Double duty: Indiana star QB Fernando Mendoza wins Maxwell, Davey O’Brien awards
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It was a Friday night double for Indiana stud quarterback Fernando Mendoza, and the signal-caller of the 13-0 Hoosiers might just be getting started this weekend.
Let’s start with the 2 awards that Mendoza managed to take home as the headliner of Friday night’s plethora of awards that were presented to the best of the best in the sport in 2025. Mendoza captured the prestigious Maxwell Award, which is given annually to the Player of the Year in college football. He did a lot of incredible things this fall, but 1 of them was being the only quarterback at the Division 1 FBS level to toss at least 4 touchdown passes with 0 interceptions in 5 games.
Mendoza had 33 TD passes in all, and that number also helped him win the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback award earlier on Friday night. The Davey O’Brien is given each year to the best quarterback in the nation, and Mendoza was clearly that guy in 2025. He only threw 6 interceptions all year, and Mendoza piled up 2,980 yards passing in helping the Hoosiers outlast defending national champion Ohio State for the Big Ten title.
Indiana celebrated its new football hero on Friday night with this post after Mendoza took home the Maxwell:
Mendoza began the parade of award winners on Friday night by capturing that coveted Davey O’Brien honor:
And Mendoza might not be finished this weekend. In fact, he’s in line for college football’s biggest award of all, holding the best odds to capture the Heisman Trophy on Saturday night in New York City.
The college football world will be tuning in on Saturday evening to see if Mendoza can complete the hat trick of honors this weekend.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
