{"id":85080,"date":"2026-01-16T10:00:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T15:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=85080"},"modified":"2026-01-15T22:30:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T03:30:17","slug":"indiana-vs-miami-for-the-national-championship-how-we-got-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2026\/01\/16\/indiana-vs-miami-for-the-national-championship-how-we-got-here\/","title":{"rendered":"Indiana vs. Miami for the National Championship: How We Got Here"},"content":{"rendered":"
History is about to be made. For Indiana, there is a chance to lock up the program’s first-ever national championship. For Miami, it’s a chance to truly get back to the days of “The U” by being the first 10 seed to win it all. Curt Cignetti has led the Hoosiers to heights outside the realm of even the most optimistic minds. Mario Cristobal has, to this point, shaken the “Cristoballing” accusations and rattled off three straight impressive, hard-fought wins in the College Football Playoff. Indiana vs. Miami for the National Championship? Just as we all predicted in the preseason.<\/span><\/div>\n
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How in the world did we get here?<\/span><\/div>\n

Indiana vs. Miami for the National Championship: How We Got Here<\/span><\/h2>\n

Indiana’s Regular Season Dominance<\/span><\/h3>\n
The Hoosiers started off the 2025 season as the 20th-ranked team in the nation. They were expected to make the CFP, but not really compete, just like last year. After a closer-than-comfort win against Old Dominion in Week 1, Indiana destroyed Kennessaw State, 56-9, and Indiana State, 73-0.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Jumping into Big Ten play, Indiana rose to 19th in the AP Poll, and the Hoosiers got to face ninth-ranked Illinois. To say Indiana dispatched the Fighting Illini easily would be a disservice to the<\/span>\u00a063-10 beatdown<\/a><\/span> it served. Then, as the 11th-ranked team, Indiana went to Iowa and snuck away with a five-point win.<\/span><\/div>\n
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After a bye, Indiana got to travel to third-ranked Oregon for one of the season’s top in-conference matchups. It was a back-and-forth affair, but Indiana took care of business, 30-20. At the time, it could have been argued that that was the largest win in program history.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Following that win, it was smooth sailing. Wins over Michigan State, UCLA, and Maryland set up what should have been a massive matchup at Penn State. Even then, the Nittany Lions fought valiantly, but <\/span>Fernando Mendoza<\/a><\/span> led a 10-play, 80-yard drive capped off by a miracle toe-tap touchdown by <\/span>Omar Cooper Jr.<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
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To close out the year, wins over Wisconsin and rival Purdue were nothing to this team. Indiana earned a spot in the Big <\/span><\/div>\n
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Ten Championship to finish off the first undefeated regular season since it went 9-0-1 in 1945.<\/span><\/div>\n

Indiana’s Incredible Run<\/span><\/h3>\n
Heading into the Big Ten Championship, Indiana had not beaten Ohio State since 1988. It was riding a 30-game losing streak, the longest between two programs. Despite being nearly a five-point underdog, the Hoosiers stunned the Buckeyes thanks to a suffocating defense and an efficient offense led by Mendoza. <\/span>A 13-10 win over Ohio State<\/a><\/span> gave Indiana the Big Ten title, the top-overall seed in the CFP, and a first-round bye.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Staring down the barrel of the fact that no top-four seed has ever won its first CFP game, Indiana had to take down another blueblood program in Alabama. Thanks to an absolute blitzkreig of an offensive performance, Indiana <\/span>destroyed Alabama, 38-3<\/a><\/span>, to win the program’s first Rose Bowl.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Moving on, Oregon awaited in the Peach Bowl. It’s difficult to beat the same opponent twice in the same season, as the Ducks found out last year. However, the score in that regular-season matchup was closer than the game really was. As a result, the Hoosiers did not hold back. Cignetti led the program to its first Peach Bowl win in <\/span>a commanding 56-22 beatdown<\/a><\/span>, the largest margin of victory in a CFP semifinal since the 2019-20 season.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Now, the 15-0 Hoosiers have one more game standing between them and history. If Indiana wins, it will become the first major college football program to go 16-0 since Yale did so in 1894.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Photo Credit: Rich Janzaruk\/Herald-Times \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Miami’s Bumpy Regular Season<\/span><\/h3>\n
The Hurricanes started off this season as the 10th-best team in the AP Poll. However, while some programs kicked off the season with cupcakes, Miami got to host sixth-ranked Notre Dame. In a win that will live in infamy, Miami took down the Fighting Irish, 27-24. The rest of the non-conference slate featured a blowout of Bethune-Cookman, a beatdown of 18th-ranked USF, and a big win over Florida. When the Hurricanes kicked off ACC play, they were ranked as the third-best team in the nation.<\/span><\/div>\n
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The first matchup was tough, but Miami took down a disappointing Florida State team. Then, the first inexplicable loss of the year came at home against Louisville, 24-21. The Hurricanes got back on track with a big win at Stanford, but the second inexplicable loss came the following week at SMU.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Now, with two losses and an 18 next to its name in the middle of November, Miami’s path to the CFP looked narrow. Four games remained, and the Hurricanes needed to take care of business convincingly.<\/span><\/div>\n
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And that is what they did. Miami outscored Syracuse, NC State, Virginia Tech, and 24th-ranked Pitt, 151-41.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Then, the fun began.<\/span><\/div>\n

