Kirk Herbstreit said the quiet part out loud about dirty hit on Fernando Mendoza

The Miami Hurricanes defense wants to rattle Fernando Mendoza early and are willing to do so with brute force. Mendoza, the 2025 Heisman Trophy winner, took two nasty shots on Indiana's second drive — one of which could've been called for unnecessary roughness or targeting.

It was linebacker Mohamed Toure, who's never afraid to punish someone with the pads, that rocked Mendoza on a rush from the blind side and caused an incomplete pass. But Jakobe Thomas showed how close to the edge the Hurricanes were willing to go to beat up Mendoza when he delivered a shot that left the Indiana quarterback with a bloody lip and Kirk Herbstreit wondering if the Miami safety should have been heading to the showers. 

Jakobe Thomas could've been called for targeting

As you can see by the clip, Mendoza wasn't a defenseless player. He handed the ball off out of the shotgun and was ready to engage in contact. Thomas saw an opportunity to get a hit on the quarterback and took him. The hit, with the helmet nailing Mendoza in the chin, was one that got a lot of attention from Herbstreit and ESPN's rules official Bill LeMonnier.

"He's not defenseless but at the same time that hit was totally unnecessary and could have easily been a foul," LeMonnier said, likely believing it could've been called a simple unnecessary roughness. 

But Herbstreit was ready to take it one step further, and after seeing some additional replays, he believed that Thomas could've been called for targeting. 

A targeting call would have disqualified Thomas from the rest of the game. Thomas, who transferred to Miami last season from Tennessee, is one of the veteran leaders on the Hurricanes defense. His absence would've been devastating against an offense as potent as Indiana.

The bar has been set and this is going to be a very physical game on both sides. But Miami may have to be careful because it's not likely a similar hit against Mendoza will be missed the second time around.