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ESPN Mic’d Up Fernando Mendoza’s Little Brother and Got an All-Time Great Reaction

Stephen Douglas|
The Mendoza family celebrates a fourth quarter touchdown.
The Mendoza family celebrates a fourth quarter touchdown. | ESPN

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Miami (FL) HurricanesIndiana Hoosiers

Fernando Mendoza scored the biggest touchdown of his life during the fourth quarter of the College Football Playoff championship game. With the Indiana Hoosiers clinging to a three-point lead over the Miami Hurricanes and facing fourth-and-5 in the red zone, coach Curt Cignetti called the Heisman winner's number, and he responded with an all-time great touchdown run.

Fans went crazy. And Fernando Mendoza's family was the most excited of anyone. Including Max Mendoza, the Hoosier quarterback's little brother who was mic'd up, because why not? As he celebrated with a number of other young Indiana fans he grabbed his shirt collar and screamed "Fernando! Friggin'! Mendoza!" into the microphone.

While he's almost certainly going to get a stern talking to about the language, it was probably worth it. Indiana should be selling "Fernando Friggin Mendoza" t-shirts by daybreak. What a moment. What a soundbyte. That's exactly why you mic up a 10-year old at the sport's premiere event.

Good job by ESPN.

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Stephen Douglas
STEPHEN DOUGLAS

Stephen Douglas is a senior writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has worked in media since 2008 and now casts a wide net with coverage across all sports. Douglas spent more than a decade with The Big Lead and previously wrote for Uproxx and The Sporting News. He has three children, two degrees and one now unverified Twitter account.

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