Indiana Hoosiers Win 1st Football Title in Undefeated Season

Despite each offense finding a way to a new set of downs to open the night, the defenses were the stars of the intro to the 2026 College Football Playoff National Championship, forcing each offense to punt away their first possession.

Miami's second drive would end on just three plays, with two runs and an incomplete pass, before punting the ball back to Indiana.

Unlike the Hurricanes, the Hoosiers would gain a first down on their second drive, actually four of them, and would first on the scoreboard thanks to a 34-yard field goal by kicker Nico Radicic, making it 3-0 Hoosiers at the 2:42 mark of the first quarter.

The first sack of the championship came on Miami's third drive when Indiana linebacker Aiden Fisher got to quarterback Carson Beck for a seven-yard loss that brought about Miami's second-consecutive three-and-out.

Miami's defense would return the favor by ending Indiana's third drive of the game on a three-and-out. They would receive the Hoosiers' second punt of the night at the top of the second quarter, with the first 15 minutes showing a score of 3-0 Indiana.

On 3rd-&-2, Beck would hand off to running back CharMar Brown who was not allowed a yard by the Hoosiers, and Hurricanes' Head Coach Mario Cristobal elected to punt on 4th-&-2, resulting in Miami's third-straight drive ending with a punt.

Indiana had three first downs on their fourth drive of the game, the second coming thanks to a pass interference penalty called on Miami defensive back Romanas Frederique, Jr.

On third down, Hoosiers' quarterback sent the ball out to wide receiver Omar Cooper, Jr., but the two did not link up, which would have brought up fourth down. However, Hurricanes' defensive end Rueben Bain, Jr., was flagged for being offsides, giving Indiana five yards and a replay of third down. Running back Kaelon Black would gain 20 yards on that 3rd-&-8 situation, giving the Hoosiers their third first down of this drive.

Two plays later, Mendoza completed a pass to wide receiver Charlie Becker that was called a touchdown after Becker fought to move forward. Officials, however, would review the play and deem Becker out at the Hurricanes' five-yard line, making it 1st-&-5 as opposed to a potential 10-0 score.

Miami avoided having four-straight drives concluding with a punt when running back Mark Fletcher, Jr., gained the yard needed on 4th-&-1 after being stopped for no gain the play before.

On the very next play, Beck found wide receiver CJ Daniels for a 25-yard pass play, getting to the Hoosiers' 40-yard line on a play that started on the Hurricanes' 35-yard line; this was Daniels' second catch of the game.

Beck would follow with a two-yard pass to wide receiver Malachi Toney that brought us to the two-minute timeout.

With 54 seconds left in the first half, Miami had their offense on the field for a 4th-&-2 situation. Cristobal would take a timeout and elect to bring out kicker Carter Davis for a 50-yard attempt. You could fill the wind on your face in Hard Rock Stadium as the ball went to the right of the uprights, keeping the score at 10-0 Indiana, giving them the ball on their own 32-yard line with 33 seconds remaining in the first half.

A pass to Becker from Mendoza on 2nd-&-4 would give the Hoosiers a first down. Indiana Head Coach Curt Cignetti would take a timeout with five seconds left and Mendoza would send the ball to the end zone from the 50-yard line. That pass was incomplete, sending both teams into the break with Indiana ahead by two scores.

The Hoosiers' offense outgained the Hurricanes 169 yards to 69 in the first half of play, 53 rushing yards to 20 and 116 passing yards to 49 of Miami.

Beck was 6-for-10 for those 49 passing yards, with no touchdowns or interceptions. Toney caught three of those passes for 11 yards, Daniels had two catches for 32 yards, and wide receiver Keelan Marion had one catch for six yards.

Mendoza went 12-for-17 for 116 passing yards, with no touchdowns or interceptions. Cooper and fellow wide receiver Elijah Sarratt each had three catches in the first half, followed by Becker, Nowakowski, and running back Roman Hemby who all had two receptions.

Fletcher led the Hurricanes with nine carries for 26 yards.

Black was atop all Hoosier rushers with 43 yards on seven carries.

Indiana had 11 first downs (seven passing, three rushing, and one on a penalty) in the opening half, while Miami had three (two passing and one rushing).

The Hoosiers were 2-for-2 in the redzone, while the Hurricanes did not have a single attempt from inside the Hoosiers' 20-yard line in the entire first half of play.

Miami's first-half drives (in order) went as follows: punt, punt, punt, punt, and missed field goal.

Indiana's possessions of the opening half were as follows: punt, field goal, punt, touchdown, and the final drive was ended by the second-quarter game clock.

Frederique had the two pass breakups recorded by Miami in the first half.

