The Indiana Hoosiers defeated the Miami Hurricanes, 27-21, Monday night to win the College Football Playoff National Championship for the 2025 season.
The College Football Playoff National Championship win was the first for the Hoosiers in the 139-year history of the program. Indiana finished the season undefeated with a 16-0 record.
Indiana struck first Monday evening with a 34-yard Nico Radicic field goal late in the opening quarter. Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza then engineered a 14-play, 85-yard march capped by a Riley Nowakowski touchdown run, pushing the lead to 10-0.
Miami finally broke through early in the second half when Mark Fletcher ripped off a 57-yard scoring run. Six minutes later, Indiana answered with a momentum-swinging special teams play: Mikail Kamara blocked a Hurricanes punt, and Isaiah Jones fell on it in the end zone for a touchdown.
Fletcher added his second score early in the fourth quarter to pull Miami within three, but Mendoza responded with a 12-yard touchdown run at the 9:18 mark to restore a 10-point cushion, 24-14.
Hurricanes quarterback Carson Beck later connected with Malachi Toney for a 22-yard touchdown to trim the deficit back to three. Indiana closed the night with a late field goal to make it a six-point game, and the Hoosiers sealed the win moments later with an interception of Beck, ending Miami’s comeback bid.
College football’s final game of the season was played at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla., before an announced crowd of 67,227. It was the second College Football Playoff National Championship played in Miami following Ohio State-Alabama in January 2021.
Looking ahead, Indiana is scheduled to open the 2026 season at home against the North Texas Mean Green on Saturday, Sept. 5. Miami will open its 2026 campaign the same weekend against a to be determined opponent.
View Comments (4)
Big Ten vs SEC will be a very interesting debate with CFB fans.
There´s no debate. The Big 10 is clearly number 1 and with their postseason performance, the SEC is clearly not the gauntlet it claims to be.
Greatest story in the history of college football
Basketball will always be in Indiana blood however it is very nice to see Football program win its first national championship.