Meet Indiana fans after their first College Football Playoff win
Indiana Hoosiers fans celebrate inside Hard Rock Stadium after their victory over the Miami Hurricanes in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game.
Indiana State football will lose multiple members of the Mendoza family who were unlikely to have a chance at a national championship.
Hoosiers backup quarterback Alberto Mendoza will enter the transfer portal, multiple reports reported on Tuesday, Jan. 20, a day after Indiana defeated Miami 27-21 in the College Football Playoff title game to clinch the first national championship in program history.
Mendoza is the younger brother of Hoosiers starting quarterback Fernando Mendoza, the 2025 Heisman Trophy winner and the presumptive No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.
Alberto Mendoza played in nine games as a redshirt freshman this season, often relieving his older brother in the closing stages of lopsided wins. Through those games, he completed 18 of 24 passes for 286 yards, five touchdowns, and one interception. He was also a threat on the ground, rushing for 190 yards and a touchdown on 13 attempts.
Mendoza’s decision comes about two weeks after Indiana acquired a contract from TCU transfer quarterback Josh Hoover. He is one of the most popular players on Portal. Hoover set a school record with 3,949 passing yards in 2024 and had 3,472 yards and 29 touchdowns last season.
If he wins the job, as most expected, Hoover will become the third transfer quarterback to start at Indiana since coach Curt Cinetti took over after the 2023 season, joining Curtis Rourke and Fernando Mendoza.
Alberto Mendoza was a three-star recruit in the class of 2024 coming out of Christopher Columbus High School in Miami. 247Sports’ composite rankings rated him the No. 84 quarterback in his class. After enrolling at Indiana University in June 2024, he was joined by his older brother, who transferred from the University of California after the 2024 season and became the first Heisman winner in Hoosiers program history.
