Silver and Black Pride’s Mendoza Mania series is about to dive into one of the most iconic performances of the 2026 NFL draft No. 1 pick’s/new Las Vegas Raiders quarterback’s college career, as the matchup against Penn State is widely considered Fernando Mendoza’s “Heisman moment”.
This was a definition of a hard-fought win for the Hoosiers. They were on the road, gave up the lead in the fourth quarter and came back to win with a 10-play, 80-yard drive where Mendoza famously hit Omar Cooper Jr. in the back of the end zone
with about 30 seconds left to give Indiana a 27-24 win.
This certainly wasn’t the Heisman Trophy winner’s most impressive stat line, going 19-for-30 (63.3% completions) with 218 yards, two touchdowns (one passing, one rushing) and an interception. However, this was a situation where the boxscore was misleading, as he tossed a season-high five “big time throws”, according to Pro Football Focus, on top of the game-winning drive mentioned above.
In full disclosure, I included clips from this game in my original Mendoza breakdown (see the related article below). To avoid repeating and duplicating information, each clip below wasn’t covered previously and the plays included in the original breakdown won’t be seen below. Unfortunately, that includes the aforementioned pass to Cooper, but a full breakdown of that play is in the related article if you’re interested.
Mendoza is great at staying calm and throwing under pressure, but he can be a little too fearless and doesn’t have a good feel for when the pressure is coming in the pocket. That showed up a few times in this game, and is one of his areas of improvement heading into the NFL.
With the ball on the hashmark, Penn State decides to blitz the corner on the short side of the field. That’s a typical pressure in this situation, especially in college with the wider hashmarks, and the defense tips the play call pre-snap by having the safety lineup directly over the corner/wide receiver. In other words, the warning signs were there, and the quarterback should anticipate that the blitz is coming.
Since the left tackle is occupied by the defensive end and the rest of the offensive line sliding to the right, the quarterback looks left initially and is responsible for either getting the ball out of his hands quickly or getting out of the pocket if the corner comes off the edge. However, Mendoza doesn’t pick up on it and starts scanning to the other side of the field. That makes him a sitting duck, and he ends up taking a sack to set up third and goal from outside of the 10-yard-line.
What’s frustrating is that this could have been a touchdown if the ball goes to the running back in the flat, since the defense was in man coverage and the linebacker had to avoid getting picked by the outside receiver (No. 7) and safety.
This next clip is the opposite, sensing pressure that isn’t there, which reinforces that the No. 1 pick’s feel for pressure is off and could use some work.
The Nittany Lions drop into Tampa 2 this time, and they have the frontside of the Hoosiers’ play call well covered. The receivers at the top of the screen are executing a smash concept, where the safety and cornerback can take away the corner route and short out. Also, the defense is in nickel or dime personnel, where the middle linebacker/Tampa dropper is actually a safety who can run with Cooper on the over route from the opposite slot.
That takes away Mendoza’s first three reads, which seems to cause him to panic. Instead of just sitting in the pocket for another second and hitting Charlie Becker (No. 80 at the bottom of the screen) on the backside dig, he bails out of a clean pocket, running himself into a sack. The offensive line did a pretty good job of holding up against the four-man rush, so there was no reason to scramble as he had plenty of time to finish the read.
The other end of the spectrum is that the Heisman Trophy winner had a bunch of really impressive throws under pressure in this game.
It’s second and long here, so Penn State drops into Cover 3 and has their underneath defenders play deep to influence a short pass. Meanwhile, Indiana runs a variation of four verticals, where the outside receivers run deep curl routes, and the slots have seam routes.
With the second level of the defense dropping deeper than normal, the curl-to-flat defenders are in a good spot to take away the curls on the outside, and it will take a layered throw between the defense’s second and third levels to hit the seam. Also, the pocket is starting to collapse with both defensive tackles getting pressure and the left defensive end winning around the edge.
However, Mendoza delivers by making an elite throw with two pass-rushers in his face, putting the ball on a line while dropping it between the hook-to-curl and two deep third defenders for a first down. Also, the pass has enough velocity on it so that the receiver can bring the ball into his chest to brace for contact and secure the catch.
The pressure isn’t as significant this time, but the defense brings a blitz and the pocket is collapsing where the quarterback does get contacted after releasing the ball. Also, this is an excellent throw to beat tight coverage.
The defense doesn’t try to disguise anything pre-snap, showing pressure by walking both linebackers up on the line of scrimmage and having the safety in a one-high look. So, Mendoza can get most of the information he needs to make a smart decision right away, and he confirms the read by eying the middle of the field initially and recognizing that the safety stays put while seeing the blitz.
Now it’s a matter of making the right decision quickly and attacking a matchup. Clearly, he trusts Becker to win against press coverage, but the corner does a good job of staying in phase against the go route. However, Mendoza throws Becker open by tossing a perfect 50/50 ball that’s high enough where only the receiver can get it but also still within his reach.
That’s also an impressive catch on the sideline, and this helped set up the game-winning touchdown/“Heisman moment” referenced above.
This next clip is a different pre-snap look but the same defensive play call as the previous clip, where the defense rushes six defenders and runs Cover 1 behind it. Granted, there is no pressure in the pocket and the read is what stands out the most.
It looks like Penn State is either bracketing the receiver at the bottom of the screen (No. 7) with the field corner and free safety, or the safety just has a coverage bust and doesn’t get enough depth. Based on how the boundary corner (top of the screen) plays the post route, I’d lean toward the latter since it looks like he was expecting some help over the top.
Regardless, Mendoza makes a great read, recognizing that the safety is cheating toward the wide side of the field, is too shallow and has his eyes locked on No. 7. So, the quarterback gets his head around to find the post and hits Becker for a big gain that flips the field and puts the offense in the red zone.
Granted, this isn’t the best deep pass since the ball is a little late and the receiver had to slow down to catch it. However, this throw can’t be made with anticipation since it’s attacking a coverage bust where the defense, in theory, should be able to take away the post rather than the route concept beating the coverage. So, it’s understandable that the pass wasn’t on time. Also, Becker is so open that this is a situation where Mendoza just doesn’t want to overthrow him.
Finally, the No. 1 pick also had a handful of impressive throws on the run in Happy Valley.
The Hoosiers dial up a designed roll-out from a three-by-one formation, where the tight end is involved in pass-protection to create space for the quarterback by pinning the edge rusher inside. Meanwhile, the slot receiver runs a deep out, the outside receiver is on a go, and the running back works across the formation to get into the flat and execute the flood concept.
Penn State is in Cover 1, again, and they have all of the playside routes covered. However, the running back moving across the center catches the middle linebacker’s attention, getting the linebacker to crash downhill. That helps open up Becker on the over route, which is difficult for the corner to cover because he’s on an island and has to protect against a vertical route to avoid getting beaten deep.
At the same time, Mendoza is on the run and recognizes that the defense has his first three reads covered. So, he gets to the backside of the call, sees the middle of the field is open with the linebacker crashing downhill on the running back, and hits Becker in stride for the first down. Also, this pass had good velocity to beat the safety and allow the receiver to secure the catch before taking a hit.
Up next was a much lower-profile matchup against Wisconsin, but one where Mendoza put up a great stat line with 22 completions on 24 attempts (91.7%) for 299 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions.
