Heisman Trophy: Josh Pate reacts to Fernando Mendoza winning, Diego Pavia losing

College football analyst Josh Pate had an interesting reaction to Fernando Mendoza winning the Heisman Trophy over Diego Pavia. Pate conceded he would’ve voted for the Vandy star in Pavia, but put the onus on the voters, which he does not have.

Mendoza ended up winning by a landslide. Pavia was a favorite going into last week, but the odds flipped once Mendoza led Indiana to the Big Ten title over Ohio State.

“In this comparison here, neither one of them had transcendent, great seasons or anything like that,” Pate said on his show Sunday night. “They’re not going to be remembered as one of the 10 best Heisman seasons. Period. There’s a lot of merit to Fernando Mendoza. I just happen to think Diego Pavia was the most outstanding player in college football this year. Last I checked, that’s the definition of the award.

“He was the leading rusher in seven of his 12 games, and still had more passing yards than Fernando Mendoza did and played one fewer game. But people weren’t paying attention. I’m telling you.”

Pate argued the Heisman vote should’ve been closer than it was, due to Pavia actually outplaying Mendoza in his mind. That was the case over the course of the regular season, but Mendoza had one more national stage to shine on, even if he didn’t light the world on fire vs. Ohio State.

“You know what? I’m not going to complain about it. I know a lot of the folks that have Heisman votes and how they watch this sport, not all of them,” Pate said. “There’s a lot of folks who have Heisman votes. Some of them were glued to this every week, and they did their due diligence. And if you did that, I don’t really care who you voted for, because you did your job. 

“A lot of people have votes and just didn’t pay a whole lot of attention. And the reason I know that is because going into Conference Championship Saturday, Diego Pavia was the favorite to win the award, and by the end of the Big Ten championship game, Fernando Mendoza was -3000 to win the award. And so you may think to yourself, ‘Oh, dude, they must have beat Ohio State 55-19. He must have thrown for 500 yards.”

That’s when Pate doubled down and pointed out the eventual Heisman winner’s stat line against the Buckeyes. Mendoza’s game against Ohio State shouldn’t have made it a landslide win over Pavia for the top individual award in college football.

“They won the game. He was 15-of-23, for 222 yards, one touchdown, one pick. Took a big hit to start the game. But like, does that really sound like the kind of performance that would have overwhelmingly tilted the scales,” Pate said. “No, unless people hadn’t really been paying a whole lot of attention and just decided to cast their vote at the 11th hour with whatever the last shiny object they saw was. That’s kind of how he won the award, not saying he’s not deserving of it. I’m just saying, for anyone who’s looking for an explanation about why the margin was so wide, it just wasn’t even close, that’s why.”