Shortly after officially leading Indiana to its first ever national championship on Monday night, Fernando Mendoza went to find his parents down on the field at Hard Rock Stadium.
Once he finally did, it made for quite the moment.
Mendoza, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, led the Hoosiers past Miami 27-21 on Monday night in the national championship game in South Florida. It completed Indiana’s perfect 16-0 season, marking a stunning turnaround for a program that was near the bottom of the college football world just a few years ago.
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Mendoza went 16-of-27 for 186 yards in the win. He scrambled for a huge touchdown, which he only managed after breaking a tackle near the goal line, in the fourth quarter to help seal the win, too.
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But throughout the game, as they often were throughout the College Football Playoff run, ESPN cameras frequently spotted the Mendoza family watching along. Mendoza’s mother, Elsa, has lived with multiple sclerosis for nearly two decades. She now uses a wheelchair. Mendoza’s father is always seen sitting next to Elsa, never on his feet, celebrating right along with her.
“I was diagnosed about 18 years ago, but of course you never knew that. You and [your brother] Alberto were so young, and I was doing fine … and mostly I didn’t want you to worry. It just felt like this impossible thing to place on you guys,” Elsa wrote in a letter to Mendoza in The Players Tribune last month. “On my sweet boys … It wasn’t until five years ago, when I got COVID, that things started to go downhill in a way where there was no more hiding it. It was during football season, and I realized I wasn’t going to be able to travel. And the thought of you wondering if I supported you any less, because suddenly I wasn’t at your games? I hated that.
“So that’s when I knew we had to sit you and your brother down … But you’ve made it so much easier. And you’ve done that in the sweetest, strongest, most Fernando way possible — by making me feel the exact opposite of embarrassed. You’ve made me feel seen.”
Naturally, Elsa was all smiles on the field after the win.
Talking to Fernando Mendoza’s parents after he won the national championship. Fernando’s mom told me she’s going to remind Fernando that he’s a quarterback not a running back after that fourth down touchdown run. pic.twitter.com/a1rkGc1C2i
— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) January 20, 2026
“Every hug with him, I know that sounds so cliche, but this is just so special because I know how bad he wanted it and how hard he worked to get here,” Elsa said. “That hug means the world.”
