cignetti. College football legend Johnny Manziel couldn’t believe his own eyes.

On January 19, Former Heisman Trophy winner and one of college football’s most electric players of all time, Johnny Manziel, hopped onto X. He awarded Fernando Mendoza a savage badge for his ‘didn’t-think-that-was-possible’ rushing touchdown.

“Wow. Biggest stage, and Mendoza makes a play like that on 4th down. What a savage,” cited Manziel in his comment on X.

With about 9:18 left in the fourth quarter and Indiana holding a slim 17–14 lead, they faced a do-or-die 4th-and-5. Instead of playing it safe with a field goal, Coach Curt Cignetti put the game in his superstar’s hands with a gutsy play call.

Mendoza took the snap on a designed quarterback draw and took off toward the end zone. He looked like he might get stopped short of the first down, but he channelled some serious “John Elway” spirit, breaking through a wall of Miami defenders and diving across the goal line for a 12-yard touchdown. Nobody knew Mendoza had that in him.

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That score put the Hoosiers up 24–14 and silenced the Miami fans in their own home stadium. Mendoza has been playing like an absolute warrior all night, one of whom actually bloodied his lip. Cignetti lost his cool for the first time and started yelling at officials and refs for not calling penalties on the Miami defense for ‘black-and-white’ blatant fouls.

Despite being battered and bloodied, the Miami native threw 16 of his 27 passes for 186 yards and one heck of a rushing touchdown. Just like that, Fernando Mendoza took the Hoosiers to their first-ever natty. And this year’s owner of the No. 1 draft pick, the Las Vegas Raiders, fully experienced Mendoza ball before their own eyes at Hard Rock.

The Las Vegas Raiders’ officials came down to Miami to watch Mendoza ball

Raiders owner Mark Davis, GM John Spytek, and even Tom Brady were all right there on the sidelines at Hard Rock Stadium watching Mendoza’s every move. By the looks on their faces, they loved every bit of Mendoza.

By leading Indiana to a 27-21 dub, Mendoza basically ended the debate on why he should go number one in the 2026 NFL Draft. He’s coming off a Heisman-winning season where he led the entire country in passing touchdowns (41) and completion percentage.

For this Raiders team that struggled through a 3-14 season, Mendoza looks like their ‘plug-and-play’ savior they’ve been searching for since the Derek Carr era ended.

What’s really driving his stock through the roof is how efficient he is. Mendoza rarely makes mistakes and consistently finds the open man. He did this a few times tonight with Charlie Becker.

Not only that, throughout the playoffs, he put up video-game numbers against some of the best defenses in college football. Judging by his performance and everything considered, it’s only a matter of time before he goes No. 1 overall pick come April.