Follow our live coverage of Indiana-Miami in the national championship game.

Indiana coach Curt Cignetti blasted the officiating at halftime of the national championship, arguing the officials missed “obvious personal fouls” on hits against Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza.

As Cignetti walked off the field at the end of the first half, his team up 10-0, ESPN sideline reporter Holly Rowe asked about the Miami defense getting some hits on Mendoza.

“There’s three personal fouls on the quarterback not called on one drive that need to be called because they’re obvious personal fouls,” Cignetti said. “I’m all for letting them play, but when you cross the line, you gotta call it. They were black-and-white calls.”

Cignetti seemed to be referencing Indiana’s second drive of the game, which ended with a 34-yard field goal to take a 3-0 lead late in the first quarter. The most controversial hit came on a first-down handoff to running back Kaelon Black, in which Mendoza faked a quarterback keeper and took a shot under the chin strap from Miami safety Jakobe Thomas. Television cameras showed Mendoza with a bloody lip after the play.

Fernando Mendoza took a hit on this play 😳 pic.twitter.com/phaZoT2X92

— ESPN (@espn) January 20, 2026

Thomas appeared to lead with the crown of his helmet on the hit. Terry McAulay, a former NFL referee and current rules analyst for NBC Sports, wrote on social media that the hit violated both targeting rules, saying Mendoza was a defenseless player because he no longer had the ball, and there was forcible contact to the head and neck area.

An even better angle. As I said, simply inexcusable that targeting wasn’t called on the field or created by Replay. pic.twitter.com/9l6PYMPCcL

— Terry McAulay (@tjmcaulay) January 20, 2026

Following a commercial break after the field goal, ESPN addressed the hit as well, with rules analyst Bill LeMonnier stating, “The first view I didn’t see that part of it, I thought it was just a late hit. But this (view) here, he came in with his crown of the helmet right into (Mendoza’s) head.”

Color commentator Kirk Herbstreit chimed in, adding, “I’m with Bill, I’m surprised we didn’t see a flag come down. I think carrying out the fake, the quarterback is in play, maybe they held the flag because of that.”

Mendoza took multiple hits earlier in the drive as well, including a shot by defensive lineman Ahmad Moten Sr. near the sideline after a rollout and incompletion, and an earlier hit from Thomas on a third-down completion from Mendoza to Elijah Sarratt. There was also what looked to be a legal blindside hit by linebacker Mohamed Toure just as Mendoza was releasing a pass, which fell incomplete. It’s unclear which of the other hits Cignetti felt should have been flagged.

Mendoza never came out of the game — his younger brother and backup quarterback, Alberto, helped clean up the blood on the sideline, according to Rowe — and the Heisman Trophy winner finished the half 12-for-17 passing for 116 yards and one rush for 2 yards.