Fernando Mendoza 4th-down conversion run: How late game TD run became CFP title game's defining moment

Fernando Mendoza 4th-down conversion run: How late game TD run became CFP title game's defining moment originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

In Indiana's storybook season, Fernando Mendoza delivered his storybook moment.

Returning to his hometown of Miami to face the program he grew up rooting for, the Heisman Trophy winner delivered a play that will be etched in Bloomington lore forever. With the game hanging in the balance, Mendoza took a designed quarterback draw 12 yards, weaving through a collapsing pocket and lunging across the goal line for the score. It was a poetic collision of past and present — the kid from Miami clinching a title for the Hoosiers in the very stadium where he once sat in the stands as a fan.

That touchdown did more than just pad the scoreboard; it served as the definitive exclamation point on the greatest individual season in Indiana history. As Mendoza hoisted the trophy under the Hard Rock Stadium lights, the hometown hero narrative came full circle, proving that while his roots were planted in the 305, his legacy now belongs to the Cream and Crimson.

Mendoza departs the amateur ranks as a college football icon, and that 12-yard sprint stands as the crowning achievement of his career. It served as the final act in one of the most improbable turnarounds the sport has ever seen, delivering the Indiana Hoosiers their first-ever national championship.

Here is a closer look at the magic behind Mendoza's storybook play.

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Fernando Mendoza TD run vs Miami

With Indiana up 17-14 in the fourth quarter, Curt Cignetti opted to go for it on 4th & 5 inside the red zone. There were plenty of options here, but the two-time AP Coach of the Year kept the ball in the hands of his Heisman winner.

Mendoza took the snap, a quarterback draw, and rumbled up the middle. Once he shed a few tacklers to get the first down, the Miami native kept on going, lunging forward and extending the ball into the end zone. It made the game 24-14 Hoosiers.

FERNANDO. MENDOZA.

THE PLAY OF A LIFETIME ‼️ pic.twitter.com/g3o5nNNslr

— ESPN (@espn) January 20, 2026

It was the quarterback's first touchdown of the game, and it eventually served as the difference in Indiana's 24-21 win.

When people talk about the legend of Fernando Mendoza, this play might be the one that sums up it all.

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Fernando Mendoza stats vs. Miami

• Completions: 16
• Attempts: 27
• Passing Yards: 186
• Passing TDs: 0
• Interceptions: 0
• Rushing TDs: 1

Mendoza did not light up the stat sheet like he has for most of the season, but he had the most defining score of the game and the college football season.

This was the quarterback's first game without a passing touchdown, but the rushing score served as the final chapter in Indiana's storybook season.

Mendoza, the Miami native, always says he would put his life on the line for his teammates. He did on that play, and it will forever live in the college football record books.

MORE: How Indiana's defense carried them to a national title