During No. 2 Indiana football’s 38-13 victory over Michigan State on Saturday, “HeisMendoza” chants swept through Memorial Stadium in Bloomington. Redshirt junior quarterback Fernando Mendoza earned this praise with 332 passing yards and four touchdowns against the Spartans.
Mendoza currently holds the second-highest odds to win the Heisman Trophy, according to FanDuel Sportsbook. Despite his individual success, Mendoza labeled his teammates as the “unsung heroes” after Saturday’s outing in Indiana’s 7-0 start to the 2025 season.
The rise of redshirt junior wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr. has been crucial to Mendoza’s Heisman-esque start. Former Indiana wide receivers Ke’Shawn Williams and Myles Price split snaps in the slot last season. But Williams and Price both earned roster spots in the NFL, paving the way for Cooper Jr. to dominate targets in the slot.
“I just think what you're seeing from him, is, you know, he's older, he’s more mature, he's a veteran now,” Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti said on Cooper Jr. in his weekly media availability Monday. “He sees what's out there, and he's just becoming a lot more consistent and explosive. And he's a hard tackle.”
The Hoosiers’ wide receiver duo of senior Elijah Sarratt and Cooper Jr. has dominated targets through seven games. The tandem accounts for 1,184 of the Hoosiers’ 1,899 total air yards this season. Sarratt has secured a nation-leading nine receiving touchdowns, while Cooper Jr. is tied for fifth in the country with seven touchdown receptions.
While Sarratt and Cooper Jr. garner most of the national attention, sixth-year redshirt senior wide receiver E.J. Williams Jr. has emerged as a reliable target for Mendoza.
“With those receivers, we can do so many different things on our offense, which allows us to be very successful,” Mendoza said following Indiana’s victory over Michigan State on Saturday.
Williams Jr. joined the Hoosiers in 2023 after transferring from Clemson University. However, the Phenix City, Alabama, native lacked playing time through his first two seasons with Indiana and entered the transfer portal in week nine of the 2024 season.
But Williams Jr. decided to return to Bloomington for 2025 and ranks third on the team with 212 receiving yards and three receiving touchdowns this season.
“A lot of people sleep on E.J. because of me and Elijah, but E.J.’s a really good player, and he was able to show y’all that today,” Cooper Jr. said Saturday. “I feel like the second touchdown he was in, but just the fact that it’s three of us, it allows us to go out there and play more free, and knowing that you can’t just double-team one person because we got more weapons than you can hold, just to double team.”
Although Indiana’s trio of wide receivers draws most of the targets, Wisconsin transfer tight end Riley Nowakowski has helped bolster the Hoosiers’ passing attack.
The sixth-year redshirt senior has made a strong impression on Cignetti in his first season sporting an Indiana uniform.
“How many big plays has he made in the pass game?” Cignetti said on Nowakowski Saturday.
Through seven games, Nowakowski has collected 11 receptions for 141 yards and one touchdown. While his statistics are not among the nation’s leaders like Sarratt or Cooper Jr., Nowakowski extends his impact through his effective blocking.
Against Michigan State, the Milwaukee native secured three catches for 54 yards, including a 39-yard reception. But Nowakowski also helped clear a lane up the middle for redshirt senior running back Kaelon Black to notch a 29-yard rushing touchdown against the Spartans.
Meanwhile, Black and redshirt senior running back Roman Hemby add another dimension to the Indiana offense. The duo leads the Hoosiers’ backfield, which ranks second in the Big Ten with 1,582 rushing yards.
Indiana’s multitude of offensive playmakers, coupled with Mendoza’s high-level play, has propelled the Hoosiers to a No. 2 national ranking –– the highest in program history.
“Yeah, I think that it really just shows the multiplicity of our offense and how we’re able to gameplan, and how we’re able to attack the defense,” Mendoza said Saturday. “We’re not a one-way street.”
Follow reporters Conor Banks (@Conorbanks06 and conbanks@iu.edu) and Dalton James (@DaltonMJames and jamesdm@iu.edu) and columnist Quinn Richards (@Quinn_richa and qmrichar@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana football season.
