{"id":689870,"date":"2026-06-07T13:57:40","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T13:57:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/689870\/"},"modified":"2026-06-07T13:57:40","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T13:57:40","slug":"raiders-fernando-mendoza-vs-old-dominion-film-breakdown-part-i-of-mendoza-mania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/689870\/","title":{"rendered":"Raiders: Fernando Mendoza vs Old Dominion film breakdown, Part I of Mendoza Mania"},"content":{"rendered":"

Now that it\u2019s June and we have some downtime before training camp, Silver and Black Pride is starting a new series, focusing on film breakdowns for each of the Las Vegas Raiders\u2019 No. 1 pick of the 2026 NFL draft, Fernando Mendoza\u2019s<\/a> games from his final College Football season at Indiana. Not only will this series give us a comprehensive view of the Heisman Trophy winner\u2019s strengths and weaknesses, but it will also allow us to see how he progressed throughout the season.<\/p>\n

First up is a Week 1 matchup against Old Dominion, where the eventual National Champions and Mendoza<\/a> certainly weren\u2019t at their best. It was pretty clear that the Cal transfer was still getting used to a new system and teammates, as the Hoosiers won 27-14, but that was tied for their second-lowest point total of the season while the quarterback completed just 18 of 33 passes (54.5 percent) for 193 yards and no passing touchdowns. He did have one score on the ground, though.<\/p>\n

So, let\u2019s flip on the tape and break down a few notable passes.<\/p>\n

This is a good example of Mendoza getting used to working in a new offense with a new set of teammates.<\/p>\n

Indiana is running a dagger concept on the front side of the play call (top of the screen), where the goal is for the slot receiver to clear out the middle of the field for the dig route from the outside receiver. With Old Dominion showing Cover 4 but rotating to Cover 3 post-snap, Mendoza can hit the dig for a big gain, especially the linebacker\/hook-to-curl defender biting hard against the play-action fake. However, he turns it down and works the backside of the read.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where the Hoosiers have a high-low concept, with the tight end (No. 37, Riley Nowakowski) running a 10-yard out and the running back releasing into the flat. Mendoza has Nowakowski open for a first down if he throws on time to take advantage of that window or triangle between the linebacker, safety and corner.<\/p>\n

However, he\u2019s a little late and clearly not on the same page as the tight end, expecting the tight end to sit in the window rather than continuing toward the sideline. So, there\u2019s some shared blame for the incompletion, but the quarterback had a couple of missed opportunities on this one.<\/p>\n

One of the biggest differences in Mendoza\u2019s fundamentals from Cal to Indiana was with his footwork in the pocket, but that didn\u2019t happen overnight. It took a lot of work with the Hoosiers\u2019 head coach, Curt Cignetti, and the issue popped up a few times in the season opener.<\/p>\n

Here, he has a wide-open seam route against a fire zone from the Monarchs, but the ball sails and Mendoza misses an opportunity for a big play. The reason is that he gets lazy on his dropback, opting to hop backwards instead of getting his body turned so that he can get his front shoulder and foot pointed at the target. As a result, his chest is open, and he ends up throwing across his body instead of being closed off to keep the ball on a line or with less trajectory.<\/p>\n

Also, this is another example of Mendoza still not being 100 percent comfortable in a new offense, as this pass was a little late. As soon as that receiver is even with the linebacker, he can let it rip against this coverage rather than waiting to see it completely open.<\/p>\n

Moving on to the positive throws from Week 1, this was an absolute dime that should have been the Heisman Trophy Winner\u2019s first touchdown in Bloomington. What\u2019s even more encouraging than the throw is that he does a good job of working through his progressions.<\/p>\n

This is the same playcall from the first clip above, just from a different formation and personal grouping with two receivers running the high-low concept instead of a tight end and running back. The other tweak is that Mendoza reads that side of the play call first, and he does a good job of moving on once he recognizes that the defense has a numbers advantage with three defensive backs to take care of the two receivers.<\/p>\n

So, Mendoza works to the backside of the play and sees that the slot receiver has beaten and split the two safeties on the seam\/clear out route of the dagger concept. He lets it rip, dropping the ball in the bucket and hitting his receiver in stride for what should have been a walk-in touchdown.<\/p>\n

This time, Mendoza connects with his receiver (New York Jets\u2019 first-round pick, Omar Cooper Jr.) on a deep ball down the middle.<\/p>\n

It looks like Old Dominion is running a variation of quarters coverage. But instead of having the boundary corner at the bottom of the screen locked in man coverage against the single receiver (Elijah Sarratt) on Indiana\u2019s three-by-one formation, they look to bracket Sarratt with the boundary safety. Typically, the corner will be left on an island so that the safety can play closer to the middle of the field and help defend against the three receivers.<\/p>\n

However, Sarratt, who went on to be a fourth-round pick by the Baltimore Ravens, was the Hoosiers\u2019 leading receiver in 2024<\/a> and began the campaign as the No. 1 option in the passing game. So, the Monarchs focused on taking him away, leaving the nickelback one-on-one against Cooper, who wins deep on the skinny post route.<\/p>\n

Mendoza recognizes that and takes advantage of the opportunity, hitting his man for an explosive play that flips the field and puts Indiana in scoring position. Granted, the pass was a tick late, which is why Cooper has to adjust to the ball in the air instead of catching it in stride. Again, that was an area where the No. 1 pick improved as the year went on.<\/p>\n

One of the biggest adjustments for a quarterback making the jump from college to the pros is recognizing when it\u2019s best to take what the defense is giving you rather than going for the big play. While there\u2019s nothing special about the throw here, this is a good example of the Raiders\u2019 new quarterback doing just that.<\/p>\n

The defense is running a three-deep, three-under fire zone while the offense has two receivers on deep routes with the seam route from the slot and the go route on the outside. Maybe there is a chance to hit the seam for a touchdown, but it would take a perfect ball since the safety and the cornerback are in a position to be on top of and underneath the receiver. Plus, the defense has a numbers advantage with three defensive backs to cover two receivers.<\/p>\n

On top of that, the pocket is starting to break down after picking up the blitz. So, Mendoza stops looking for the big play, coming off the deep route and finding his checkdown, who is wide open in the middle of the field. That\u2019s a good decision because it turns second and ten into third and one, rather than relying on a perfect pass and potentially facing a third and long situation.<\/p>\n

Ironically, we\u2019ll wrap up with an RPO, but one where Mendoza makes a good decision to take advantage of the coverage.<\/p>\n

Indiana put Sarratt in motion to run a flat route on the other side of the formation, and the defense gives a zone indicator pre-snap since they slide over to adjust to the motion rather than having someone follow the receiver. However, they\u2019re running Cover 1 or man coverage post-snap, as the nickel picks up Sarratt.<\/p>\n

Mendoza recognizes that and pulls the ball out of the running back\u2019s belly to abort the run play. With the corner bailing and the outside receiver running a short curl to pick the nickel, the flat route is wide open. The quarterback hits it and puts the ball on the receiver\u2019s back shoulder to create a natural cutback and beat the pursuing defenders to tack on some YAC.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a smart read to recognize the defense is trying to be deceptive and good ball placement to help move the chains.<\/p>\n

Up next in the Mendoza Mania series is Week 2 against Kennesaw State, where he had a breakout, four-touchdown performance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Now that it\u2019s June and we have some downtime before training camp, Silver and Black Pride is starting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":689871,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,299489,51322,398,396,397,99],"class_list":["post-689870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-football","tag-las-vegas-raiders-analysis","tag-las-vegas-raiders-draft","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-ncaafootball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=689870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/689871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=689870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=689870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=689870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}