NEW ORLEANS (September 24, 2025) – Fans have selected Indiana University's Fernando Mendoza as the Manning Award Quarterback of the Week. He earned the honor over seven other Manning Award Stars of the Week in the Allstate Sugar Bowl's online fan voting contest.
 
Mendoza registered a near-perfect day with just two incompletions while tying his career-high of five passing touchdowns as the Hoosiers rolled to a 63-10 win over No. 9 Illinois. It was Indiana's most lop-sided win ever over a Top 10 foe. He completed 21-of-23 passes for 267 yards and found five different receivers with four of them finding the end zone at least once. He had 15 straight completions to end the game, and of his 21 completions 16 went for either a first down or a TD.
 
The Miami, Florida, native was also tabbed as the Big Ten Co-Offensive Player of the Week. For the season, Mendoza is second nationally in completion percentage at 76.8 and holds the nation's best mark for touchdowns with 14. He has not thrown an interception, and his 206.16 passer rating is second nationally.
 
The Hoosiers will head to Iowa for a Big Ten matchup this Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CT, televised by Peacock.
 
The other Manning Award Stars of the Week were Trinidad Chambliss (Ole Miss), Carlos Del Rio-Wilson (Marshall), Josh Hoover (TCU), Brendon Lewis (Memphis), Chandler Morris (Virginia), Kaidon Salter (Colorado), and Demond Williams (Washington).
 
In its first 21 years, the Manning Award has recognized the top names in college football. It has honored quarterbacks from 15 different schools and from four different conferences. The Southeastern Conference (Jayden Daniels, Stetson Bennett, Bryce Young, Joe Burrow, Mac Jones, Johnny Manziel, Cam Newton, JaMarcus Russell and Tim Tebow) leads the way with nine Manning Award honorees, while the Big 12 Conference (Kyler Murray, Baker Mayfield, Vince Young, Colt McCoy and Robert Griffin III) and the Atlantic Coast Conference (Cam Ward, Deshaun Watson twice, Matt Ryan and Jameis Winston) have each had five winners.
 
All the Manning Award winners follow in the footsteps of the Mannings themselves. In college, Archie, Peyton and Eli Manning combined for over 25,000 passing yards and 201 touchdowns while playing in 10 bowl games and earning four bowl MVP awards. Archie was the No. 2 pick in the NFL Draft, while both Peyton and Eli were selected No. 1 overall.