Cal Fans’ Déjà Vu Moment: Fernando Mendoza’s TV Interview after Indiana Win

If you’re a Cal fan who saw Fernando Mendoza’s postgame TV interview after Indiana’s victory Ohio State on Saturday, your mind had to be on déjà vu overdrive. It was the 2024 Big Game all over again.

Few Golden Bears supporters can forget Mendoza's emotional, teary-eyed, half-crazed TV speech after Cal’s comeback victory over Stanford in last year’s Big Game on November 23, 2024..

His interview was replayed across the nation the next day with virtually everyone enjoying and admiring Mendoza’s pure emotion and joy of his barely intelligible rant.

“This has to be the most special moment in my life to date,” he said smacking his hands together. And then his oft repeated quote about what he will remember most: “I’ll remember going 98 yards with my boys,” recalling the late-game touchdown drive that won the game.

T-shirts were even made glorifying his words – “98 yards with my boys.”

98 Yards With My Boys in the building @ChaseCenter @warriors x @CalFootball x #McGraw #GoBears @qb_fernando 🎯 pic.twitter.com/SPLPIxASFX
— Marshall Cherrington (@MWCherrington) November 26, 2024

He wraps it up with, “Golden Bears forever. Let’s go.”

Fast-forward to a year later, to December 6, 2025, following Indiana’s 13-10, comeback win over Ohio State, when Indiana quarterback Mendoza was again interviewed on TV after the game.

“THE HOOSIERS ARE FLIPPIN’ CHAMPS!” 🗣️@IndianaFootball QB Fernando Mendoza was with @JennyTaft after winning the @bigten championship ‼️ pic.twitter.com/qNJBmXCSfW
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) December 7, 2025

The same emotional, terry-eyes, half-crazed speech, with a line that has already been reported many times, “Now the Hoosiers are flippin’ champs” punctuated by references to “brothers,” which is sort of like “my boys”, and the iconic “Let’s go.”

(We expect to see T-shirts emblazoned with "The Hoosiers are Flippin' Champs" all over Bloomington, Indiana, this week.)

After the Stanford game last year, Mendoza was seen as a centerpiece to Cal’s future.

Now he is the overwhelming favorite to win the Heisman Trophy. BetMGM places his odds of winning the Heisman at -5000, FanDuel makes him a -3000 favorite and DraftKings has him at -2000.

For those unfamiliar with what those numbers mean, a $10 bet on someone with odds of -5000 would pay off a measly 20 cents if he won. Odds of -5000 imply a 98% chance of that person winning.

Although Mendoza’s performance against Ohio State certainly elevated Mendoza to the top of the Heisman list, the positive reaction to his postgame interview – this is what college football is all about afterall, right? – probably put him way over the top with no other Heisman candidate in the rearview mirror.

Cal should get partial credit when Mendoza wins the straight-arming trophy, because Cal took him when no other FBS team wanted him. He was set to go to Yale before Cal arrived with a later offer. And Cal coaches mentored him for three seasons before he peaked this year into an early first-round NFL draft choice at Indiana.

So will we see Cal freshman quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele ever provide a postgame TV speech like Mendoza’s? After he committed to staying at Cal at least through 2026, Cal fans have to believe he is capable of taking Cal to new heights, maybe even Heisman Trophy candidacy.

Sagapolutele begins interviews with the same religious statement as Mendoza, and he is certainly an emotional person. But he is also thoughtful with his words, whether it be after a win or a loss. You can’t picture Sagapolutele being Mendoza-like in an interview.

Mendoza was on the Cal scout team at practices as a true freshman, not getting his chance to start a college game until midway through his redshirt freshman season the next year

Sagapolutele started Cal’s very first game as a true freshman, and has started all 12 regular-season games, including upset wins over two nationally ranked teams, Louisville and SMU. And in his final regular-season game, he led an immaculate 75-yard drive for the winning touchdown in the final minute against SMU.

Sagapolutele was less crazed than the Cal fans after that one.