Silver And Black Pride
We’re getting into the thick of Fernando Mendoza’s 2025 season at Indiana in Silver and Black Pride’s Mendoza Mania series, diving into a film breakdown on the No. 1 pick of the 2026 NFL draft’s sixth game of the year and first of two matchups against the Oregon Ducks.
This contest let the College Football world know that the Hoosiers and Mendoza have arrived, taking down the No. 3 team in the country on the road with a 30-20 victory. The Las Vegas Raiders’ new quarterback had a solid outing overall, completing 20 of 31 passes (64.5 percent) for 215 yards, a touchdown and an interception. But the bigger storyline was how he handled pressure in the pocket.
In the previous game against Iowa, the Heisman Trophy winner had some struggles against the blitz. While this matchup wasn’t perfect, he showed tremendous growth from the previous outing when under pressure, which is one of the main takeaways from the contest.
Before getting into the weeds of Mendoza handling pressure, the clip above highlights one mechanical flaw that occassionally pops up on some of his shorter throws. He can get in a bad habit of not finishing his motion with his lower body, causing the ball to be behind instead of in front of the receiver on the slant route. His back foot is the key here, as he pretty much just picks it up and puts it down rather than finishing with it forward to get a full rotation and his hips into the throw.
This isn’t the worst example because the pass is still catchable, but it is on the wrong shoulder and that’s a difficult grab for the receiver to make since his momentum is carrying him in the opposite direction. So it’s subtle, but that’s the difference between a touchdown and an incompletion.
Now, let’s get to the overall theme of the game, starting with Mendoza’s one negative throw under pressure from the outing. For context, Indiana had just taken the lead at the end of the third quarter, and their defense just got a stop to begin the fourth. So, this was an opportunity for the offense to put the game away early in the final frame, making this pick-six really sting.
It’s third and short while Oregon brings the heat, blitzing the SAM linebacker (No. 26), who executes a stunt with the two defensive tackles. Also, they’re playing man coverage where the other backer (No. 28) is on a “green dog blitz”, meaning he’s responsible for covering the running back if the running back releases on a route, but he can rush the passer if the back stays in pass protection.
Meanwhile, Indiana runs max protection, where the running back and tight end are pass blocking. But they get beaten by the edge rusher (No. 44), on top of the blitzer and looping defensive tackle on the stunt also getting penetration. With the tight end not releasing on a route, the strong safety can help...
