Fresh off a historic 12-0 regular season, Indiana QB Fernando Mendoza spoke to the media on Monday. Mendoza wasted no time setting the scene for next Saturday, ending his opening statement by saying, “We have a fantastic opportunity in front of us in a heavyweight match against Ohio State in order to win a Big Ten Championship.”
While this may be the toughest test Indiana has faced all season, Mendoza and the Hoosiers are no strangers to close games. These moments of adversity have helped strengthen this team on both sides of the ball.
“There are a lot of things that made our team, and myself, successful, and I would say it’s just the brotherhood we have within in each other. It’s the unwavering belief and confidence we have with each other. Once we had the Iowa game-winning drive, we had a feather in our cap, where we were able to repeat what we did at Oregon, and then by the time we’re at the Penn State game-winning drive, we’re in the huddle saying, ‘This is what we do; we win close games, we come from behind, and we win games like this.’” Mendoza said.
Mendoza expanded upon this saying, “The unwavering belief that every position group has [in the team] whether one position group might fall, another is there to pick them up. That is so special, especially in such a transactional game nowadays, where everybody is worried about personal stats and personal glory. I believe that our offense has been able to have this resiliency because of the selflessness implemented by our coaches, and now it’s player-led.”
Mendoza is notoriously a film junkie and has quickly begun to study the Buckeye’s tape. “Luckily our game was Friday, so I had the whole day Saturday and Sunday to watch film as well as take a rest and take a deep breath and self-evaluate the Purdue game.” He said.
Explaining just what this routine entails, Mendoza said, “I have a routine that I have used throughout the season, and with any big game such as this, I’m not going to change my routine just cause this is the Big Ten Championship game, as I believe the routine is very process-oriented and that is all that I can control… Coach Whitmer has instilled a plan where I am watching different elements of the defense every single day in order to break down and digest it in a way…where I can see their keys and tells.”
When it comes to what he has seen on the tape, Mendoza said, “Coach Patricia is a fantastic football mind…they have so many great players on defense that do such a great job… [the defense] will be disguising pre-snap, then reacting post-snap, and they really are a great bunch of defensive players that play with each other and have a fantastic scheme to complement their skill. It’s going to be a tough challenge; it’s going to be a tough opportunity. A lot of quarterbacks have struggled throughout the entire season with them, and there is a reason for that.”
Mendoza ended the press conference by saying, “I think it is a great opportunity and challenge for the Indiana offense, in order to play the Indiana brand of ball that we want to play and to go against such a great defense.”
Mendoza and the Hoosiers will have the opportunity to showcase their “Indiana Brand” of football on Saturday as they attempt to dethrone the current #1 Ohio State on their way to a Big Ten Championship.