Steve Spurrier reveals who he voted for on his Heisman Trophy ballot

Former coach Steve Spurrier revealed who he voted for to win the Heisman Trophy in 2025. Well, he sort of did.

Spurrier didn’t actually reveal who he gave his first place vote to, but noted QBs Fernando Mendoza (Indiana) and Diego Pavia (Vanderbilt) were the two guys at the top of his list. In what order? That’s anyone’s guess.

“I voted for both those guys. I won’t give you the order, but Mendoza and Pavia were my first and second, or second and first,” Spurrier said on Another Dooley Noted Podcast. “And then the other two guys that were there, the running back at Notre Dame, Jeremiyah Love was there. And let’s see who was. Was there … Julian Sayin the quarterback, yes. And he transferred from Alabama to Ohio State. That’s sort of different. But gosh, he completed like 70, 75% of his passes this year … so he’s a nice, young man.”

Love and Sayin had their arguments to win the Heisman this year, but Mendoza and Pavia stood above the rest of the candidates. Mendoza won the Heisman in a landslide though, leading Indiana to a 13-0 record, the Big Ten title and No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff. Not only that, Mendoza led all FBS quarterbacks with 33 touchdown passes this season.

Steve Spurrier keeps Heisman vote close to the chest, sort of

Mendoza, this year’s Heisman winner, will lead the Hoosiers at the Rose Bowl in the CFP quarterfinals on January 1st. They’ll take on No. 9 Alabama after the Crimson Tide beat Oklahoma 34-24. At that point, the Heisman ceremony will be in the past.

“I think it’s great because our team has worked so hard throughout the season,” Mendoza said. “We’re 13-0, and I believe that we’ve earned these couple bye weeks here. Not only selfishly, I’m going to say it’s great for myself because we want to let this bad boy sink in and my teammates who also went to New York, let all of us recover a little bit.

“So we don’t have a game this upcoming Saturday. However, I think it’s a great honor to have a bye week, and we still have great momentum going into the College Football Playoff, and I think it’s going to be a great opportunity to rest our bodies and stay sharp on our fundamentals.”