Indiana-Miami is the most unique championship in college football history, plus more CFP takeaways
SOURCE:The Athletic|BY:Stewart Mandel
If Indiana beats Miami to finish 16-0, it’s inevitable that it will get compared to great teams of the past.
And now, 14 Final Thoughts from the College Football Playoff semifinals, one of them a classic, the other a laugher.
1. Back in January 2003, No. 1 Miami played No. 2 Ohio State in the BCS Championship Game. Both teams were undefeated. But the Hurricanes, winners of 34 in a row, were considered an untouchable juggernaut, while Jim Tressel’s so-called “Luckeyes” were a whopping 11.5-point underdog. Ohio State’s subsequent double-overtime victory was considered a stunning upset.
Twenty-three years later, the Canes have finally made it back to a national championship game. And they now find themselves in the plucky underdog role to the sport’s current untouchable juggernaut: Indiana.
2. We’ve made it to the last game of the season, folks, and it is without question the most unique national championship matchup in the 28-year BCS/CFP era. In one corner, we have No. 1 Indiana, the second-losingest program in FBS history (715). The Hoosiers are not only attempting to win their first national title, but to become the first 16-0 team in FBS history. This is a team that, in the span of two years, went from losing 52-7 to Michigan to beating CFP opponents Alabama and Oregon by a combined score of 94-25, with a coach who seems puzzled why we’d expect anything less.
And in the other corner, we have No. 10 Miami, attempting to win its sixth national championship — in its home stadium, no less — but which more recently spent two-plus decades lost in the wilderness. More recently than that, the Hurricanes lost to two middling ACC opponents in the middle of the season, needed an 11th-hour selection committee switcheroo to get in, then rolled off three straight wins over Texas A&M, Ohio State and Ole Miss.
It’s Indiana versus Miami for the national championship, a regular-old David-versus-Goliath matchup. And the Hoosiers are Goliath.
3.Indiana’s 56-22 Peach Bowl demolition of Oregon began spiraling out of hand almost as soon as the game started, with D’Angelo Ponds’ pick six of Dante Moore on the first play. It was 35-7 by halftime, by which point ESPN’s Greg McElroy had already made . He went into more detail when the score got to 49-15.
“Maybe there’s not as many first-overall (NFL) picks,” he said, “but the level of dominance across the board, along the offensive line, at wide receiver — they have so many ways to beat you. That’s exactly what Joe Burrow’s 2019 team felt like.”
I prefer to hold off on any “best of all time” talk until a team actually finishes the job, but Curt Cignetti’s team is unquestionably a machine right now. Just a week ago, Oregon shut out 12-1 Big 12 champ Texas Tech. A week later, facing that same defense, Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza threw five touchdowns, with just three incompletions. The Hoosiers ran for nearly 200 yards on top of that. And poor Moore and the Oregon offense, with its decimated backfield, bumbled their way to three first-half turnovers.
4. If Indiana does beat Miami to finish 16-0, it’s inevitable that the Hoosiers will get compared to great teams of the past. Which, while fun, is frankly impossible.
While 2019 might not feel that long ago, it was still pre-NIL/portal. You don’t necessarily need Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson these days to go undefeated. You just need enough guns to be the best team in a flatter sport. And Indiana has plenty of them. While Mendoza and receivers Elijah Sarratt, Omar Cooper Jr. and Charlie Becker make more highlight plays, don’t sleep on running backs Roman Hemby and Kaelon Black. Hence, McElroy’s comparison to LSU’s 2019 “pick your poison” offense.
And boy does that defense wreak havoc. After giving up a 75-yard touchdown drive on Oregon’s second possession, it allowed just 36 yards combined on the Ducks’ next five drives, which included two turnovers and three sacks. At which point the thing was already over.
Indiana QB Fernando Mendoza has more touchdown passes than incompletions in the Playoff. (Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)
5. Let’s talk about Mendoza for a second.
You may have heard he’s a Miami native who’s now going to play for a national championship in his hometown — having already won the Heisman. The wild thing is these past two CFP games have arguably been his two best yet. Combined numbers: 31-of-36 passing, eight touchdowns, no interceptions. Now that’s Burrow-esque.
As good as he is at throwing a football, he’s also becoming football’s most quotable player.
“We’re a bunch of misfits,” he said in his postgame interview. “There are zero five-stars on our team. We’re just a bunch of gritty guys who are glued together and going toward a common goal, which is to win. Every. Single. Game.”
6. Meanwhile, Oregon coach Dan Lanning may want to steer clear of Mercedes-Benz Stadium for the rest of his career. Much of Friday night’s debacle was a spitting image of his first game at Oregon in 2022: the Ducks’ 49-3 loss to another No. 1 team, Georgia. It’s also the second straight year in which Oregon’s season ended with a humbling CFP rout.
But this season should not feel as bittersweet as last year’s, when Oregon went 13-0 in the regular season only to get blown out by Ohio State in the Rose Bowl. This squad rarely seemed as thoroughly put-together as that one and got about as far as it could have been reasonably expected to go.
7. Lanning, now 48-8, has built a solid program capable of contending year after year, but he does face a crossroads moment this offseason in having to replace both offensive coordinator Will Stein (hired to be Kentucky’s coach) and defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi (hired to coach Cal). Meanwhile, Moore has a pivotal decision whether to turn pro or return for another season. I’d recommend the latter. He has had his moments, but he would really benefit from another year of seasoning.
