MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — In a night that will be etched into the annals of college football history, Fernando Mendoza and the Indiana Hoosiers clinched the national title with a gripping 27-21 victory over Miami. This triumph caps off an undefeated season and marks Indiana’s rise from obscurity to glory.
Mendoza, the Heisman Trophy laureate, showcased his prowess not only through his 186 passing yards but also with a defining moment of athleticism. His dramatic 12-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-4, with just over nine minutes remaining, highlighted the resilience and determination that characterized the Hoosiers’ entire season.
Indiana’s resolve was unwavering.
“I had to go airborne,” Mendoza remarked, his face marked by the battle with a split lip and a bloodied arm, testament to the relentless Miami defense that sacked him three times and delivered numerous hits. “I would die for my team,” he declared, embodying the spirit of a champion.
Mendoza’s critical touchdown extended Indiana’s lead to 24-14, providing just enough cushion to withstand a relentless Miami comeback. The Hurricanes, revitalized in the second half by Mark Fletcher’s 112 yards and two touchdowns, fought fiercely but could not seize the lead.
With this victory, the College Football Playoff trophy makes its way to Bloomington, Indiana—an unexpected destination for a school that, until two years ago, held a record of 713 losses over more than 130 years of football. Under the guidance of turnaround expert Curt Cignetti, Indiana has achieved a revival that defies the odds and inspires the imagination.
“Took some chances, found a way. Let me tell you: We won the national championship at Indiana University. It can be done,” Cignetti said.
Indiana finished 16-0 – using the extra games afforded by the expanded 12-team playoff to match a perfect-season win total last compiled by Yale in 1894.
In a fitting bit of symmetry, this undefeated title comes 50 years after Bob Knight’s basketball team went 32-0 to win it all in that state’s favorite sport.
That hasn’t happened since, and there’s already some thought that college football – in its evolving, money-soaked era – might not see a team like this again, either.
“Congratulations to Indiana,” said President Donald Trump, who was in attendance. “Turned out to be a great game. Two great teams, wonderful teams with a lot of talent.”
Players like Mendoza – a transfer from Cal who grew up just a few miles away from Miami’s campus, “The U” – certainly don’t come around often.
Two fourth-down gambles by Cignetti in the fourth quarter, after Fletcher’s second touchdown carved the Hurricanes’ deficit to three, put Mendoza in position to shine.
The first was a 19-yard-completion to Charlie Becker on a back-shoulder fade those guys have been perfecting all season. Four plays later came a decision and play that wins championships.
Cignetti sent his kicker out on fourth-and-4 from the 12, but quickly called his second timeout. The team huddled on the field and the coach drew up a quarterback draw, hoping the Hurricanes would be in a defense they had shown before.
“We rolled the dice and said, ‘They’re going to be in it again and they were,’” Cignetti said. “We blocked it well, he broke a tackle or two and got in the end zone.”
Not known as a run-first guy, Mendoza slipped one tackle, then took a hit and spun around. He kept his feet, then left them, going horizontal and stretching the ball out – a ready-made poster pic for a title run straight from the movies.
Maybe they’ll call it “Hoosiers.” This was a program so bad that a coach once stopped the game early to take a picture of the scoreboard when it read “Indiana 7, Ohio State 6.” The Hoosiers lost 47-7.
This year, though, they beat Ohio State in the Big Ten title game on their way to the top seed in the playoff.
They won their first two games by a combined score of 94-25 and Mendoza threw more touchdown passes (eight) than incompletions (five).
This one was nowhere near as easy.
Fletcher was a one-man force, hitting triple digits for the third time in four playoff games and turning a moribund offense into something much more.
His first touchdown run was a 57-yard burst through the right side that pulled Miami within 10-7 early in the third quarter.
But after forcing an Indiana punt deep into Miami territory, Hoosiers lineman Mikail Kamara slid past the ‘Canes’ protectors and blocked the kick. Isaiah Jones recovered to make it 17-7 and Miami was in comeback mode the rest of the way.
It ended as a one-score game, and the ‘Canes – the visiting team playing on their home field – moved into Indiana territory before Carson Beck’s heave got picked off by Jamari Sharpe, a Miami native who made sure the only miracle in this season would be Indiana’s.
“Did I think something like this was possible? Probably not,” Cignetti said. “But if you keep your nose down and keep working, anything is possible.”
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