INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — We've already talked a lot this week about the historic showdown between No. 1-ranked Ohio State and No. 2 Indiana in the Big Ten Championship Game Saturday night in Indianapolis. It's the first time ever that we've had a 1 vs. 2 matchup in the 15-year history of the game.

It's also only the third time ever that it's happened in ANY conference title game. No. 1 Alabama played No. 2 Florida in 2008, and they reversed roles in 2009. The No. 1-ranked team lost both times.

We've also got another No. 1 vs. No. 2 battle brewing Saturday night, too. The two quarterbacks in the Big Ten title game — Indiana's Fernando Mendoza and Ohio State's Julian Sayin — are also the two front-runners in the Heisman Trophy race.

Does that make Saturdays's game a winner-take-all for the top college individual award too?

It sure could.

Mendoza and Sayin both have eye-popping numbers through 12 games. Mendoza is 211-for-293 passing for 2,758 yards  with 32 touchdowns and five picks.

Sayin is 258-for-357 passing, an amazing 78.9 percent completion rate that's best in the country. (Mendoza is No. 5 at 72.0 percent.) He's thrown for 3,065 yards with 30 touchdown passes and just five interceptions.

“I really respect Julian. He is so effective, and he fits that (Ohio State) offense perfectly,” Mendoza said during a media conference call on Monday. “Every quarterback prides himself on completion percentage, and his completion percentage is out of this world.

Mendoza has been great all year, leading the Hoosiers to a half-dozen blowouts of 45 points or more where he didn't even play in most of the fourth quarters. But he's also led game-winning drives late on the road — with exciting touchdown passes late at Iowa, Oregon and Penn Stte.

He'll get his toughest test of the year on Saturday night against Ohio State's No. 1-ranked defense, which allows only 203 yards per game. (Indiana is No. 4 at 251.6). Ohio State has allowed only nine touchdowns all year, and only four came during the first three quarters of a game. Matt Patricia, who replaced Jim Knowles as defensive coordinator this year, has been great.

"The Ohio State defense, Coach Patricia does a fantastic job," Mendoza said "That guy is a fantastic football mind." 

Mendoza's one edge on Sayin is his ability to do damage on the ground. He's rushed for six touchdowns as well — Sayin has none — and that will come in handy on Saturday night if plays break down. Ohio State can rush the passer, and their secondary — led by safety Caleb Downs — is one of the best in the game.

Mendoza knows he has to pay attention to Downs, but safeties are always a key for him anyway.

“As a quarterback, your eyes are always on the safeties,” Mendoza said. “You are always trying to evaluate the safeties, as that is a big part of the structure of the defense, that's why you always hear Tom Brady talking about Ed Reed so much.”

Indiana coach Curt Cignetti marvels at Sayin's improvement over the course of the year.

"Yeah, he plays with a lot of poise. He doesn't look like a guy that's in his first year as a starter,'' Cignetti said Monday when asked about Sayin. "He looks like he sees the field very well, throws the ball on rhythm. He can really rip it. He's got a tight release, a lot of velocity on the ball, very accurate. They've done a nice job protecting him, and obviously he's got great weapons to throw to.

"I think a little bit like us, they don't put the ball in his hands and say, 'go win the game.' They're balanced. They want to run the football and throw the football both, as do we, and that takes some pressure off the quarterback. Whereas some teams are a little bit more into points, stats, whatever, want to throw the ball more. Neither of these two teams do that.''

Ohio State's defense has off-the-charts numbers, but they also didn't play the Big Ten's two best offenses — Indiana and Oregon — during the regular season. Indiana has thrown for 3,049 yards. this season, but they've rushed for another 2,.747. Running backs Roman Hemby, Kaelon Black and Khobie Martin all average 5.3 yards per carry or more. They've scored 19 combined touchdowns.

The running game takes some heat off of Mendoza, but he'll need a big game as well on Saturday night. (Game. time 8 p.m. ET at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.) And if he can outplay Sayin, there might be more than a Big Ten trophy at the end of the night.

There might be a Heisman Trophy, too.

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