On Saturday night, a college football player will lift a 45 pound, cast bronze statue over his head and cement himself in NCAA lore. While there aren’t a lot of sacred traditions left in college football, the Heisman still seems pure. It feels like one of the last great traditions that NIL money, and the transfer portal haven’t completely impacted quite yet. There will be four candidates sitting in New York on Saturday night. Here are the 2025 Heisman Trophy finalists, as well as my vote on who should strike the Heisman pose forever.
Fernando Mendoza – Indiana – QB
Mendoza is the clear frontrunner this season. He transferred from Cal to Indiana and proceeded to lead the Hoosiers to a dream season. They are undefeated, won the Big Ten conference championship, and for the first time in its program history, Indiana is the number one team in the nation. At this rate, Mendoza has a great chance to be the first QB selected in the 2026 NFL Draft. He threw for 2,980 yards, 33 touchdowns to 6 interceptions and had the third best QBR in all of college football. When it comes to Heisman moments, he had quite a few and his season will go down in IU lore.
Diego Pavia – Vanderbilt – QB
Pavia was the betting favorite before Saturday Night’s Big Ten title game. It seems like Mendoza’s performance has shifted all the betting markets in Vegas. What Pavia has done this season at Vandy can’t be overlooked. He has taken a mediocre program and turned them into a legit CFP contender that is attracting actual 5-star recruits now. Pavia did a little bit of everything for the Commodores. He threw for 3,192 yards and rushed for another 826. He had 36 total touchdowns and had plenty of highlight moments. Too often, we factor in team success to the Heisman over true performance of a player. Vandy’s losses and absence from the CFP likely hurt his chances.
Julian Sayin – Ohio State – QB
Had Ohio State won the Big Ten Title Game, maybe there wouldn’t be a different sentiment about Sayin. But losing that game, specifically to Mendoza, really hurts his chances. At points this year, Sayin had a better year than Mendoza. His QBR is slightly higher, second best in the country. Sayin threw for 3,323 passing yards. However, Ohio State is not just the better team on paper, but they are expected to be the better team in general, hurting Sayin’s chances.
Jeremiyah Love – Notre Dame – RB
Love cracks the list as the fourth finalist and will almost certainly come in fourth in voting. Love was fourth in the country in rushing yards and was third in the nation in rushing scores with 18. He also played a small part in the Irish’ passing game, collecting 280 yards and an additional three touchdowns. It’s already an uphill battle for anyone that isn’t a QB to win this award. On top of that, Love isn’t even the consensus best running back in college football and his team was left out of the CFP. If Ashton Jeanty didn’t win this award a year ago, don’t count on Love having much of a chance this year.
Prediction
If I had a vote, Fernando Mendoza is my pick. There isn’t a better story, there wasn’t a better QB to lead that team, and his stats back it up.