Day: January 20, 2026
Hoosiers QB Fernando Mendoza gives ‘all the glory to God’ ahead of national championship
When it comes to his role in Indiana’s unlikely rise to the top of college football, Hoosier quarterback Fernando Mendoza knows just who to thank: “the man upstairs.”
“I really give a lot that I have accomplished this season in my life to the Lord and really give thanks to God. … Give all the glory to God,” Mendoza told reporters ahead of tonight’s 2026 National Championship against the University of Miami.
‘I really give a lot that I have accomplished this season in my life to the Lord.’
Team effort
At the press conference Saturday, the recent Indiana University transfer stressed that his success was a team effort — a team that includes the priests at his Catholic parish in Bloomington.
“I’m a Catholic man,” Mendonza told reporters. “And they’ve done so much to help me, whether it’s confession or just [being] able to talk or just Mass every Sunday.”
This is not the first time Mendoza has credited the men of the St. Paul Catholic Center.
Christmas gift
On Christmas Eve, the 22-year-old brought them his 2025 Heisman Trophy. Mendoza won the award — which honors the nation’s top college football player — on December 15, thanks in part to the 41 touchdown passes he threw for the Hoosiers this season.
Recalling the moment, Mendoza said, “I think it was really important to take it over [to] those guys, especially those guys who have been great religious mentors to myself.”
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Chasing a dream
In his Heisman acceptance speech, Mendoza thanked God for giving him “the opportunity to chase a dream that once felt the world away” and vowed to live up to the honor.
Mendoza, who attends Mass weekly and says he prays before every game, also thanked his younger brother Alberto, currently Indiana’s backup quarterback. Calling Alberto his “lifelong teammate,” Mendoza described him as the one person he could trust to “get through a tough day, tough play, [or] tough game.”
“I love you, bro. I love you and thank you for always giving it to me straight no matter the circumstance.”
The NCAA national football championship airs from Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, at 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.
Trump DHS sets the record straight after left-wing critics accuse ICE of dragging ‘half-naked’ American from his home
Critics of President Donald Trump’s administration accused Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers of dragging an American citizen with no criminal history from his home over the weekend.
Videos circulated on social media of a raid in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Sunday, appearing to show federal agents escorting an elderly man from his home, through the snow, and into a federal vehicle. The handcuffed man was wearing only shorts and Crocs, with a blanket draped over his shoulders.
‘Both of these sexual predators remain AT LARGE in St. Paul.’
Reuters reported that his family requested a Hmong interpreter.
“Marching half-naked elderly people out into the snow, your tax dollars at work,” columnist Jill Filipovic wrote.
Political commentator Ed Krassenstein called the Trump administration “disgusting,” adding that the man detained by federal agents was a “U.S. citizen with no criminal record.”
Photographer: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images
“Armed ICE agents broke down the door without presenting a valid warrant, entered with guns drawn, and handcuffed him in front of his 5-year-old grandson, who was left crying and traumatized,” Krassenstein said.
“ICE then drove him around for nearly an hour, questioned and fingerprinted him, confirmed he was a citizen and not the person they were looking for… and dropped him back at home. No apology. No explanation. No accountability.”
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin described Krassenstein’s post as “fear mongering,” explaining that ICE was attempting to arrest two convicted sex offenders.
Photo by Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu via Getty Images
“One of the criminal targets had convictions for sex with a minor and sexual assault. The other target had convictions for sex assault with penetration in the first degree, domestic violence, and violating a protective order. Both also have convictions for failure to register as sex offenders. They both have final orders of removal from an immigration judge,” McLaughlin wrote.
“The US citizen,” McLaughlin continued, presumably referring to the man detained in the video, “lives with these two convicted sex offenders at the site of the operation.”
“The individual refused to be fingerprinted or facially ID’d. He matched the description of the targets. As with any law enforcement agency, it is standard protocol to hold all individuals in a house of an operation for safety of the public and law enforcement,” McLaughlin added. “Both of these sexual predators remain AT LARGE in St. Paul. We will be providing the public with photos and descriptors to help us locate and apprehend these public safety threats.”
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