\u201cMendoza \u2026 in trouble \u2026 end zone \u2026 TOUCHDOWN, WOW! Unbelievable. GIVE HIM THE HEISMAN!\u201d<\/p>\n
It was almost as if Mendoza-to-Cooper was akin to Montana-to-Clark, the game-winning touchdown throw in the 1981 NFC Championship game between the San Francisco 49ers and Dallas Cowboys, a play immortalized as \u201cThe Catch.\u201d Johnson\u2019s voice was giving out at the end, making it sound even more dramatic.<\/p>\n
The \u201cTOUCHDOWN, WOW!\u201d call was widely praised and widely panned on social media, where opinions on Johnson collide with the frequency of a pulling guard hitting a defensive end. Where you stand on the mini-controversy depends on whether you enjoy some high-pitched screaming with your college football or not.<\/p>\n
![\"Indiana](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Indiana_Penn_St_Football_35906-1.jpg\")
Indiana wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr. (3) catches a touchdown pass over Penn State safety Zakee Wheatley during the fourth quarter Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025, in State College, Pa. (Barry Reeger\/AP)<\/p>\n
Indiana fans loved it, but Penn State fans? Not so much.<\/p>\n
Either way, the call got a lot of attention, including a follow-up article in The Athletic where Johnson admitted he got \u201ccaught up in the euphoria\u201d and his \u201cpipes \u2026 started squeaking a little bit.\u201d The Awful Announcing website put the highlight on social media and declared in an all-caps tweet: \u201cINDIANA BROKE GUS JOHNSON.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coincidentally, I ran into Johnson on Saturday in the Wrigley Field press box dining room, where he was sitting at a table before the Northwestern-Michigan game<\/a>, drinking tea.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s Gus Johnson,\u201d I said to a colleague, \u201cAND HE\u2019S WEARING CROCS!\u201d<\/p>\n I think he might have heard me.<\/p>\n So I approached Johnson at his table and asked if his voice was OK from the Indiana game.<\/p>\n \u201cYou see I\u2019m drinking tea,\u201d he replied softly.<\/p>\n How does Johnson maintain that level of excitement for an entire game?<\/p>\n \u201cThe good lord blessed me to give me a job where I watch kids play ball,\u201d he said, repeating a line from The Athletic interview.<\/p>\n \u201cThese are family heirlooms, these moments for the young men and women I get to cover,\u201d he continued. \u201cI\u2019m just excited for them. I know how people dream \u2014 they dream big. And something like last week, those kids, Omar Cooper and Fernando Mendoza, they\u2019ll remember that for the rest of their lives. Indiana University, that will go into their archives, their Hall of Fame. I kind of feel sometimes like I\u2019m a historian of sports.\u201d<\/p>\n Mendoza will always remember the play, and probably that Johnson handed him the Heisman trophy several weeks too early. If Mendoza wins the Heisman, he\u2019ll remember that Johnson called it during a signature moment in a critical win. If he doesn\u2019t, it will be remembered as a premature proclamation.<\/p>\n Photos: No. 18 Michigan 24, Northwestern 22 at Wrigley Field<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Johnson admitted to me he was over the top.<\/p>\n \u201cI know I probably should\u2019ve pulled back a little, you know,\u201d he said with a laugh.<\/p>\n Does he ever feel he should pull back, like some fans suggest?<\/p>\n It\u2019s kind of Johnson\u2019s drawing card, that ability TO TAKE A MOMENT TO THE HIGHEST LEVEL OF EMBELLISHMENT POSSIBLE! (Oh, sorry again. I\u2019ll try to take it down a notch.)<\/p>\n If a poll on Johnson was taken, I\u2019d guess a slight majority of college football fans like his approach, even though it\u2019s overbaked on occasion.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, I get a lot of praise,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I get a lot of criticism, too, and it hurts my feelings sometimes, because I\u2019d never do anything intentionally. I\u2019m just being me and in the moment. I\u2019m a happy person. I try to be.\u201d<\/p>\n Some have complained that Johnson was grandstanding, putting himself above the moment. Some argued he should\u2019ve let the crowd noise speak for itself after the touchdown. The most liked comment in the feedback section of The Athletic\u2019s article on Johnson called him \u201cthe unrivaled worst play-by-play announcer in CFB, hands down,\u201d and said the Indiana call \u201cruined that moment.\u201d<\/p>\n Every announcer has their own segment of haters. When you\u2019re an all-caps announcer in an all-caps world, you have to expect that some fans aren\u2019t going to like your approach.<\/p>\n But it\u2019s the vitriol that Johnson doesn\u2019t understand.<\/p>\n \u201cIt becomes so mean, though,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m like, \u2018Damn \u2026\u2019 Sometimes I can\u2019t imagine saying certain things about another person like some of the things that have been said about me.\u201d<\/p>\n Johnson said he\u2019s not on X, formerly Twitter, so he doesn\u2019t see when he\u2019s trending. That\u2019s probably for the best.<\/p>\n After our interview, Johnson departed for the TV booth to call the game, sitting in Harry Caray\u2019s old seat. During the third quarter, the Mendoza-to-Cooper call was brought up by his partner, analyst Joel Klatt.<\/p>\n \u201cI was so excited I lost my stuff,\u201d Johnson told the audience<\/a>. \u201cApologies if I went too far and irritated people.\u201d<\/p>\n Klatt then directed everyone\u2019s attention to a video made by twin brothers from Australia, known as Shepmates, who did a dead-on lip-sync version of Johnson and Klatt\u2019s call. Obviously, the decision to talk about the call had been pre-planned by the Fox producer, so maybe Johnson\u2019s \u201capology\u201d for irritating some fans was done with a wink.<\/p>\n No matter. It\u2019s just Big Ten football.<\/a><\/p>\n Like it or not, it\u2019s going to be one of those moments that\u2019s replayed over and over for years to come. How many other college football announcers can say that, other than the legendary Keith Jackson?<\/p>\n Johnson has the charisma of the preacher James Brown played in \u201cThe Blues Brothers,\u201d and a deep love for what he does. He told me he\u2019s a fan of late Michigan radio announcer Bob Ufer, whose excitable calls of \u201cMeeeechigan football\u201d were legendary. Ufer once lost his voice calling a game-winning, Anthony Carter touchdown catch<\/a> against Indiana in 1979, saying he was \u201cstreaking down there like a penguin with a hot herring in his cumberbund, although he didn\u2019t have the herring until he took a post pattern.\u201d<\/p>\n\n