There was plenty of optimism about Oregon’s Dante Moore and Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza coming into the year, but they were far from the most-discussed quarterbacks of the offseason.
Well, on Saturday, Moore and Mendoza will be the center of attention when the two lead their programs into a high-profile showdown between two top-10 teams that will not only shape on-field narratives but also direct the Heisman conversation over the weeks and months ahead.
Moore and Mendoza have played like two of the best quarterbacks in college football over the first month of the season. To gain more insight into these signal callers, The Athletic spoke to several staffers in the industry who have seen the quarterbacks in action over the years. They were granted anonymity for their candor.
Both quarterbacks were ranked in the top 25 of The Athletic’s 2025 college football quarterback tiers this offseason, so expectations were reasonably high for each.
The fact that Mendoza started 19 games over the previous two seasons at Cal and injected some life into what had been an otherwise anemic Golden Bears passing attack made him more of a known commodity entering the season.
Mendoza rose out of recruiting obscurity. He was a two-star prospect from South Florida who was committed to Yale before flipping to Cal in February 2022. Mendoza was Cal’s third-string quarterback, behind Ben Finley and Sam Jackson, before he took over the starting role with five games left in the 2023 season. His stock has only gone up since.
This hole shot from the far hash from Fernando Mendoza 😤🤧😮💨 pic.twitter.com/xsriCMR0tf
— Full-Time Dame 💰 (@DP_NFL) September 27, 2025
“Going into college, he was a developmental guy with some tools, some size,” said a staffer, whose program has faced Mendoza in previous seasons. “He was going to need a few years to get it together, and it looks like one that Cal hit on and Indiana capitalized on. The things you saw coming out of high school — the quick release, accuracy, stuff like that — you’re seeing that show out now.”
Despite the flashes of talent that Mendoza displayed, he still flew under the radar nationally. Even with Mendoza, the Golden Bears did not produce gaudy offensive statistics and they did not win more than six games in either of his two seasons as the primary starter. So there were still some skeptics.
“That’s where I give those Indiana scout guys their praise because when we played him, you could see exactly what they saw out of him,” said a personnel staffer, whose program faced Indiana this season. “I wasn’t really high on him at first, even when he went there. Like, he hasn’t really done much in terms of record and stuff like that, and that was the biggest thing with him. You don’t see the glaring stuff, then when you play against him, you see who he is.”
Who, exactly, is Mendoza as a quarterback?
“He’s so patient. He scans the field really well, especially pre-snap,” the same personnel staffer said. “We tried to throw some pressure at him early on, and he just wasn’t fazed by it. Probably the calmest quarterback (I’ve seen). He takes what they give him. That’s where we struggled when we played them. He’s very calm. You could tell he watches a lot of film.”
Another personnel staffer whose program faced the Hoosiers and Mendoza earlier this year said: “I think that’s his elite trait — mid, deep, short, whatever it is, he’s very accurate. I didn’t think he was the most athletic. He’s not going to beat you with his legs, but he’s fast enough. If he needs to take yards, he’ll take yards.”
The staffers we spoke to also highlighted Mendoza’s ability to process and go through his progressions. That’s where those two years of starting experience kick in. Mendoza has passed for 1,208 yards, 16 touchdowns and one interception this season and has completed 73 percent of his attempts.
Moore’s stats are almost identical. He’s thrown for 1,210 yards with 14 touchdowns and one interception and has completed 74.6 percent of his passes. Their rushing yardage is very close, too — 122 for Moore and 102 for Mendoza.
Moore’s journey to this point had a much different beginning, though. The buzz began when he was an underclassman at Martin Luther King Jr. High School in Detroit.
“I was at (one of his games), and I honestly didn’t know about him because we weren’t recruiting him where I was at,” a P4 assistant coach said. “I was like, ‘Man, this dude has got to be the best quarterback I’ve seen in high school.’”
The recruiting services shared the same confidence. Moore was the No. 3 quarterback and No. 4 overall player in the Class of 2023 in the 247Sports Composite.
Moore was committed to Oregon for more than five months before he flipped to UCLA during the early signing period in December 2022. It took just one game for him to claim the starting role, which is normally an encouraging sign, but it became readily apparent that Moore was thrown into the fire far too soon. He turned the ball over too much and threw a pick-six in three consecutive games. Moore was benched midway through the season and entered the transfer portal.
He landed at Oregon with the understanding he’d sit behind veteran starter Dillon Gabriel for the 2024 season. He threw just eight passes last year. Since Moore was so inconsistent the last time he received extended playing time, there were questions about how he’d follow in the footsteps of Gabriel and Bo Nix — two NFL starting quarterbacks — who led prolific offenses at Oregon.
But the Ducks’ infrastructure, from a talent and coaching standpoint, is so much stronger than what surrounded Moore at UCLA in 2023. Oregon has an overwhelming talent edge against nearly all of its opponents, and it has a very good offensive coordinator in Will Stein.
So even though Moore and the Ducks lit up their first four opponents, it was still difficult to get a good read on them. Moore was never required to do too much.
“(I) don’t think he did anything crazy in our game vs. them,” said a third personnel staffer, who has faced Oregon this season. “Just distributed the ball well and put his skill guys in positions to make plays on the ball, which they did. Kudos to them.”
But Moore changed that tune a bit with his performance in a thrilling double-overtime victory at Penn State. He displayed poise in a hostile environment, utilized his legs to pick up some critical yards and to deliver crucial off-schedule strikes, and he came through in several have-to-have-it situations, especially with the winning touchdown pass in the second overtime.
#Oregon QB Dante Moore with one of the most clutch OT plays ever. Evades the sack and hits Gary Bryant Jr. for the 25-yard TD.
Huge stock up game for Moore who goes in to the Penn State Whiteout and wins in OT. pic.twitter.com/TNgc5dNFQw
— Andy (@AndyyNFL) September 28, 2025
“I was like, ‘Damn, this dude is actually not just playing within the offense, and making some good throws,” the first personnel staffer said. “He’s a dude.”
The personnel staffer who had seen Moore and Oregon earlier in the season said: “I’ll give him credit, he took some f—ing shots in that Penn State game when he took off. I was impressed by his courage and toughness in those moments.”
The P4 assistant coach who watched Moore play in high school had the chance to coach against him earlier this season as well. It confirmed what he already believed.
“Really smart,” he said. “Had really good instincts for a quarterback. Knows where to go with the ball. Plays with poise, has good arm talent. I don’t know if he has the strongest of arms, but he’s definitely strong enough to get it to where it needs to be. I think he can make the reads. I think he’s a legit guy who can lead a team to a championship, in my opinion.”
Oregon is a 7.5-point favorite on Saturday, but No. 7 Indiana (5-0) is more than capable of making the No. 3 Ducks (5-0) sweat at Autzen Stadium.
“They have more depth than people realize,” the second personnel staffer said of the Hoosiers. “They were able to roll guys in, and over time they just beat you up, especially if you can’t match up with the depth.”
But Iowa’s defense posed some real problems for the Hoosiers two weeks ago, and Oregon has much more high-end talent on its defense.
As for Moore and the Ducks’ offensive scheme: “They do some pretty good stuff really,” the assistant coach said. “I don’t think they put him in positions to make a lot of mistakes. He handles it well. He processes it well and he’s able to lead and does a good job with it.”
So who has the edge?
“(Moore) has all the weapons in front of him, but that dude has more athleticism, good touch, can throw and different speeds, different velocities, so I’m a bigger fan of Dante than Fernando,” the first personnel staffer said.
On Saturday, Moore and Mendoza will have yet another opportunity to let their play do the talking.