• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, December 16, 2025

The most touching TV moment the TV Blog saw anywhere on TV this year happened early Saturday evening on ABC.

It was the 2025 Heisman Trophy ceremony, which aired live on ABC from the Jazz at Lincoln Center theater in Manhattan starting at 7 p.m. Eastern and concluding sometime after 8 p.m.

The telecast went over its appointed one-hour timeslot mainly because of the acceptance speech delivered by this year’s winner, Fernando Mendoza, star quarterback for Indiana University who led the Hoosiers to an undefeated 13-0 regular season and a No. 1 national ranking.

It was the team’s first undefeated season since 1945. Mendoza’s win represents the first Heisman Trophy ever won by an Indiana player.  

Mendoza, 22, gave a speech for the ages in which he emphasized faith, family and gratitude. As his beaming dad, mom and two brothers watched from the audience.

Born in Boston and raised in Miami, Mendoza also honored his Cuban heritage when he thanked his grandparents, who were also in the audience.

Addressing them in fluent Spanish, he said: “Por el amor y sacrificio de mis padres y abuelos, los quiero mucho. De toda mi corazon, de toda gracias.”

While translations on line varied in a Google search yesterday, that translates to: “For the love and sacrifice of my parents and grandparents, I love you very much. With all my heart, thank you.”

The star QB, who almost certainly can look forward to an NFL career, saved his most emotional moments for his mother, Elsa, who was diagnosed with MS 18 years ago and uses a wheelchair.

‘Mommy, this is your trophy as much as it is mine,” he said tearfully. “You’ve always been my biggest fan. You’re my light … you’re my biggest supporter.”

“Your sacrifices, courage and love, those have been my first playbook and the playbook I’m going to carry by my side throughout my entire life,” he told her. 

“You taught me that toughness doesn’t need to be loud, it can be quiet and strong. It’s choosing hope. It’s believing in yourself when the world doesn’t give you much reason to. Together, you and I are rewriting what people think is possible.”

The speech was so moving that it was nearly impossible to hold back tears. In his humbleness and maturity, Mendoza stood in stark contrast to one of his fellow Heisman finalists, Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia.

After the ceremony, Pavia made headlines with a classless, obscene post on X in which he wrote “F--- All THE VOTERS BUT … FAMILY FOR LIFE.”

He later tried to walk back the post with the kind of predictable apology that everyone in the public eye who airs their true feelings on social media ends up posting later.

“As a competitor, just like in everything I do, I wanted to win,” said the post, for which Pavia likely had assistance from appalled members of his management team.

“To be so close to my dream and come up short was painful,” someone wrote for him. “I didn’t handle those emotions well at all and did not represent myself the way I wanted to. I have much love and respect for the Heisman voters [etc.].”

It was an unfortunate post-ceremony story for all involved, but especially Pavia. By all appearances, the other two finalists for a Heisman this year -- Ohio State QB Julian Sayin and Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love -- were gracious losers.

But the evening belonged to Mendoza. A litter later, he was seen on “60 Minutes” on CBS in a story about the Hoosiers’ incredible success this season.