Fernando Mendoza And Indiana Won It All: What Cal Can Learn To Succeed In the New College Football Era
The blueprint is there for the California Golden Bears. It's time to seize on it.
The Indiana Hoosiers were one of the worst programs in Power football two years ago. They were the doormat of the Big Ten, out of contention by October 9 out of every 10 years. They had 11 winning seasons in 75+ years of college football. They were forgotten and discarded, a program in danger of future relegation.
And now, two years after Curt Cignetti arrived in Bloomington, they stand on top of the college football world, 16-0, the national champions, and absolutely turning this sport upside down.
Indiana didn’t need stars and recruiting pipelines and years of tradition to build toward this moment. They plucked top performers from a top G5 program, grabbed hard-nosed talents from across the college football landscape, and built a playoff contender in a year. They then got the talented quarterback they needed (along with additional skill players) they needed to finish the job.
The sport has levelled. The transfer portal has flattened teams at record rates. Any university willing to invest in the sport can compete if they want to. Indiana realized the future health of its program lay in college football, invested accordingly behind one of the largest alumni bases in the country, and have completed one of the greatest modern stories in all of sport.
It’s something Cal can aspire to, and something they can learn from the one they let get away.
I’ve said my piece on Fernando Mendoza. He did what he needed, and proceeded to prove that his decision was correct in the most emphatic fashion.
He’s now the Heisman Trophy winner and the first national championship quarterback of the Indiana Hoosiers, winning in the most dramatic fashion, in the way we loved him most. He got hit a lot on Monday night in Miami, got right back up, and then gave his all for his team at the pivotal moment. It was cruelly not rewarded last October in Berkeley, but tonight he received karmic justice.
Mendoza had to go elsewhere to thrive, and it broke many of our hearts. But he finished his degree, and is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, and his time with Cal will never be forgotten, not by us or him.
Fernando will always be a part of this crazy era of Cal football, and was one of the major spark plugs that jolted the program into the next era. His connection with the fans rebooted our community in ways that were desperately needed, and it made us all dare to dream again. It’s complicated now, but there was love there.
Congrats Nando! A California Golden Bear, past, present and future.
The California Golden Bears made that choice a few years ago to seriously compete, once the Pac-12 collapsed and survival suddenly became paramount. The work of several major donors and a few crucial staffers helped revitalize the Bears through the transfer portal to have enough talent to seriously. But the efforts came very late, and Justin Wilcox couldn’t maximize the ability of the talents he brought in.
Four losses in five weeks in the final seconds in 2024 sealed the Wilcox era, highlighted by the collapse against Miami, and sent Nando looking for other options to truly thrive.
Mendoza and Indiana are a reminder of what Cal could be if every player was developed, every coach was recruiting and gameplanning to the best of their abilities. Tosh Lupoi is here with a brand new staff. So is bright young quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele. Together in 2026, they’ll be building the blueprint to get Cal back to the standard that was common in Berkeley two decades ago.
With only one full week on the job (and a lot of half-duty during Oregon’s playoff run), Lupoi and staff are closing on one of the best transfer portal classes in the nation, rebuilding Cal’s offensive profile in short order with major skill upgrades. Cal’s lines and defense welcome a host of athletic Power 4 talents, along with productive mid-major/FCS players with significant experience. This team might be inexperienced in a few places, but from an upside standpoint, it is far more talented, full of players who could potentially break out and raise Cal’s ceiling if developed right.
The NIL era (You can donate to Cal Football today here) has allowed Cal fans to contribute to player talent acquisition and retention in ways that were never before possible. Cal alumni can now directly make a difference, and have been consistently making the difference in the past weeks in landing players the program needs to compete for top talents with the bluebloods of the world. Add in the selling point of the Berkeley degree, and the Bears are turning eyes in a way that was so much harder mere years ago.
Cal fans are starting to go all in as best they can. Lupoi is the proper salesmen for not just recruits, but prospective donors to raise the funds needed to win recruiting battles. There is buy-in from leadership with Ron Rivera and Rich Lyons. There are more and more people realizing the urgency of the moment, that Cal needs to win now, before realignment claims more victims.
The Bears were one vote away from Power Conference elimination. Had Indiana been in a poorly-run conference, that could have certainly been their fate. New realities are now possible, and Cal can forge their own path if they go for glory.
On go the California Golden Bears, into an uncertain future. But it’s one twinged with hope. The sport is moving in the right direction for Cal, and maybe sooner rather than later, Indiana will be our blueprint for the future we want to create.
Fernando just won the Heisman, Natty, Natty MVP, and will be eventual #1 overall draft pick.
Remember when JW was forcing snaps to Chandler Rodgers and bringing 2 QBs to media day.. Makes you realize JW literally had no clue on offense..
Serious comment: Yes, we are doing all the right things. I read about Cignetti's pitch to IU's administration. Ron Rivera and Chancellor Lyons have ensured that Tosh is getting those things. Our work in the portal has been done very rationally (as far as I can tell without knowing the dollars).
I'm not sure anyone can pull off the "team of seniors" that Cignetti did now that college football has cleared the upperclassmen surplus of the covid bonus year. But there are still valuable lessons to be learned and, as far as I can tell, copying elements of Indiana with a large dose of Oregon culture seems like a pretty great approach to me.