We’re on to Part III of Silver and Black Pride’s Mendoza Mania, providing film breakdowns on every game from the No. 1 pick of the 2026 NFL draft and new Las Vegas Raiders franchise quarterback Fernando Mendoza’s last season at Indiana.
This Week 3 matchup against Indiana State was the Heisman Trophy winner’s and the Hoosiers’ final “tune-up” game before conference play began. Mendoza certainly took advantage of facing FCS-level competition, completing 19 of 20 passes (95 percent) for 270 yards and five
touchdowns with no interceptions. He also added 19 yards and another score on the ground to cap off Indiana’s 73-0 victory.
Of course, a prospective top draft pick is expected to dominate against this type of opponent. But something different about Mendoza’s performance compared to the rest of the year was that he was attacking the middle of the field. That was one of the knocks or questions as a prospect, since he typically operated on the perimeter or outside of where the NFL numbers would be on the field.
Granted, some of the throws he made would be risky decisions against better competition, but it is interesting to see the No. 1 pick make a handful of plays that are outside of his comfort zone.
This first throw is also a good example of Mendoza reading the field and working through his progressions.
Pre-snap, Indiana State gives a two-high look before the boundary safety starts to cheat toward the middle of the field after the tight end’s motion, and the defense rotates in to Cover 7 post-snap, which is a hybrid between zone and man coverage.
That’s the perfect coverage for the frontside of Indiana’s playcall, because it gives the defense a numbers advantage with three defenders to take away two routes. The safety picks up the post from the outside receiver, and the corner has the tight end in the flat. Also, the safety on the other side of the field is essentially in man coverage against the slot receiver to take away the backside drag route.
Mendoza quickly recognizes that his first three reads aren’t open and quickly gets to the backside dig. The running back in the flat at the top of the screen is supposed to occupy the nickelback and keep the nickel low to widen the window for the dig route. However, the defender doesn’t take the bait and, wisely, works for depth to make that a more difficult throw.
Still, that nickel is going to have a hard time making a play against a route that he can’t see because it’s behind him. So, Mendoza lets it rip anyway, throwing with good timing and velocity to hit the open window in zone coverage while giving the receiver enough time to protect himself and secure the catch before contact.
In the NFL or against better competition, the safer decision is to take the easy completion to the running back in the flat, especially on first down. But Mendoza takes advantage of the situation and makes it work here. This is just the type of throw where he might not want to push his luck next time.
This time, the quarterback’s first read is open, making the decision much simpler than the last one. But it’s another impressive throw through a window over the middle.
The Sycamores rotate their coverage again, showing single-high before dropping a nickelback into the deep half of the field, while the other safety widens to run Cover 2. That puts the slot corner in a tough spot, where he’s responsible for carrying the slot receiver on a deep route over the middle.
The problem is that he doesn’t keep his hips square to the line of scrimmage, so the slot receiver (New York Jets’ first-round pick, Omar Cooper Jr.) bends the seam route inside a bit to beat the defender across the defender’s face. When the slot corner opens his hips slightly or at about a 45-degree angle to the sideline, and Cooper bends inside, Mendoza knows where he’s going with the ball and the slot corner can’t hip flip in time to stay in-phase.
Watch the throw from the endzone view above to get the best look at how impressive it is. The ball is delivered with perfect timing and good velocity to split the two underneath defenders and fit into the window against zone coverage.
Here is another throw/decision that Mendoza probably should avoid against better competition at the next level, but he does show off some arm strength and touch to make it work in this instance.
The breakdown is simpler on this one since the defense lines up in and plays Cover 2. Meanwhile, the offense is in a three-by-one formation where the two outside receivers run go routes for a couple of hole shot options while the tight end and slot receiver run curls to expose an underneath window in the coverage. Mendoza opts to hit one of his favorite targets, Cooper, on the curl route between the hook-to-curl (nickleback) and middle hole (SAM linebacker) defenders.
That’s not a bad decision since the nickel doesn’t get enough depth, and there’s about four yards of separation between him and the receiver. Cooper sits in the window after pulling up on the curl route, though in my opinion, his spacing can be better by taking another step or two toward the middle of the field to give the quarterback an even wider window to throw into.
Granted, the ball takes the receiver there anyway, and it’s perfectly delivered with enough air and velocity to zip it by the defender for a first down. The endzone view shows how close the nickelback was to at least getting a piece of the pass for at least a PBU, and that’s why Mendoza may want to think twice about this decision in the NFL.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great throw against Indiana State, but a more athletic defender might be able to make a play on it in the same circumstances.
This next play is technically a throw over the middle, but the read from the No. 1 overall pick is really what makes it impressive.
The Sycamores are playing quarters, which means the defensive backs have coverage rules to pass off and pick up different route combinations. Meanwhile, the Hoosiers dial up a play-action pass with a scissors concept from the two receivers at the bottom of the screen, which is designed to test a defense’s execution of their coverage rules.
Essentially, the boundary safety is responsible for anything deep and over the middle on his side of the field, while the cornerback takes any deep routes toward the sideline. However, on this rep, the safety sticks with the slot receiver running the corner route while the corner passes off the outside receiver on a post route, resulting in two defenders covering the corner while the post is wide open. That’s an even bigger problem for the defense, with the linebackers forced to stay low or hesitate to get depth with the run fake/play action in the backfield.
So, once Mendoza sees the safety open his hips toward the sideline to follow the slot receiver, he knows there’s no way the safety can spin around in time to pick up the outside receiver and lets it rip for an easy touchdown. This is a pretty good ball, as the pass has some heat on it and hits the target in stride, while also having enough arc/touch to make sure those linebackers can’t get a piece of it.
Continuing with the previous theme, this next clip is more about the read or mental processing than it is about the actual throw over the middle.
Indiana State has a bit of a funky play-call, where they show two-high and rotate to run a two-deep coverage. The twist here is that the nickel, who initially lined up just a few yards off the line of scrimmage, drops into one of the deep halves while the field safety stays low to be the middle hole defender. Essentially, the defense is trying to confuse the quarterback by making it seem like they’re changing the coverage post-snap but are playing the same coverage they lined up in, just with different defenders in different spots.
However, Mendoza isn’t fooled, recognizing that the nickel is bailing and switching responsibilities with the safety. So, he locates the deep defender or new field safety post snap, seeing the defender work for depth and width with his hips open toward the sideline to confirm the Cover 2 look. Then, the quarterback shows some eye manipulation by staring at the go route from the outside receiver.
That holds the deep half defender wide of the hashmarks, so the middle hole defender has to carry the seam route from the slot receiver from a trail position and without any help over the top, especially with the vertical route on the other side of the field occupying the boundary safety.
Finally, the seam is open, and Mendoza snaps his head to his second read to find it and drops the ball in the bucket for a 31-yard touchdown. On top of that, he was under some pressure while making this throw, with the linebacker beating the running back on the defense’s simulated pressure.
Up next is Mendoza’s first Big Ten conference game with a matchup against the Illinois Fighting Illini, where he had another five-touchdown performance through the air.
