Mendoza's Third-and-Two vs. Ohio State is the Throw That Won Nate Over
Nate Tice
He takes the hard answer, but it's the proper answer. It's the proper difficult answer... It was exactly what the read was supposed to be. He's under pressure. It's third and two. They're down in the Big Ten Championship in the second half. And he's taking the hard answer and finding it and putting the ball on the money as he's getting hit. And it's like those things are like, that's real F-ing NFL play.
Context
Big Ten Championship Game, third quarter, Indiana trailing Ohio State. Mendoza had been getting "tombstoned" by Caden Curry all game. Third-and-two: a crosser was open in front of him for the easy first down. Instead, he reads the coverage, takes the harder-but-correct answer, and throws a deep ball to Charlie Becker (#8) as he's getting hit. On the money.
For Nate, this was the throw that locked in his Mendoza grade. Aggressive answers under pressure = NFL play.