Man. I was hoping for a little more exciting game. Indiana game is totally boring…unlike the Miami/Old Miss game yesterday. Congrats to Indiana!
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Woo Hoo! What about that Indiana TD after the blocked punt…how often do you see that! We’re Oregon fans but are enjoying all these college games…Go Hoosiers!
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Oh! My! Gosh!! 
Yay IU!!
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Yahoo! Congrats. What a game…what a season. First Championship for Indiana. So happy for the team, the fans and the B1G.
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What a game!!! Congrats to the Hoosier boys…you can catch your breath Zia!
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I will say he’s the first winning quarterback I’ve heard use the words “conglomerate” and “synergy” in a winning speech 
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130 schools said no. He led the losingest program in college football history to a national championship anyway. Fernando Mendoza was a 2-star recruit from Miami. He tried to walk on at his hometown school. They passed. So did FIU. So did FAU. So did everyone else. At 17, he was sitting in his bedroom, crying over a silent recruiting inbox—after driving to 18 camps with his dad and sending highlights to more than 100 programs. Not one FBS offer. His only option? Yale. No scholarship. No NFL path. Everyone told him to be “realistic.” “Know your place.” “Be grateful.” He didn’t listen. Because Mendoza understood something most people miss: The worst outcome isn’t failing. It’s never getting the chance to try. Two weeks before signing day in 2022, his phone rang. Cal needed a body. One offer. Out of 134 schools. He took it. He arrived as the third-string quarterback. Spent a year on the scout team. Lost his first four starts. Got sacked 41 times behind a broken offensive line. Still got up. Every time. Then Cal brought in a transfer instead of building around him. So Mendoza left the only school that had ever said yes. He transferred to Indiana—the losingest program in college football history. People laughed. “Career suicide.” “Graveyard program.” “Nobody wins there.” One coach told him something different: “I’m going to make you the best Fernando Mendoza possible.” That was enough. Mendoza wasn’t just playing for football. His mother has battled multiple sclerosis for 18 years. Before every snap, he thought of her. “My mother is my why.” Indiana went 16–0. Beat six Top-10 teams. Won their first Big Ten title since 1945. Mendoza threw 41 touchdowns. Won the Heisman—first in school history. First Cuban-American to ever do it. Then came the title game. Miami. Near his hometown. Fourth-and-4. Season on the line. Quarterback draw. The kid 134 schools rejected spun through defenders and dove into the end zone. Game over. Indiana—national champions. The losingest program became the best team in America. All because a 17-year-old refused to believe “no” was the end. Rankings don’t decide your ceiling. Gatekeepers don’t write your ending. Being overlooked isn’t a verdict—it’s a starting point. Sometimes all you need is one shot… and the courage to bet on yourself when nobody else will. Don’t quit. Credit: Barclay Mullins
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What an amazing story. I had heard some of it, but not all. Thank you for sharing this; I got choked up reading it!! What an great kid. Most definitely there’s got to be a movie eventually
I will be sharing this!
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I agree. That would make a great movie!
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IIRC, his brother is on the team too as his backup QB.
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With all the nasty weather that just rolled through, I’m hoping everyone on here stayed safe, and has their power. Quite the start to 2026!
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We wished for snow but received mixed precipitation. 
Our forecast does see 32° until next Thursday here in SW VA. We are thankful the power has stayed on.
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My husband and I were saying that we were grateful for only getting 8 ish" and frigid temps. It’s the heavy icing that I hate. I’m glad you didn’t lose power.
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We had 12" and despite several passes with the garden tractor snowblade, still inaccessible to the road. Enough drifting overnight basically messed the lane up again. We hope to get someone with a big snow plow out here tomorrow.
This is the biggest storm plus ridiculous arctic cold in years. I’m getting fidgety.
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Ugh. A foot of snow is quite a lot. We’re having a little bit of drifting, but being in town makes it not too bad. However of course Sunday night our snowblower didn’t work, so we both were out shoveling after the last NFL game
I don’t know if you’re the same, but our cold temps are going to hang around for quite some time.
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It was -14 this morning! Yes, predicted for rest of the week. A little better for the weekend, into upper teens.
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Double ugh!! That’s quite a lot colder than us, we were -2 last night I think, 13° now (but below zero again next couple nights). And we’re a bit north of you. This is when I really hate working at an ice rink.
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Thanks for the update @Ziacat & @chicfarmer. Yesterday, I thought about checking in all of you in the path of this arctic blast. Here in the west we’ve had a quiet and relatively dry winter, clear and sunny, in the 50’s during the day. We’re outside watering plants today since the drip systems are drained for the winter. I’m Hoping all improves for all of you soon.
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The West continues to beckon.
I’ve a close friend that lives remote, a bit south of Dead Horse, AK. I’ve never felt cold like I have there, and he measures the snowfall in feet. We joke that while we shovel or use snow blowers on driveways down here, he’s sawing it from his roof. I always remind myself of Glenn and time spent in Alaska when I think it’s getting “cold” in Indiana.
Here is a photo from his little weather station last February. Note the outdoor conditions in green on the left.
I too wish that all here in the path of the winter storm are faring well and are safe.
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So what is it like outside in your neck of the woods? We have 5-6 new inches of snow on top of the crusty ice from last weekend. Tonight we will be in the single digits and wind gusts up to 50 mph. Welcome to winter in SW VA. 
Hemlock is my favorite tree when it snows.
Please share your outdoor pics. I look forward to seeing them.
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