We’ve got a stark role reversal in the College Football Playoff finale. The Miami Hurricanes, historic trendsetters for the sport, are dark-horse challengers on Monday night. The Indiana Hoosiers, longtime losers, are now the top-seeded and undefeated favorites.
Welcome to the new frontier. It has blistering edge rushers and clutch second-act quarterbacks. Classic signifiers remain (hands still throw up “The U”), but new cultures grow in tandem (like whatever this is). This year’s national championship game has vast appeal across generations and geography. Here’s what the viewership can expect.
How to watch Miami vs. Indiana (CFP national championship)
All ESPN programs also stream on ESPN Unlimited.
The teamsNo. 10 Miami Hurricanes (13-2)
Remember when Miami was a bubble team for the selection committee to debate? Remember when Duke boxed it out of the ACC title game? The two-loss Canes found themselves at the edge of the bracket for most of 2025. After much deliberation, they were indeed let into the party … then proceeded to repaint rooms in green and orange.
First, it was Texas A&M. Mario Cristobal’s crew pulled a narrow road upset at Kyle Field — thanks to a breakaway run from Mark Fletcher Jr., a touchdown grab from Malachi Toney and a late end zone interception from Bryce Fitzgerald. Then, it was the defending national champs at the Cotton Bowl. Miami disarmed Ohio State as Keionte Scott swung a pick six and the defense notched five sacks.
On the Fiesta Bowl semifinal stage, the Hurricanes seesawed with fellow upstart Ole Miss. Carson Beck shined under center. The sixth-year QB finished 23-for-37 with 268 passing yards and three total TDs, the last of which was all kinds of unforgettable:
CARSON ON THE RUN‼️
📺: ESPN#GoCanes | @CFBPlayoff pic.twitter.com/chsM66jifg
— Miami Hurricanes Football (@CanesFootball) January 9, 2026
Miami bids for its sixth national championship, and does so in its home venue. The last Hurricanes natty came in 2001. That team ended up with 17 (!) NFL first-round draft picks. In his latest 2026 mock draft, Dane Brugler projected three Canes as Day 1 selections: offensive tackle Francis Mauigoa at No. 6, edge rusher Rueben Bain Jr. at No. 10 and fellow sack machine Akheem Mesidor at No. 30.
No. 1 Indiana Hoosiers (15-0)
The newest FBS juggernaut is a surprising one. From the 1890s through 2023, Indiana put up zero seasons with double-digit wins. And in the two years since he arrived from James Madison, Curt Cignetti has led the Hoosiers to an absurd 26-2 record.
This year’s team is undefeated, with a Big Ten crown and IU’s first Heisman Trophy winner in Fernando Mendoza. The Hoosiers are just 60 minutes from eternal, unprecedented greatness: They have never won a national title in the sport, and no college football team has finished 16-0 since the 1894 Yale Bulldogs.
After its opening-round bye, Indiana’s first test became a blindfolded ace. It dismantled Alabama, the bluest of blue bloods, 38-3 at the Rose Bowl. Mendoza had two incompletions to three touchdown passes. The defense allowed just 23 rushing yards on 17 carries.
The Peach Bowl semifinal was only nominally closer. The Hoosiers built a 42-7 lead on Oregon, then cruised through the remainder for a 56-22 statement. Elijah Sarratt caught a pair of touchdowns, while 5-foot-9 corner D’Angelo Ponds made an instant house call:
THAT’S HOW YOU START A BALL GAME🤯
📺ESPN pic.twitter.com/QnGqSdPKTQ
— College Football Playoff (@CFBPlayoff) January 10, 2026
Brugler has Mendoza going first overall in this spring’s draft. But first, the Miami-born quarterback takes the field for a surreal homecoming and a singular opportunity.
The broadcastMain telecast on ESPN
For the 12th time, college football’s title fight gets called by Chris Fowler (play-by-play) and Kirk Herbstreit (analysis). That duo is joined by Holly Rowe on the Indiana sideline and Molly McGrath from Miami’s. The lead ESPN broadcast uses extra cameras on the end zone pylons, field goal uprights, line-to-gain marks and referee hats.
