College football world outraged after Miami gets away with cheap shot on Fernando Mendoza

Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza has been the biggest story of the College Football Playoff, and that hasn't changed during Monday night's championship game.

With his No. 1-seed Hoosiers taking on the No. 10-seed Miami Hurricanes, it was abundantly clear throughout the first quarter that Miami was to make him uncomfortable. As stated on the broadcast by ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit, Miami was instructed by its coaches to "hit Mendoza as often as they can."

While this strategy isn't shocking, considering the Heisman Trophy winner has been shredding defenses all season, Miami defensive back Jakobe Thomas may have gotten away with a hit that many fans have deemed to be dirty.

With around 4:00 minutes remaining in the first quarter, Mendoza was carrying out a fake on a read option play. While it was abundantly clear he didn't have the ball, Thomas popped him under the chinstrap, causing Mendoza's lip to bleed. It was a relatively uncalled for hit, with ESPN's rules analyst even admitting it could have been targeting.

Fernando Mendoza took a hit on this play 😳 pic.twitter.com/phaZoT2X92
— ESPN (@espn) January 20, 2026

A hit that fans on social media were clearly frustrated about:

"Targeting maybe," wrote one fan.

"How is this not at the minimum a personal foul , let alone targeting? Better question is how can you missed that call with all the eyes on the qb," said another.

"How is that not targeting," questioned a third.

"Can we just get rid of targeting? What a joke," added another.

"The targeting rule was written for this exact reason. Sheesh," said one user.

"How wasn’t this not called for unnecessary roughness," questioned another user.

'If you don't think this is targeting, I have a beachfront property in Indianapolis to sell you," sarcastically wrote another.

Usually officials get criticized for being too protective of the QB.

In this case, they missed 2 late hits on Mendoza that drive, and the second one was clearly targeting.
— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) January 20, 2026

"Um... this is targeting. Like, the very definition," pointed out another.

"Easily could’ve been targeting there," commented another.

Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza. — Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza (15) drops back to pass against the Miami Hurricanes. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

As expressed on the ESPN "College GameDay" pregame show by Pat McAfee, the officials are a Big 12 crew who are known for letting players get a bit physical.

While no fans want the championship to be the ref show, it does seem quite apparent that they don't want officials to swallow their whistles.

Despite the efforts to impose their will on Fernando, Miami quickly fell behind 10-0 in the first half, and will have to attempt to outduel a high-powered Indiana offense.

A win for Indiana will give the program its first championship in football. As for Miami, a win for them would give the program their first title since 2001.