Cal football has finally found an identity at quarterback — and his name is Fernando Mendoza.

In what felt like a Hail Mary of quarterback starts (a kind of “sure, why not”) by the staff, the redshirt freshman earned the starting job. And Mendoza shone where Sam Jackson V and Ben Finley barely lit a spark.

Now, I know both Jackson and Finley have had their moments — and I know that I’ve written odes about Jackson’s “X-factor” — but Mendoza’s performance was just stellar, plain and simple. Of course, stellar in this context is relative, but it seems like the staff, especially first-year OC Jake Spavital, has finally found what it was looking for.

For every time Spavital said he wanted to use the tight ends more in his offense, Mendoza listened: Tight end Jack Endries led the team in receiving yards Saturday night.

For every time the staff said it wanted to see explosive downfield passes, Mendoza listened: Several chunk plays, including a 38-yard pass to Trond Grizzell, showed off the flashy passing game the Bears have been looking for.

And for every time Cal head coach Justin Wilcox said he was looking for “the guy,” Mendoza listened — and became him.

Mendoza made himself a real contenter in the quarterback battle throughout fall camp, at times looking like the strongest of the three and putting himself in the race. Saturday night, Mendoza showed off all of the qualities he has been quietly refining over his redshirt year and through spring ball and camp.