Defensive backs D'Angelo Ponds and Louis Moore each had a pass breakup in the first half, along with linebacker Rolijah Hardy.

The lone sack of the first 30 minutes of play came from Fisher of Indiana.

After not recording a single sack in the first half, the Hurricanes' defense achieved two on the Hoosiers' opening drive of the second half, with defensive end Akheem Mesidor recording the first for a seven-yard loss and fellow defensive end Rueben Bain, Jr., getting to Mendoza for an eight-yard loss four plays later. These sacks aiding in forcing Indiana to punt away their first drive of the third quarter.

Ironically, Miami would end many of their first-half drives on just three plays and on their first drive of the second half, it took just two plays for them to have their first score of the night. Following a five-yard pass from Beck to Toney, Fletcher would break free for a 57-yard rushing touchdown to bring the score to 10-7 Indiana less than four minutes into the second half (11:06 mark).

The teams would trade punts on their second drives.

On the first play of their third drive, the Hoosiers would go backward once again, with Mesidor recording his second sack of the contest, this for an eight-yard loss.

This possession by Indiana would end in a three-and-out.

Miami would get in punt formation on this their third drive of the third quarter...

And it was blocked.

Defensive lineman Mikail Kamara got to punter Dylan Joyce and Hoosiers' linebacker Isaiah Jones recovered the ball in the end zone for a special teams' touchdown that elevated Indiana back to a two-score lead, ahead 17-7, at the 5:04 mark of the third quarter.

Miami's fourth drive of the third quarter would be kept alive by Beck who rolled right, came back left, and threw the ball out to Daniels for a 24-yard gain on 3rd-&-6 that moved the Hurricanes from their own 41 to the Hoosiers' 35-yard line.

The third quarter would end on a six-yard carry by Fletcher to the Indiana three-yard line, setting up 3rd-&-1 at the start of the final quarter.

Fletcher would gain the final three yards on the first play of the fourth quarter, ending the Hurricanes' fourth drive of the second half with a rushing touchdown that moved the Hurricanes to a three-point differential, 17-14, just three seconds into the final quarter (14:57 mark).

The first drive of the fourth quarter, and fourth of the second half as a whole, would see Cignetti keep his offense on the field on 4th-&-5 from Miami 37-yard line. Mendoza dropped back and went out right in single-coverage to Becker who caught the ball and remained inbounds for a 19-yard gain to the Miami 18 and a new set of downs.

Cignetti would keep his offense on the field at Hard Rock Stadium for the next fourth-down situation. On that 4th-&-4 play, Mendoza kept the ball and took off, bouncing like a pinball and remaining up and aware, stretching the ball over the Miami goal-line for a 12-yard rushing touchdown to get Indiana back to a 10-point lead, 24-14, with 9:18 left in the Championship Game.

The fifth drive of the second half by the Hurricanes would have back-to-back completions from Beck, the first to tight end Alex Bauman for 22 yards and the second to Toney for 41 yards, all aiding Miami to getting just outside the Indiana redzone, at their 22-yard line.

After an incomplete pass from Beck to Fletcher, Beck would find Toney again, this time for a 22-yard score where Toney got free of tackle attempts inside the 10-yard line to give the Hurricanes their third touchdown of the game, making it 24-21 Hoosiers with 6:37 remaining.

On their fifth drive of the second half, the Hoosiers lost two yards on a carry by Black, courtesy of Bain and linebacker Wesley Bissainthe, which would result in 3rd-&-7.

Mendoza went out right to Becker once again... in single-coverage... on the right sideline... and Becker gained 19 yards just like on the last drive. This catch by Becker gave Indiana a new set of downs and placed them on the Miami 33-yard line.

Hoosiers' running Roman Hemby would take a carry 10 yards on the next play to give Indiana another new set of downs, and follow with a nine-yard gain, adding up to Indiana moving to the 14-yard line of their adversary.

A false-start penalty, however, would move the Hoosiers back five yards to the Miami 19, on second down and now six yards to gain.

This drive would conclude with a 35-yard field goal by Radicic to give Indiana a six-point lead, 27-21, with 1:42 remaining.

On 1st-&-10 from the Hoosiers' 41, Beck would would send a pass in the way of Martin, but defensive back Jamari Sharpe had other ideas, jumping the route and intercepting Beck to end the 2026 College Football Playoff National Championship with Indiana remaining atop the nation at 16-0, winning their first-ever national championship in football.

With the victory, Indiana is the first school in the College Football Playoff era to go 16-0.

There have been two other schools to reach 16-0 in college football history, the Yale Bulldogs in 1894 (without a championship game) and the North Dakota State Bison who won an NCAA Division I-AA Championship in the 2019-20 season to secure their 16-0 season.