Up next in Silver and Black Pride's Mendoza Mania series is the only 300-yard performance from Fernando Mendoza's final College Football season , as the Indiana Hoosiers took down the Michigan State Spartans 38-13 in Week 8.
Statistically, this was the No. 1 pick of the 2026 NFL draft's best performance of the season, completing 24 of 28 pass attempts (85.7 percent) for 332 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions. According to Pro Football Focus , one of those incompletions was due to a drop, and he tossed a couple of "big-time" throws to make the outing even more efficient and impressive.
So the negative plays were few and far between in this outing, allowing us to focus on the positives in this breakdown of the new Las Vegas Raiders quarterback's performance and to dive into how his arm strength stood out in East Lansing, Michigan.
Beyond bombing the ball down the field, one way that Mendoza showed off his arm strength in this game was by putting velocity on his short to intermediate throws to beat coverage.
It's third and 12 here, and Indiana runs a variation of four verts from a two-by-two formation. The outside receivers run go routes that they can convert into curls, as Elijah Sarratt does at the bottom of the screen, and the slot receivers run seam routes. However, Michigan State plays quarters coverage, which is a good defense for the offense's play call.
Statistically, this was the No. 1 pick of the 2026 NFL draft's best performance of the season, completing 24 of 28 pass attempts (85.7 percent) for 332 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions. According to Pro Football Focus , one of those incompletions was due to a drop, and he tossed a couple of "big-time" throws to make the outing even more efficient and impressive.
So the negative plays were few and far between in this outing, allowing us to focus on the positives in this breakdown of the new Las Vegas Raiders quarterback's performance and to dive into how his arm strength stood out in East Lansing, Michigan.
Beyond bombing the ball down the field, one way that Mendoza showed off his arm strength in this game was by putting velocity on his short to intermediate throws to beat coverage.
It's third and 12 here, and Indiana runs a variation of four verts from a two-by-two formation. The outside receivers run go routes that they can convert into curls, as Elijah Sarratt does at the bottom of the screen, and the slot receivers run seam routes. However, Michigan State plays quarters coverage, which is a good defense for the offense's play call.
4 months ago
