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The 2025-26 college football season is coming to an end with tonight’s College Football Playoff National Championship.
The No. 10 seed University of Miami Hurricanes will play for their first title since 2002 against the favored No. 1 Indiana Hoosiers, who could win their first title in program history. There’s little history between the two teams, who play in different conferences; the Hurricanes and Hoosiers have met just twice before, most recently in the 1960s.
Indiana went undefeated in the regular season this year to capture the No. 1 seed in the playoffs, and before playing their first game of the postseason, quarterback Fernando Mendoza became the first Hoosier to win the Heisman trophy. To reach the National Championship, they defeated Alabama, 38-3, in the Rose Bowl and Oregon, 56-22, in the Peach Bowl.
Miami will become the first team in CFP history to play for the national title at their home stadium. Without a first round bye, they played three games to reach today’s title game, defeating Texas A&M, 2025 national champs Ohio State and Ole Miss along the way.
2026 cfp national championship: what to know
Who: No. 10 Miami Hurricanes vs. No. 1 Indiana Hoosiers
When: Jan. 19, 7:30 p.m. ET
Where: Hard Rock Stadium (Miami Gardens, Florida)
Channel: ESPN
Streaming: DIRECTV (try it free)
Here’s how to tune in to the 2026 College Football National Championship for free if you don’t have cable.
Miami vs. Indiana game time:
Miami vs. Indiana is scheduled to kick off at 7:30 p.m. ET tonight, Jan. 19.
How to watch the College Football National Championship for free:
If you don’t have cable, you’ll need a live TV streaming service to stream the Miami vs. Indiana CFP National Championship for free.
DIRECTV is our top pick for watching college football live for free — its five-day free trial includes ESPN (the only channel you’ll need for the College Football Playoff). When the trial is over, you’ll pay as low as $49.99/month and gain access to over 90 live channels.
If you aren’t ready to commit to a full-on subscription, you can try a Sling Orange Day Pass. Priced at $4.99, you’ll get 24 hours of access to all Sling TV Orange has to offer, including ESPN. Sling also offers weekend and week-long passes for its Orange plan, which offer between three and seven days of access.
Where is tonight’s CFP National Championship being played?
The Miami Hurricanes and Indiana Hoosiers will face off at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. Despite Hard Rock Stadium being Miami’s home stadium, the location of today’s game was chosen years in advance.
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This article was written by Angela Tricarico, Commerce Streaming Reporter for Post Wanted Shopping, Page Six, and Decider.com. Angela keeps readers up to date with cord-cutter-friendly deals, and information on how to watch your favorite sports teams, TV shows, and movies on every streaming service. Not only does Angela test and compare the streaming services she writes about to ensure readers are getting the best prices, but she’s also a superfan specializing in the intersection of shopping, tech, sports, and pop culture. When she’s not writing about (or watching) TV, movies, and sports, she’s also keeping up on the underrated perfume dupes at Bath & Body Works and testing headphones. Prior to joining Decider and The New York Post in 2023, she wrote about streaming and consumer tech at Insider Reviews.