Simulcasts
As it’s done throughout the Playoff, the network has alternate presentations on its many additional channels. ESPN2 offers “Field Pass” commentary from Pat McAfee and the rest of his crew. On ESPNU, there’s a “Coaches Film Room” setup for the first time in four years. Zubin Mehenti is the anchor and four former coaches are in tow — Steve Addazio (longest tenure at Boston College), Dave Clawson (Wake Forest), Gene Chizik (Auburn) and Mike Gundy (Oklahoma State).
The “SkyCast” on ESPNEWS gives the audience a bird’s-eye view with the main booth audio. Eduardo Varela and Pablo Viruega lead the Spanish-language call on ESPN Deportes.
Because ESPN operates the ACC Network (but not the Big Ten Network), there’s an-ACC specific “Field Pass” on that conference channel. It’s hosted by Taylor Tannebaum and features former standouts Eric Mac Lain (Clemson guard), Eddie Royal (Virginia Tech receiver) and Jimbo Fisher (Florida State head coach), as well as Bill Belichick (UNC head coach, still a strange phrase). In addition, Belichick will provide pregame analysis on “ACC Huddle,” along with Hurricanes alum Mark Richt. The former head coach of Georgia and Miami is also part of the network’s halftime and postgame shows.
ESPN Unlimited provides home radio options for Miami and Indiana, plus the all-22 camera angle. ESPN+ has each program’s halftime band.
CFP national championship history
2024 — Ohio State 34, Notre Dame 23
2023 — Michigan 34, Washington 13
2022 — Georgia 65, TCU 7
2021 — Georgia 33, Alabama 18
2020 — Alabama 52, Ohio State 24
2019 — LSU 42, Clemson 25
2018 — Clemson 44, Alabama 16
2017 — Alabama 26, Georgia 23 (OT)
2016 — Clemson 35, Alabama 31
2015 — Alabama 45, Clemson 40
2014 — Ohio State 42, Oregon 20
The SEC leads with six triumphs in this nascent CFP era. The Big Ten follows with three, and pursues its fourth through Indiana. The ACC has two and goes for a third via Miami.
More coverage from The AthleticCollege football coaches break down Indiana-Miami
From Bruce Feldman:
Can Miami derail Mendoza and the Hoosiers? It’s a tough ask. The Hurricanes have to run the ball against Haines’ defense, something almost no team has been able to do in a long time, and no one has been able to rattle the Heisman Trophy winner all season. One other key point from a coach who faced IU: Can Miami be patient? It’s something other Hoosier opponents haven’t been able to do.
“If you get impatient, bad stuff is going to happen. They make you put the ball in play, and they tackle you and you have to play the next play. People who get impatient get beat like Oregon just did.”
Indiana is part Cinderella story, part spirit-breaking bully
From David Ubben:
The Hoosiers love slamming opponents’ faces in the dirt, but more than that, they’re the team that makes the fewest mistakes. If coaches submitted film complete with play calls for stat-keeping, it’s a safe bet Indiana would lead the nation in fewest missed assignments.
“Although social media before the year was like, ‘Oh, Cinderella story,’ we had all the internal belief in the facility behind closed doors,” Mendoza said. “And I believe that’s what helped propel us to this moment.”
The original Indiana was … Miami
From Jason Kirk:
In the 1970s, the main topic surrounding Miami’s football program was whether to shutter it. It’d been mediocre and/or bad for almost all of the previous 20 years. Few locals cared about the small, private “Suntan U” (1974 enrollment: 8,775) or its independent football team, not when Don Shula’s champion Dolphins were right there in the same stadium. Miami dropped basketball in 1971 for financial reasons and was paying local radio to carry its football games.
In 1979, a madman named Howard Schnellenberger showed up, proclaiming that a program with a 14-29 record over the previous four years would win a national title within the next four years. This was far bolder than even Cignetti’s “Google me,” since Schnelly had little track record worth boasting about. The former Shula assistant’s only previous head-coaching gig was going 4-13 with the Baltimore Colts.
How Indiana broke college football
From Chris Vannini:
If the coach at Indiana is saying you have to compete for titles every year, how should coaches feel at Florida or LSU or some other program that has slipped from the top? In a sport that hands out tens of millions of dollars annually to replace coaches, Cignetti’s certainly not easing the pressure on everyone else.
Miami vs. Indiana odds
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