- - Battle for the No. 1 pick? Fernando Mendoza, Dante Moore square off in Peach Bowl

Jay Busbee January 7, 2026 at 4:02 PM

1

Football is a team game, yes, but let’s be honest — some team players are more important than others. This week’s Peach Bowl presents a matchup of two of the most significant quarterbacks in the college game — Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza and Oregon’s Dante Moore — and if history is any indication, their stories will be intertwined for years to come.

Marcus Mariota/Jameis Winston, Jared Goff/Carson Wentz and Bryce Young/CJ Stroud comprise just a few of the quarterback duos taken 1-2 in the NFL Draft, duos judged by the success (or lack thereof) of the other for several years after their selections. The Mendoza/Moore duo could well follow in that line, particularly if the Peach Bowl ends up a showcase for both players. Mendoza has the gaudier awards, but Moore has bounced back from a midseason lull to lead the Ducks to two big playoff wins.

Mendoza finished the year with 3,172 yards passing, and led the FBS in touchdowns (36), yards per attempt (9.6) and passer rating (184.7) … and, of course, he won the Heisman Trophy. Moore, after some significant early-season hype, finished with a more-than-respectable 3,280 yards, 28 touchdowns and 9 interceptions, although he didn’t finish in the top 10 in Heisman voting.

Both players’ head coaches spent time earlier this week touting their quarterbacks’ play — which, granted, is not the most difficult task.

“When you look at a quarterback, obviously he's gotta have throwing ability and be able to process, but the ability to extend plays, whether it's with his legs or once he's out of the pocket with his arm, his eyes downfield, I mean, that's the key,” Indiana’s Curt Cignetti said of Mendoza. “A guy that cannot extend plays, you really become vulnerable.”

“[The Hoosiers] do a great job of protecting against shots, but I think Dante's been a really good decision-maker throughout the year,” Oregon head coach Dan Lanning said, “and that'll be something that's really important in this game.”

The two teams met back in October, a grinding 30-20 Indiana victory that was tied with less than seven minutes remaining. Mendoza and Moore ended up with similar stats from that game — Mendoza threw for 215 yards and a touchdown; Moore had 186 and a touchdown. The difference came on the ground and on the margins. Moore threw two interceptions to Mendoza’s one, and Mendoza had 31 yards on the ground to Moore’s minus-27, thanks to the six sacks he suffered.

“Fernando's ability to make plays with his legs, boy,” Cignetti said. “I can't even count the number of times in big games this year where his legs have come through and extended drives.” Mendoza would finish the year with 256 yards and six touchdowns on the ground.

Lanning, unsurprisingly, is applying a little retroactive analysis to that game to help clean up Moore’s numbers.

“You gotta remember when we played earlier in the season, Dante hadn't played a ton of games,” he said. “As you play an entire season, you get exposed to a lot of different looks, and you learn from those moments, and Dante has certainly learned from a lot of those moments … He's not the same player as he was earlier this year.”

The closest historical comparison to this year’s scenario might be 2015, when Jameis Winston and Florida State took on a Marcus Mariota-led Oregon in the first-ever College Football Playoff semifinal. The Ducks had no trouble running the Noles right out of the Rose Bowl, 59-20. Mariota (26/36, 338 yards, 2 TDs, 1 interception) and Winston (29/45, 348 yards, 1 TD, 1 interception) had roughly the same numbers, but the game might best be remembered for Winston’s cartoonish fumble in the midst of an Oregon onslaught.

Eight years ago today, Marcus Mariota and Oregon blew out Jameis Winston and Florida State 59-20 in the College Football Playoff semifinal in the 2015 Rose Bowl 🌹 pic.twitter.com/FalMZXswKX

— Dylan Reubenking (@drksportsnews) January 1, 2023

Even so, Winston ended up drafted No. 1 overall a few months later, with Mariota just one slot behind him. Both won Heismans, and both are still in the NFL as spot starters — Winston with the Giants, Mariota with the Commanders.

In all likelihood, Mendoza will get the draft nod over Moore, but regardless of how this game ends, the Mendoza/Moore dance will continue right on into late April. Yahoo’s draft analysts have been impressed with both players. Nate Tice terms Mendoza “an accurate thrower to all three levels who constantly goes to the right place with the ball.” Charles McDonald, meanwhile, praises Moore as a player with “all the tools to be a high-upside passer as he develops his game.”

“Mendoza’s been my QB1 throughout this entire process,” Tice says. “He’s a high-floor guy, smart, a clean operator, accurate. His game translates every well to the NFL.” Tice pegs Matt Ryan as Mendoza’s high-upside comparison, and believes he’ll be QB1, likely to the Raiders.

“I’ve graded Moore throughout the process as a late first-rounder, early second-rounder that gets bumped up because of QB inflation,” Tice says. “He’s QB2 almost by default.”

Moore actually hasn’t declared yet, which could shift the entire post-Mendoza draft depending on his decision. “In a perfect world, he’d go back to school,” Tice says of Moore. “But he’s looking at $54 million guaranteed from the Jets. You can’t always guarantee that will be there if you wait a year, especially with Arch Manning, (Brendan) Sorsby and other guys.”

Tice pegs the break-point for a player of Moore’s caliber at around the 22-to-24 spot, meaning it would make more sense to stay if he was drafted that low, but it’s unlikely he would fall that far if he’s available. Then again, so much depends on this Peach Bowl.

“It will have more of an impact on Moore than Mendoza, prospect-wise,” Tice says. “If he goes out against Indiana and has an amazing game, that could affect some teams’ thinking. They’re watching how players perform in these big games at the end of the season.”

Looking ahead, the first three teams picking in this year’s draft — the Raiders, Jets and Cardinals — have definite or likely quarterback needs, depending on what Arizona does with Kyler Murray. The Titans and Giants seem set, but Cleveland at No. 6 is likely as far as Moore or Mendoza could possibly fall.

The Peach Bowl will be a showcase of two of the game’s great quarterbacks. More than that, it could be another early chapter in a long-running narrative between Fernando Mendoza and Dante Moore. Either way, it ought to be a fascinating battle.

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Sports”