Miami’s Impressive Path Home<\/span><\/h3>\n
When the final rankings came out, Miami was the final at-large team in the field. While its head-to-head win over Notre Dame didn’t hold much weight for the previous six weeks, it did in that final vote, so the Hurricanes got the nod, despite being left out of the ACC Championship. As a result, Notre Dame decided not to play in a bowl game altogether.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
In the first round, the Hurricanes traveled to Texas A&M. In what was one of the ugliest one-score CFP games you’ve seen, Miami made one fewer mistake and walked away with <\/span>a 10-3 win<\/a><\/span> at Kyle Field.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Then, a matchup in the Cotton Bowl against the reigning national champions. Thanks to an elite defensive performance that limited Ohio State to one of its worst offensive performances of the Ryan Day era. The Hurricanes <\/span>thoroughly bullied the Buckeyes<\/a><\/span> to earn a spot in the Fiesta Bowl.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Ole Miss was the final hope for the CFP. Even without its coach (who was actively trying to poach coaches and players), the Rebels fought to the final whistle. <\/span>Carson Beck<\/a><\/span> scampered into the endzone to take the lead with just 18 seconds to go, but Ole Miss heaved a prayer that was nearly answered.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Now, Miami <\/span>gets to face off<\/a><\/span> against its fifth-ranked foe in as many games, and its fourth top-seven team in Indiana.<\/span><\/div>\n

Comparing Schedules<\/span><\/h3>\n
It’s easy to see that both of these teams are battle-tested. In terms of Strength of Schedule (according to Sports Reference), Miami comes in with the seventh-hardest schedule, while Indiana is not far behind at ninth.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Sports Reference also has a Simple Rating System that weights the strength of schedule as well as the average point differential. For reference, in that SRS, zero is considered average. The Hoosiers lead the nation with a 25.35 rating, and Miami clocks in at fifth with a 20.65 rating.<\/span><\/div>\n

Bottom Line on Indiana vs. Miami<\/h3>\n

Where<\/strong>: Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens, Florida
\nHistory<\/strong>: Series tied 1-1
\nLast Matchup<\/strong>: Miami won, 14-7, in 1966
\nLast Indiana Win: <\/strong>28-14\u00a0in 1964
\nDate and Time<\/strong>: January 19, 7:30 p.m. EST
\nHow to Watch<\/strong>: ESPN
\nSpread<\/strong>: Indiana -8.5; O\/U 47.5 (via FanDuel)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s Indiana vs. Miami for all the marbles, just as we all expected this preseason. How in the world did we get here?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4051,"featured_media":69918,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,35605,35634],"tags":[5144,35910],"class_list":["post-85080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-indiana-hoosiers","category-miami-hurricanes","tag-curt-cignetti","tag-mario-cristoball"],"modified_by":"Kate Pearson Halyburton, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4051"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85080"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85080\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85110,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85080\/revisions\/85110"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}