No team has achieved more this season than the Indiana Hoosiers, led by head coach Curt Cignetti and star quarterback Fernando Mendoza.
Cignetti has quickly risen to the top of college football. He’s completely rebuilt a Hoosiers team that had gone 9-27 in the three previous years, making back-to-back College Football appearances in his first two years at the helm.
He’s become a staple in the sport, as his no-nonsense approach has quickly caught on in a new era of college football. Then, there’s Fernando Mendoza, the projected No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, who built off a strong season at Cal last year with a Heisman Trophy this season as the nation’s best quarterback.
Both people had been seen as afterthoughts initially, building their careers up to reach the biggest height in college football ultimately: the College Football Playoff National Championship game.
Indiana will take on the Miami Hurricanes in search of its first-ever National Championship on Monday, with kickoff set for 7:30 P.M. ET at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, FL. For Cignetti and Mendoza, this could be a defining moment in both of their careers, with one looking to start a dynasty, while the other looks for a finishing touch before a professional career.
When considering both of their personalities, Cignetti and Mendoza feel like two completely different people. An old-school coach, Cignetti is rarely caught smiling at the cameras and has an unwavering demeanor on the sidelines, regardless of the score, which he attributes to setting an example.
“There’s a lot of times I am happy. I just don’t show I’m happy,” Cignetti said at his weekly presser this week. “If I’m going to ask my players to play the first game, first play to play 150 the same, regardless of competitive circumstances, then I can’t be seen on the sideline high-fiving people and celebrating. What’s going to happen, right? What’s the effect going to be? So that’s why I am like I am during games.”
Then, there’s Mendoza, who isn’t afraid to let his quirky, ‘nerd-like’ personality show, be it on the sidelines or in interviews.
“I would say, confirm, [that I’m a football nerd],” Mendoza chuckled while on 60 Minutes last month. “When I grew up, being a nerd was always a bad thing. However, I think now, being a nerd is a little cooler. I’ve always really prided myself in learning. And if being a nerd is always learning and always searching for new information, then I’m all about it, whether it’s in the classroom or on the football field.”
As his draft stock started to really materialize this season, there were reports that NFL executives were questioning Mendoza’s ‘rigid’ personality, according to The Athletic’s Jeff Howe.
“Mendoza has high character, and a couple of executives gushed over his passion for the game and drive to get better,” Howe wrote when breaking down the draft’s top quarterbacks. “He doesn’t strike evaluators as a QB who can take over a game, but that tier of prospect doesn’t currently exist in this class. His pre-draft interviews will be important because of his rigid, almost robotic personality and quiet leadership style. That might get picked apart during draft season, but no one called it a red flag.
“If people are caught up on that,” an executive said, “they’re getting caught up on the wrong things.”
“Another exec added, “If you make plays in the clutch, and you’re tough as s—, guys start believing in you.”
Regardless of the outside noise, it’s clear that both Cignetti and Mendoza have gained the respect of Indiana’s locker room, being leaders of the team in a historic season. Evidently, the performance on the field has stood out. And now, the unlikely duo has a chance to bring home Indiana’s first-ever National Championship on Monday, giving a chance to quiet the critics one last time.
