With the Indiana Hoosiers’ win over the Miami Hurricanes on Monday, January 19th, for their first College Football (CFP) National Championship, fans are celebrating all the work put into the season.
Going into the 2025-2026 season, both Indiana and Miami were unlikely candidates for the CFP, with Miami being ranked as the tenth-best team pre-season and Indiana only being ranked as the Twentieth while having zero five-star recruits.
This narrative would not impact Indiana quarterback and later Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza’s mentality, as he believes in his team and their common goal to win every game.
“We’re a bunch of misfits. There are zero five stars on our team. We’re just a bunch of gritty guys who are glued together and going towards a common goal, which is to win every single game. It’s a collaborative effort, and with a strong culture, you can accomplish anything,” Mendoza said.
After Indiana’s big win against the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Big Ten Championship Game, the Hoosiers were able to secure the number one spot and a 13-0 record going into the playoffs. For Miami, though, the path was not clear.
Days before the CFP Selection Day, Miami was ranked under the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, kicking them out of playoff contention. But after public backlash and bumping Miami over the Bringham Young University (BYU) Tigers, the committee took into consideration the Miami and Notre Dame’s Week One matchup, ultimately leading to Miami getting the final spot in the Playoffs.
“Once we moved Miami ahead of BYU, then we had that side-by-side comparison that everybody had been hungering for with Notre Dame and Miami. And you look at those two teams on paper, and they are almost equal in their schedule of strength, their common opponents. The results against their common opponents, but the one metric we had to fall back on again was the head-to-head. And with that in mind, we gave Miami the nod over Notre Dame,” College Football Playoff Selection Committee Chair Hunter Yurachek said.
Miami’s good fortune did not end there, as, even though they were underdogs going into all their playoff matchups, they were able overcome that narrative and beat not only the number seven-ranked Texas A&M Aggies and number six-ranked Ole Miss Rebels, but also number two-ranked Ohio State.
Indiana had similar success on their side of the bracket with two wins with the lowest deficit being Thirty-four points. Indiana’s strong performance in the playoffs leading up to the championship led many to see them as their clear favorite. Even with the overwhelming support for Indiana, there were still some believers in Miami going into the game, Michigan Football Legend and sports analyst/broadcaster Desmon Howard being one of them.
“Well, they say defense wins championships. And I tell you what; Miami came into this tournament disrespected. They were underdogs against Texas A&M. Went to College Station, played bully ball, knocked off the defending national champs, Ohio State, and then had a classic game against Ole Miss when they were the underdogs. They’re underdogs in their own stadium, Hard Rock Stadium. They feel disrespectful. I’m going with the U. They will win the natty tonight, “Howard said.
From the very start it was clear that the game was going to be close, as the only points scored in the first quarter were from a field goal the Hoosiers scored.
Halfway through the second quarter, Indiana would create the first touchdown drive of the game that was almost capped off with a twenty-yard touchdown pass to Wide Receiver Charlie Becker but was ruled “down by contact” five yards from the end-zone. Indiana would secure the touchdown with a one-yard punch-in by Full Back/Tight End Riley Nowakowski. Miami would then proceed to be shut out in the first half after a fifty-yard doink by kicker Carter Davis. Going into the locker room, Miami’s Head Coach Mario Cristobal kept a positive mindset on the game and believed that with minor changes they could come back and win in the second half.
“Well, I think one thing we’re finally starting to get some offensive stuff going. Defensively, we played a great half. We hurt ourselves with that one penalty sustained the drive, and then down here we got a good call to try to make a play, and we didn’t get it. We didn’t communicate with it. So, we’ve got to go in there, we’ve got to fix our own stuff. They’re a really good football team. We got to play hurricane football,”Cristobal said.
Miami then came out hot in the second half with a two-play touchdown drive that started with a five-yard pass to set up a fifty-seven-yard touchdown run by Running Back Mark Fletcher Jr. Both teams would then each take turns going three and out until the last five minutes of the quarter, when Indiana defender Mikail Kamara would block a Miami punt that would be recovered by Isaiah Jones in the end-zone for an Indiana touchdown, making the score 17-7 Indiana heading into the fourth quarter.
Miami would then answer back with an impressive ten-play eighty-one-yard touchdown drive to start the fourth, which consisted of two twenty-plus-yard passes, and another three-yard rush into the end-zone for Fletcher Jr. .Indiana would then bring the pressure the very next drive with two fourth down conversions. The first being made on a back shoulder sideline catch by Becker in the red-zone, and the second being made on a fourth and five from the Miami twelve with a Quarterback draw by Mendoza for a twelve-yard touchdown.
Miami would not give up without a fight. As the very next drive, after two incompletions and a five-yard penalty to bring them to a third and fifteen, they would respond with a twenty-yard pass for a first down to Tight-End Alex Bauman. Followed up by a 41-yard pass to Wide Receiver Malachi Toney, to get into Indiana territory. Miami would then capitalize by finishing the drive with a twenty-two-yard touchdown pass to Toney.
On the second-to-last drive of the game, Becker would make another insane catch on third and seven to give Indiana a first down in Miami territory. However, Miami’s defense would hold strong, limiting Indiana’s offense to a field goal, making the score 27-21, giving Miami’s offense a chance to win the game with one last drive and a minute and forty-two seconds left on the clock.
On the final drive of the game, after a couple of penalties and an incompletion, Miami would be on their thirty-five-yard line, and from there, Miami Quarterback Carson Beck would proceed to complete three consecutive passes to bring Miami into Indiana territory. But, to the disappointment of all Hurricane fans, on first down from the Indiana forty-one, Beck would make a poor read and throw the game-sealing interception to Indiana cornerback Jamari Sharpe.
As this was Indiana’s first CFP National Championship, many fans were proud of their school success, but none could be prouder than their Head Coach Curt Cignetti.
“It took a lot to get here, but I’ll tell you what it took to come out ahead in this game was a lot of guts. I gave Miami a lot of credit; they played really hard. We couldn’t protect the quarterback at all. Made a few plays and adjustments, but they were back shoulders in a sprint out. Got the ball run game going. Made the interception when we had to. A couple of fourth downs, you went for it. Mendoza had a great run, took some chances, and found a way. Let me tell you, we won the national championship at Indiana University. It can be done,” Cignetti said.
