The 2025 college football season came to an end on Monday night, wht the Indiana Hoosiers and Miami Hurricanes squaring off in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game. Fittingly, we witnessed one of the most entertaining and physical games in college football this season.
Let's dive into the winners and losers from the Hurricanes vs Hoosiers in the CFP National Championship Game, with Indiana winning its first national championship.
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Fernando Mendoza might not have put up eye-popping stats in the CFP National Championship Game, but he delivered when it counted. The reigning Heisman Trophy winner, after getting knocked around and beat up by the Hurricanes defensive line for most of the night, routinely made his best throws on third and fourth downs to keep the Hoosiers drives alive. It is because of those plays that Indiana found the end zone. Of course, his best moment is the one that will go down in Hoosiers history.
On fourth-and-5 from the 12-yard line, Mendoza took off on the keeper. He juked away from a would-be tackle from a defensive lineman and then stepped over the legs of his diving teammate. He then fought through a hit at his legs, bounced off a third defender and dove into the end zone with a full extension crossing the goal line. It was an iconic moment in a historic season. Mendoza will go down as an all-time legend for what he has done for Indiana this season, and his performance in the CFP National Championship Game is the cherry on top of a historic season.
Related: Curt Cignetti Addresses Potentially Leaving Indiana Hoosiers for NFL
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Near-perfection is required to beat the Hoosiers. Miami already hurt itself in this game with some costly penalties, but it was the mistakes on special teams that will haunt this program. We already mentioned the field goal by Davis that hit the upright from 50 yards out. It got worse later on for Miami. Freshman Malachi Toney made a bad decision, deciding to field a punt at the 4-yard line and only taking it to the 7-yard line. That pinned the Hurricanes offense back, which they would pay for moments later. In an inexcusable gaffe, tight end Alex Bauman's push on Hoosiers edge rusher Mikail Kamara practically propelled him toward the punter. Kamara reached in to block the punt, and it was recovered by Isaiah Jones for a touchdown.
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Mendoza wasn't the only top prospect in the 2026 NFL Draft who showcased himself in the CFP National Championship Game. Miami didn't have a ton of standouts on Monday night, but edge rusher Rueben Bain Jr. absolutely made his presence felt. He drew an offensive holding penalty that otherwise could've been a sack, recorded three stuffs, one sack, 2.5 tackles for loss and Indiana constantly had to pay extra attention to him. Coming into the night with 4 sacks in the College Football Playoff, the 6-foot-3 edge rusher showed why he could go as high as the second overall pick.
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Plenty of credit goes to the Hurricanes defensive line, with more on Rueben Bain Jr. later, but the Hoosiers offensive line was the team's biggest problem on Monday night. The right side in particular—guard Bray Lynch and tackle Adedamola Ajani—was abysmal in pass protection. Miami generated double-digit pressures on Mendoza, sacked him three times and got held on several plays, with many of them not called. All of that pressure resulted in Mendoza taking far more hits than he had in any other game this season, and the disruption forced him off some throws, disrupting the rhythm of the Hoosiers passing game.
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If you wanted to know how little faith the Hurricanes coaching staff truly had in quarterback Carson Beck, the CFP National Championship Game provided it. On the team's five drives in the first half, Beck averaged just 4.9 yards per attempt and finished with 44 net passing yards on 11 dropbacks. Miami only really trusted him to make short throws and the Hoosiers defense was ready for it. Beck was better in the second half, making a few nice throws, but Miami's most explosive plays on offense came when Beck either handed it off to Fletcher or got the football out of his hands almost immediately to Malachi Toney. Still, Beck had a chance to lead a game-winning touchdown drive. On the final play of his collegiate career, he stared down his receiver and underthrew it, with Jamari Sharpe snagging it to seal a national championship.
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The Las Vegas Raiders still do not know who their next head coach will be, but the CFP National Championship Game made it even more apparent who the new face of the franchise is. Franchise owners Mark Davis and Tom Brady , along with general manager John Spytek, were on the field witnessing Mendoza's excellence on the biggest stage. What they saw is a remarkably poised quarterback who can make excellent decisions and on-target throws with defenders around him and survive some big hits. This game showcased all of the boxes that Mendoza checks, with a few of those of particular importance to Brady. The next time we see Mendoza on a football field, he will be wearing a Raiders uniform.