And if he returns to Oregon, he’ll likely get paid like a first-round draft pick.
8. I grew up watching the polarizing Michael Irvin/Vinny Testaverde/Alonzo Highsmith Miami teams of the 1980s and spent the first years of my career covering the Jonathan Vilma/Ed Reed/Sean Taylor Miami teams of the early 2000s that oozed with swagger. Those too young to remember them may not fully appreciate the degree of awe “The U” inspired during those eras.
And then, of course, there were the scandals: Pell Grant fraud in the 1990s, the ugly FIU brawl in the mid-aughts, Nevin Shapiro in the early 2010s. All of which perpetuated the national stereotype of Miami as a bunch of lawless scoundrels.
So it’s a bit surreal to be covering a Miami team two-plus decades later with a seemingly non-controversial, little-engine-that-could vibe. I detected zero smack-talking or bravado after Thursday night’s Fiesta Bowl win over Ole Miss. But I’m sure it’s coming if the Canes take down Indiana.
9. For three-plus quarters, it sure looked like Mario Cristobal’s squad was going to blow it against Ole Miss. Mark Fletcher Jr. and company spent most of the night punishing the Rebels’ defense on the ground, and, save for Kewan Lacy’s early 73-yard touchdown, its defense was shutting down star quarterback Trinidad Chambliss and the Ole Miss offense. Yet the Canes fell behind 19-17 with seven minutes left due to a combination of superhuman Rebels kicker Lucas Carneiro and a litany of penalties, dropped interceptions and missed blocks.
Then both teams exploded, with Miami reclaiming the lead not once, but twice, to prevail 31-27. The key factors were largely the same as in the Texas A&M and Ohio State wins before it: exceptional play calling by OC Shannon Dawson, quarterback Carson Beck’s brilliance on third downs (7-of-9 passing), and that bullying rushing attack, exemplified by a Fletcher run where he and his offensive line pushed a pile of Ole Miss defenders for about 15 yards.
MIAMI WITH A SPOT IN THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP ON THE LINE! 🔥
10. Not only have Cristobal’s teams improved in the win column in each of his four seasons, but the former offensive lineman has finally built a squad that perfectly fits his bully-ball vision. While Beck is the biggest name on the field, Miami is at its best when it runs … the .. damn … ball. In their seven wins since the SMU loss, the Hurricanes have averaged 36.3 carries per game, including a season-high 51 on Thursday.
But make no mistake, Miami’s biggest wow guy is freshman receiver Malachi Toney, whom Ole Miss simply couldn’t tackle. And his most incredible play Thursday — that acrobatic sideline catch — didn’t even count.
Another gifted South Florida receiver, Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith, made the biggest play of last year’s national title game. Now Toney, a Liberty City native, will get his chance not far from his hometown.
11. Ole Miss did pretty darn well for itself this postseason, considering its head coach left on the eve of the Playoff and took a bunch of assistants with him. If there’s a silver lining to Lane Kiffin’s timing, it’s that Pete Golding got a head start on his own head-coaching tenure. Unlike the typical regime changes these days that come with massive player exits, don’t be surprised if Ole Miss retains the core of its roster. Lacy, the star running back, has already recommitted.
But the Rebels’ hangover Friday only got worse with news that the NCAA denied Chambliss’ waiver for a sixth year of eligibility. Ole Miss plans to appeal, and Chambliss’ lawyer, Tom Mars, indicated he plans to take the case to court. But Golding doesn’t have time to wait for a resolution. The portal closes in less than a week, and the Rebels’ opening-day starter, Austin Simmons, is already gone. Reinforcements will soon be en route.
Golding, 41, may still be learning on the job, but he’s taking over a program that has won 34 games over the past three seasons and has one of the most advanced NIL operations in the country. He’s got a lot going for him as a first-time head coach.
12. Thus concluded the SEC’s nightmare postseason: 2-8 when not playing one another, with its only inter-conference CFP win coming against Tulane. The conference will not have a team in the national championship game for the third straight season, the first time that’s happened since 2000-02. And my hunch is things are about to get worse before they get better.
Georgia is still a national power and should be back in the mix next season. Mike Elko is off to a great start at Texas A&M, and Arch Manning will be back in Austin. Beyond that, though, Kalen DeBoer is not off to an encouraging start at Alabama, and six schools — Ole Miss, LSU, Florida, Auburn, Arkansas and Kentucky — are undergoing coaching transitions. Maybe Kiffin or one of the other newbies flips a program overnight, but more realistically, 2026 could be a year of growing pains in the conference.
Malachi Toney and Miami will play the national championship back home at Hard Rock Stadium. (Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)
Miami won three of its first four national championships (1983, ’87 and ’91) at the old Orange Bowl, back before there was an official title game played at a preassigned bowl site. It’s just blind luck that its first trip back to the summit in 23 years happened to come in a year when Hard Rock Stadium is hosting one. In fact, the site was picked so long ago, in August 2022, that it was originally scheduled for two weeks earlier, because the move from four teams to 12 had not yet been approved. Quite the fortuitous timing that the Playoff expanded when it did.
14. I have no earthly idea what the crowd split will be a week from Monday. On one hand, it’s a de facto home game for Miami. On the other hand, Indiana fans bought the large majority of tickets at the Rose Bowl and comprised an estimated 90 percent of the crowd at the Peach Bowl. They are going to try to turn a game in Miami’s home stadium into a sea of red.
But it will not be cheap. The get-in price on StubHub late Friday was … $3,865!
