Game-winning drive makes Fernando Mendoza the Heisman Trophy favorite

Indiana maintained their unbeaten record with a hard-fought victory over Penn State on Saturday. The Hoosiers looked in danger of suffering a first defeat of the season until a dramatic late intervention from Fernando Mendoza.

The Indiana quarterback has been in contention for the Heisman Trophy this year with nine straight wins heading into the trip to Penn State. Saturday’s win takes that run to ten victories but the manner of the win reiterates Mendoza’s reputation of one of college football’s best QBs.

The Hoosiers were trailing by four with 1:51 left on the clock and no timeouts left to work with. With the game on the line, Mendoza led his team on an 80-yard drive to clinch victory at the death. The final pass required a staggering back-of-the-end-zone catch from Omar Cooper Jr, who managed to cling on for the score.

Speaking after the game Mendoza was in no illusions about the scale of the achievement, extending the team’s 100% record to ten games.

He told reporters: “This by far is the best moment of my career, to be able to share it with my brothers. After all that we’ve been through - from the Iowa game, to the Oregon game, now the Penn State game - they’re all games that you have circled.”

“These are game-winning drives that you dream of as a kid. So I can say that this is the top of my career right now. I have so much joy in my heart to share with the program and my teammates.”

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