Indiana football and Curt Cignetti made even more history on Thursday night.

Fernando Mendoza, the Hoosiers’ Heisman Trophy winning national champion quarterback, was selected by the Las Vegas Raiders with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft months after leading one of the most historically downtrodden programs in college football to the peak of the sport.

Mendoza spent just one season in Bloomington, completing 72% of his passes for 3,535 yards, 41 touchdowns and just six interceptions while adding 276 rushing yards and seven more touchdowns on the ground. His 41 passing touchdowns top Indiana’s single season passing list. He became the program’s first ever Heisman Trophy winner, led Indiana to its first Big Ten Championship in several decades, and is the first quarterback in over a century to go 16-0 across a single season.

The list of accomplishments Mendoza leaves behind in Bloomington is long and just got a bit longer. He’ll have a chance to add to that in the NFL.