Miami gets away with apparent targeting on Fernando Mendoza in national championship
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Editor’s Note:Indiana is playing Miami football in the CFP national championship game. Follow live updates here.
Indiana football opened up the scoring of the College Football Playoff national championship against No. 10 Miami with a 34-yard field goal from Nicolas Radicic with under three minutes remaining in the first quarter at Hard Rock Stadium.
However, it appears that officials may have missed a key penalty just a few plays before that against the Hurricanes and defensive end Jakobe Thomas, who laid a hit on Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza at the end of a handoff to running back Kaelon Black on third-and-4 at the Miami 27-yard line.
ESPN rules analyst Bill LeMonnier agreed with initial thoughts from Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit in the booth that officials missed a targeting call against Thomas on his hit on Mendoza. The Hoosiers’ quarterback came up with a bloody lip following the hit.
Here’s a look at the play in question:
Fernando Mendoza took a hit on this play 😳 pic.twitter.com/phaZoT2X92
— ESPN (@espn) January 20, 2026
LeMonnier mentioned that the crown of Thomas’ helmet went into Mendoza’s helmet after the Heisman Trophy winner handed the ball off to his running back. Though Black picked up the first down with a 7-yard carry, the Hoosiers would have received an additional 15-yards and gotten close to the end zone.
Should officials have called Thomas for targeting, he would have been the second Hurricane to miss time in Monday’s national championship game. Miami sophomore defensive back Xavier Lucas is sitting out the first half of the game for a targeting ejection he received in the second half of the CFP Fiesta Bowl semifinal against Mississippi.
Ultimately, officials did not call targeting, and college football fans and analysts alike weren’t happy officials missed what could have been early game-changing penalty:
Did officials miss a targeting call on Miami’s Jakobe Thomas against Fernando Mendoza? Social media reacts
Here’s a snippet of reactions:
Bad miss by the officials: https://t.co/vBl40sBCi4
— Nicole Auerbach (@NicoleAuerbach) January 20, 2026
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
THIS IS TEXTBOOK TARGETING 😭pic.twitter.com/imdsdKc3iL
— Florida Gators 🐊🔥 (@gatorsszn) January 20, 2026
That’s absolutely a personal foul and they are lucky he wasn’t tossed for targeting
— Geoff Schwartz (@geoffschwartz) January 20, 2026
No targeting call here as Mendoza took a BIG lick under the chin… pic.twitter.com/KNEqmNMlLz
— Chatterbox Sports (@CBoxSports) January 20, 2026
How did the Miami No. 8 not get tossed for targeting?
— Ben Baby (@Ben_Baby) January 20, 2026
Can someone explain how this is not a targeting call on Miami?
We have seen way less called that this year.
— Adam Martin (@colttrickle) January 20, 2026
Mendoza has a bloody mouth after a nice face shot following a fake
Not sure why that isn’t targeting… I hate the call it that’s how they call it
— Bobby Carpenter (@Bcarp3) January 20, 2026
Again, never, ever tell me the targeting call is about player safety. It’s not. It’s about legal CYA for the NCAA. #IUFB
— Ken Bikoff (@kbikoff) January 20, 2026
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Should Miami have been called for targeting on Fernando Mendoza hit?
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