Indiana QB Fernando Mendoza continues dream season, wins 2025 Heisman Trophy

The 2025 Heisman Trophy is the most prestigious award in college football. This year, it went to the player leading the best team in the nation.

Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza won the Heisman Trophy as the spark leading the best team in college football.

Mendoza led the Hoosiers to a 13-0 record, the No. 1 overall seed in the 2025 College Football Playoff and a Big Ten Championship. He transferred to Indiana from California, and led the nation with 33 touchdown passes.

With Mendoza winning the 2025 Heisman Trophy, quarterbacks have now won four out of the last five Heisman Trophies. Last year, Colorado two-way player Travis Hunter won the Heisman.

He was presented the trophy in New York City on Saturday evening, joining a fraternity of college football players with some of the best performances in the history of the sport.

By the numbers:

Mendoza won the Heisman Trophy with 2,392 points. He garnered 643 first-place votes across the 930 eligible voters.

Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia finished second, receiving 1,435 total points and 189 first-place votes.

Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love finished third, receiving 719 total points and 46 first-place votes.

Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin finished third, receiving 432 total points and eight first-place votes.

Texas Tech linebacker Jacob Rodriguez had the fourth-most first place votes of all the top-10 finishers, garnering 17 first-place votes.

Big picture view:

Mendoza's Heisman Trophy win is also the sign of a new era in college football.

The last four winners of the Heisman Trophy all transferred from one school to the program where they won the Heisman Trophy.

Mendoza transferred to Indiana from California. Hunter transferred to Colorado from Jackson State. 2023 winner Jayden Daniels transferred to LSU from Arizona State, and 2022 winner Caleb Williams transferred to USC from Oklahoma.

The Finalists:

These were the finalists for the Heisman this season:

Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia
Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love
Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin
Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza

Love ranks fourth in the nation with 1,372 rushing yards and is fifth in average yards per game, averaging 114.3 yards per game. He scored 18 rushing touchdowns, ranked fourth nationally with 1,652 all-purpose yards and second nationally with 21 touchdowns. Love has scored at least one touchdown in each of his final 11 games. Love won the Doak Walker Award on Friday as the best running back in college football for the 2025 season.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - DECEMBER 13: Heisman Trophy candidate running back Jeremiyah Love of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish poses with the Heisman Memorial Trophy before the 2025 Heisman Trophy Presentation at Marriott Marquis Hotel on December 13, 2025

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Pavia is in his sixth year of college football, and led Vanderbilt to its first-ever 10-win season in 2025. He threw for a Vanderbilt-record 3,192 yards and 27 touchdowns, completing 71.2 percent of his passes, while also rushing for 826 yards and nine scores.

Sayin was the 2025 Big Ten Freshman of the Year. He leads the country in QB rating with a 182.1 rating. As an electric passer, he threw for 3,329 yards and 31 touchdowns. He also has the best completion percentage in the nation with a 78.4 percent completion percentage. As a redshirt freshman, Sayin has a strong chance to be back in New York for next year's Heisman Trophy ceremony, too.

Mendoza has already won the 2025 Big Ten Offensive Player and Quarterback of the Year and was a All-Big Ten first-team quarterback who led Indiana to a 2025 Big Ten Championship victory over Ohio State and a No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff. He threw 2,980 passing yards and a nation-leading 33 touchdown passes. He was also named The Associated Press player of the year earlier this week and won the Maxwell and Davey O’Brien awards on Friday night.

Dig deeper:

There are six other Heisman Trophy finalists to round out the top 10 of the voting.