Brandon Walker rips Gus Johnson for crowning Fernando Mendoza with premature Heisman call

Gus Johnson handed out the Heisman Trophy on Saturday, and Brandon Walker thinks he should’ve kept it in his pocket.

The Barstool Sports personality went after Johnson’s “Give him the Heisman right now!” declaration during Indiana’s comeback win over Penn State, calling it one of the worst calls he’s seen from the Fox announcer.

“Great throw, great catch, great play, great drive by Indiana,” Walker said on his Mostly Sports show with Mark Titus. “One of the all-time worst calls I’ve ever seen by Gus Johnson. I’m not a Gus Johnson hater. I would even call myself a ‘Gus Johnson guy.’ I like his enthusiasm, his excitement, his passion. I like when he gets crazy. That being said, first weekend of November, beating a 3-5 team after playing shitty for three quarters, is not — don’t give him the Heisman immediately. And Gus Johnson saying, ‘Give him the Heisman right now,’ is awful.”

@mostlysportsshow Did Fernando Mendoza have his Heisman moment against Penn State or is it still too early to crown him? #indiana #pennstate #cfb #collegefootball #gusjohnson ♬ original sound – Mostly Sports Show

Penn State entered the game 3-5 with five consecutive losses. Indiana trailed 24-20 with under two minutes remaining before Mendoza drove 80 yards in 111 seconds without any timeouts, hitting Omar Cooper Jr. for a toe-tap touchdown that kept the Hoosiers undefeated at 10-0. The catch will live in Indiana football history forever, and it didn’t need Johnson’s Heisman proclamation to matter.

“GIVE HIM THE HEISMAN TROPHY NOW!!”

Gus Johnson was all in on that crazy @IndianaFootball TD for the win 👏👏 pic.twitter.com/LjmNf28L5H

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) November 8, 2025

Johnson’s voice climbed into barely intelligible registers during the call, prompting social media jokes about him breaking or needing medical attention. But the Heisman declaration is what stuck.

INDIANA BROKE GUS JOHNSON pic.twitter.com/HV17VAZDyZ

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 8, 2025

“He ruined the moment,” Walker said. “He was trying so hard to make a moment.”

Johnson’s defenders would argue Fox pays him to do exactly this. His brand is maximum energy during maximum moments, and you don’t hire Gus Johnson for restraint. You hire him to lose his mind when chaos erupts, even if that means anointing Heisman winners in early November against bad teams.

The performance was legitimately impressive. Mendoza took shots from Penn State’s pass rush and still completed four straight passes with the game on the line. That final ball to Cooper had to be perfect, and it was. That’s the kind of execution that actually matters when Heisman voters sit down in December.

But great plays don’t need a broadcaster screaming “GIVE HIM THE HEISMAN” to be great. The throw was absurd. The catch was absurd. The moment was already there. Johnson jumping in with the coronation made it feel like he didn’t trust any of that to land without him forcing it into capital-H History.

Johnson drew criticism earlier this season for unusually flat calls on Ohio State touchdowns against Purdue, sounding “downright sleepy” even on the game’s first score, which makes this moment stand out even more. His enthusiasm seems to spike for certain plays over others, and Indiana’s comeback clearly registered as one of those moments worth the full treatment. Whether that’s the right call depends on how much weight you think a November comeback against Penn State should carry.

Maybe Mendoza wins the Heisman, and this call becomes legendary. Maybe he doesn’t, and the “give him the Heisman now” line fades into a footnote. Johnson clearly believed the moment warranted maximum volume and a Heisman declaration. Walker thinks he crossed the line from calling the game to making it about himself.

And as long as Gus Johnson is Gus Johnson, a game-winner that doubles as a potential season-defining moment is going to get the full treatment, whether it’s earned or not.