Fernando Mendoza reveals final TD run was on broken play to Jimmy Fallon

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All Fernando Mendoza does is break records. Literally.

The Indiana football quarterback made his first media appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon on Thursday, Jan. 22, following the Hoosiers’ College Football Playoff national championship 27-21 win over Miami on Monday, Jan. 19.

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Mendoza crashed Fallon’s opening monologue, discussed winning the first national title in Indiana football history, joked that head coach Curt Cignetti had finally smiled and recounted his fourth-quarter touchdown run that sealed the victory.

“So, it’s a running play, and I’m a quarterback, I’m a passer,” Mendoza said. “So at first I’m like ‘OK here we go.’ And I was supposed to run left. And all of a sudden, some instinct tells me ‘let’s run right.’ So it’s like when you missed you exit on Maps, and you’re like ‘oh shoot, like …’ And luckily it was an exit to a touchdown.”

Mendoza also said he was like a “human pinball machine” on his way into the end zone.

Finally, Fallon told Mendoza it was time for the Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback to break more records by throwing footballs at actual records to break them.

Mendoza had 30 seconds to break as many as he could as the host threw them in the air.

Mendoza broke eight records in 30 seconds, which was impressive since he was in street clothes and Fallon’s record throws were all over the place.

He followed that up by declaring for the 2026 NFL Draft the very next morning, on Friday, Jan. 23.

It’s safe to say that Mendoza is enjoying the days after bringing Indiana football it’s first-ever national title in program history.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fernando Mendoza breaks more records on ‘The Tonight Show’

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