Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza (left); Ohio State Julian Sayin

One of the most consequential weeks of the college football year is unfolding. Sunday's College Football Playoff drama began the week. The week will end on Saturday with the revelation of the 2025 Heisman Trophy winner. Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza and Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin join Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia and Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love as finalists. After seeing the Big Ten Championship Game, the verdict should be clear: Jeremiyah Love should win, and the two Big Ten quarterbacks should not. Let's go into the details:

Rockfight

Did Mendoza and Sayin make some notable plays in the Big Ten Championship Game? Yes. However, let's be real: In modern football, a 13-10 game is not primarily a quarterback showcase. The best position groups on Indiana and Ohio State are the defensive lines. Fernando Mendoza and Julian Sayin are not the best players on their own teams, let alone the country, and I think they would themselves agree.

Indiana defensive line

Here's an elite fact showing that Indiana's defensive line is the Hoosiers' top position group in 2025:

There's just no way you can tell me Fernando Mendoza is the best player on the Indiana roster.

Not an insult

Heisman Trophy evaluations might feel like insults, but they're not. It's just a player evaluation. Fernando Mendoza is a really good college football player. I want him on my team. He's a winner. He's mentally tough. He's a warrior. Give me him in a clutch situation. He delivers. That doesn't mean he's the best football player on the Hoosiers or in the country at large.

Saying one player is 10th-best in the country instead of fourth or first is not an insult. It's a player evaluation. All the elite defensive linemen on display in the Big Ten Championship Game showed why Fernando Mendoza is not one of the top five most outstanding players in America, let alone number one. It's not an insult to say that.

Julian Sayin

Julian Sayin has been throwing short, high-percentage passes this season. He has done a really good job. The idea that he is one of the four best players in America, however, is a joke. Indiana exposed that by holding the Buckeyes to just 10 points. Similar to Mendoza, Sayin is a winner and a great teammate. I'd love to have him in my huddle and leading my offense. That doesn't mean he's one of the four best players in the country, let alone number one.

Heisman Trophy quarterback bias

The Heisman Trophy, as we all know, has a long-term pro-quarterback bias. A quarterback on a national title-contending team seems to win this award the vast majority of the time. This goes back a long way, to the early 1990s with Gino Torretta of Miami beating Marshall Faulk in 1992. Eric Crouch in 2001 is another example. The Heisman is supposed to look at the best players in the country, but it might as well be the most successful or prominent quarterback in the country at this point. That's what the award usually devolves into -- not all the time, but most of the time.

Anti-defense bias

How is Texas Tech's Jacob Rodriguez not here? How is Ohio State's Caleb Downs not here? How is Reuben Bain of Miami not here? Defensive players just don't count as much in the Heisman voting, which is absurd. It's as though only skill players are eligible. The award really doesn't display intellectual honesty, a big reason why a lot of people have stopped caring about it.

2009 Heisman

Ndamukong Suh of Nebraska not winning the 2009 Heisman was, for many, the year the Heisman stopped being taken seriously. Suh was so clearly the most brilliant and dynamic player in America. Instead, Mark Ingram won it because his Alabama team was in the BCS National Championship Game. The disregard for defensive players has a much longer history than this. Many felt Hugh Green of Pittsburgh should have beaten out eventual winner George Rogers of South Carolina in 1980. Notably, South Carolina and Pitt played in the 1980 Gator Bowl. Final score: Pitt 37, South Carolina 9.

If a QB should win, it's Diego Pavia of Vanderbilt

Diego Pavia is asked to do so much more for Vanderbilt than Mendoza and Sayin are asked to do for IU and Ohio State, respectively. Pavia takes a lot more hits, is more adventurous as a runner, and throws on the run. Pavia risks his body more and takes bigger gambles as a passer. Vanderbilt winning 10 games is a historic accomplishment. Pavia is a far better college player (not necessarily an NFL draft prospect), but the voting doesn't seem to be trending that way.

What Heisman quarterbacks (and their numbers) should look like

Fernando Mendoza and Julian Sayin playing a 13-10 game underscores the point that while these are good quarterbacks, they aren't Heisman quarterbacks.

What does a Heisman quarterback look like? 1993 Charlie Ward. 1996 Danny Wuerffel. 2008 Sam Bradford. 2010 Cam Newton. 2014 Marcus Mariota. 2019 Joe Burrow.

Some quarterbacks who didn't even win the Heisman were all-time-great college QBs who belong on a much higher plane than Mendoza and Sayin. 1982 John Elway and 2005 Vince Young had massive years but were beaten out by extraordinary players, Herschel Walker and Reggie Bush.

Compare Mendoza and Sayin to Elway, Young, Newton, Mariota, and Burrow. It's two completely different leagues. Heisman quarterbacks are hanging huge numbers against Alabama or Florida State or USC.

Mendoza's Indiana offense scored 30 against Oregon, and Mendoza threw a pick-six in that game, meaning Indiana scored a net of 23 points. Ohio State scored 27 at Michigan, with the running game doing a lot of the work. This is not Danny Wuerffel scoring 45 against a legitimately good Alabama defense in the 1996 SEC Championship Game. It's not in the same universe.

Jeremiyah Love should win the 2025 Heisman Trophy

Jeremiyah Love of Notre Dame fits the profile of a Heisman winner, starting with the point that he actually is the best player on his team, unlike Mendoza at Indiana or Sayin at Ohio State. (Pavia is the MVP of Vanderbilt, which is why he at least deserves consideration for the award.) Mendoza and Sayin are part of why IU and Ohio State have gotten this far; Love is the main reason Notre Dame went 10-2.

Aircraft carrier

Jeremiyah Love is what we call in sports an "aircraft carrier," the guy who carries a team. CJ Carr did not play well against either USC or Pitt, two of the better teams Notre Dame defeated. Usually, a quarterback struggling means the run game is in trouble. Not only was Jeremiyah Love not smothered by USC or Pitt, he actually went off in those games and made highlight-reel runs which were central to the Irish winning. Jeremiyah Love carried the ball -- and himself -- like the best player in the country in 2025.

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This article originally appeared on College Sports Wire: Indiana-Ohio State showed why Jeremiyah Love should win the Heisman

Reporting by Matt Zemek, College Sports Wire / College Sports Wire

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