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On the first four first-half drives by the Hurricanes offense, they mustered just 26 total yards. Even getting into scoring range down 10 before halftime felt like a miracle. Finally, Miami got into Hoosiers territory and had it third-and-2 at the 32-yard line with under 40 seconds left. Down 10 points, head coach Mario Cristobal took the ultra-conservative approach and settled for the 50-yard field goal attempt. He put his trust in Carter Davis, who had made just one field goal from 50-plus yards this season (two attempts). Davis bounced it off the post, sending Miami into halftime still down 10 points with Indiana starting the second half with the football. There is no excuse for reaching the CFP National Championship Game and then taking the cautious approach with a kicker who has been shaky from distance ( 58.3 percent success rate from 40-plus yards out).
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Curt Cignetti just capped off one of the greatest seasons in college football history: a 16-0 record and one of the best stories in the history of sports. He said it simply two years ago in his introductory press conference: He wins. Cignetti inherited a football program that once held the record for the most losses in Division I history, and two years later, it is a national champion and the first FBS program to go 16-0 in a season. With what he is doing at Indiana, Cignetti is putting himself in the conversation for one of the best college football coaches in the modern era (outside of Nick Saban). Put the name of the school aside, this is the new powerhouse in college football and the talent the Hoosiers are pulling in from the transfer portal speaks to how many players are interested in playing for Cignetti.
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For as much as Disney is paying for ESPN to broadcast the College Football Playoff, you would think the broadcast from an NFL stadium would be better. During the national anthem, there was a hot mic that caught a mic check. Throughout the first half, there were issues with the audio echoing. In the Film Room simulcast, there were moments where they were going back over a replay and missed the live action only to cut back as the players reacted to what had just happened. All in all, ESPN just did not deliver a great broadcast for the biggest game in college football this season.
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Hoosiers running backs Kaelon Black and Roman Hemby were certainly two of the more unheralded impact players coming into this game. So, with millions watching the final game of the season, they each left their mark on the Miami defense. Black did the damage early, eclipsing 70 rushing yards on his first 14 carries, with his longest carry going for 20 yards. Hemby was largely kept in check until late in the game. Then, he took on the role of the closer, putting up 26 yards on the Hoosiers final scoring drive to set up a field goal for a six-point lead. Mendoza's performance will rightfully generate the most headlines, but the Indiana running backs were instrumental tonight, too.
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Hurricanes running back Mark Fletcher Jr. has been one of the best players in the College Football PLayoff. The 6-foot-2 running back came into the night with 395 rushing yards and averaged 6.8 yards per carry versus Texas A&M, Ohio State and Ole Miss. He didn't have any explosive plays early, with Miami's offensive line really struggling to create any openings. On Fletcher's first touch of the second half, he showed off that explosiveness with a 57-yard touchdown run that got Miami back in the game. In all four CFP games, Fletcher put up 100-plus scrimmage yards.
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It is one thing to "let them play" in a CFP National Championship Game. However, it is another when textbook definitions of defensive pass interference, roughing the passer, targeting and defensive holding are ignored. Miami and Indiana both had reasons to gripe with the officiating in this game; the lack of calls went both ways. We all love physical football and this felt a bit more reminiscent of college football before the targeting rule. With that said, it is the lack of DPI and defensive holding calls that really stood out in this game.
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The 18-year-old receiver made a mistake on his punt return in the third quarter. He made up for it from then on. Miami's game plan was simple: Just find ways to get the football into the hands of one of the most electric offensive weapons in college football. Early in the fourth quarter on second-and-9, he took a short pass 22 yards to set the Hurricanes offense up in the red zone, and they scored a touchdown three plays later. On Miami's next drive, in a must-score situation, Toney took a touch pass from Beck and got around the corner, then made three Hoosiers defenders miss on his way to the end zone. Still not done, he made a fantastic catch on Miami's final drive of the game to set the offense up at midfield. Toney is simply electric, and college football fans get to watch him for two more years.
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