RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sourcesATLANTA, GEORGIA - JANUARY 09: Fernando Mendoza #15 of the Indiana Hoosiers rushes the ball against the Oregon Ducks in the second half during the CFP Semifinal Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on January 09, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by CFP/Getty Images) | Getty Images
We’re nearing the end of Silver and Black Pride’s Mendoza Mania series , diving into the second-to-last game of Fernando Mendoza’s 2025 season with a College Football Playoff contest against Oregon. Indiana cruised to a 56-22 victory due in part to an efficient outing from the No. 1 pick of the 2026 NFL draft.
The Las Vegas Raiders’ new quarterback completed 17 of 20 pass attempts (85.0%) for 177 yards and five touchdowns with no interceptions during his second matchup of the season against the Ducks. With a dominant performance from the Hoosiers as a whole, the team didn’t need its quarterback to play hero ball and drop deep shot after deep shot. Instead, this outing was more about Mendoza’s accuracy and game management.
Something I'd like to see Fernando Mendoza improve on is knowing when a play is dead. He gets strip-sacked here and is still loose with the ball before taking another sack pic.twitter.com/1ZqZeFXa1q
— Matt Holder (@MHolder95) July 22, 2026
That being said, this game did highlight one area of improvement when it comes to the Heisman Trophy winner’s game management skills: knowing when a play is dead.
It’s third and long in the clip above, and Indiana’s right tackle gets beaten around the edge pretty quickly. Meanwhile, Mendoza starts his read on the left side of the progression, so he doesn’t see and doesn’t feel the pressure coming, resulting in a strip sack. Luckily, the ball bounces in his favor to avoid the turnover, and he scrambles to keep the play alive.
Still, nothing is open while the pass-rush is coming and closing in on the quarterback. He tries to evade another defender but sticks the ball out, putting it in harm’s way before taking another sack on the wrong side of the 50-yard line. Luckily, Mendoza didn’t cough up the rock a second time, but he was certainly playing with fire with poor ball security.
Now, a sack isn’t a terrible result here since it was third down and the Hoosiers’ kicker had a career-long field goal of just 46 yards and never even attempted a 50-yarder. For context, it would be about a 55-yard field goal from the 37-yard-line. The bigger issue here is the lack of ball security, especially after getting a friendly bounce on the strip-sack.
This can happen a lot with young quarterbacks, where they need to learn to recognize when a play is dead. Once Mendoza leaves the pocket, sees no one open and has several defenders chasing after him, it’s time to either throw the ball away or just go down and take the sack without extending the ball away from his body. In the NFL, the former is the right decision since kickers have much better range and 55-yarders have almost become routine in today’s game.
Similar on this one. Yes, it's 3rd down, he has to get the 1st and can't slide, but just dive and go down at the sticks pic.twitter.com/N8i4V2EA8o
— Matt Holder (@MHolder95) July 22, 2026
We’ll take a look at a similar play here, only it’s a run, and the issue is strictly about understanding when the play is dead rather than avoiding making a bad play worse.
It’s third and long again, and it’s about the same area of the field as the previous clip. Oregon does another good job in coverage, taking away all options from the quarterback, so he takes off and runs.
Now, it’s understandable that Mendoza doesn’t slide. He has to pick up the first down, and there are two defenders right in front of the marker. So, if he slides to avoid contact, the ball will be placed around the 30-yard-line or likely short of the sticks. However, what he can do is dive, and that should get the job done.
Instead, Mendoza runs between the defenders and does manage to break a tackle. But after that, he tries to hit a spin move on a second tackle attempt and ends up getting the ball punched out by another pursuing defender. The Hoosiers clearly had luck on their side this evening as an offensive lineman manages to fall on the ball to avoid a disaster, meaning the quarterback was playing with fire again.
Another factor at play here is that the No. 1 pick needs to understand how he’s built. He isn’t Michael Vick, Lamar Jackson or Josh Allen who can make people miss in the open field and break tackles. Mendoza can be a threat with his legs at the next level, but he’s much more of a “take what the defense gives you” type of runner for NFL standards rather than the dynamic playmaker he’s trying to be on this play.
Also, beyond the fumble, there’s an element of Mendoza avoiding taking an unnecessary hit. At the end of the day, having a healthy quarterback is more important than picking up a few extra yards on one run.
Nice find by Fernando Mendoza to hit Sarratt on the backside of the read for a TD #Raiders pic.twitter.com/rMvlNKEPho
— Matt Holder (@MHolder95) July 22, 2026
But on the positive end of the game management spectrum, the Heisman Trophy winner did have a few impressive reads that didn’t lead to many yards on the stat sheet but did make a big impact on the game.
It’s third and three in the rep above, and the Hoosiers dial up a smash concept on the short side of the field, where the slot receiver runs a corner route and the outside receiver motions into a stacked set before running a curl route in the front of the end zone. Based on the slot receiver’s hard outside release off the line of scrimmage, it looks like the offense is trying to set up a pick or rub route for an easy touchdown to the outside receiver.
However, Oregon’s cornerback does a good job of avoiding it to cover the short curl route, so Mendoza moves onto the backside of the progression. Granted, the corner route does come open on his initial read. But nickelback is on top of the receive...
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