Where Indiana vs. Miami ranks among best CFP National Championships

Indiana’s 27-21 victory over Miami in the College Football Playoff National Championship put a bow on arguably the greatest story in the sport’s history. That the Hoosiers’ ascent to the top of the college football world came in dramatic fashion only made the 2025 Indiana squad more legendary. Fueled by a Heisman-caliber play from Fernando Mendoza and a game-sealing interception, the upstart program delivered one of the most dramatic performances in CFP history.

Championship games of yore set a high bar, yet Monday night’s duel between an unforeseen rising power and a rejuvenated blue blood stands among them as a title bout that will not soon be forgotten.

There have now been 12 national title games since the CFP became the championship selector. The last two came at the end of 12-team tournaments and produced the most battle-tested winners the sport has ever seen. Many of the contests delivered one-sided results, but a few live on as some of the greatest wars ever waged.

Here are the greatest national championship games of the CFP era, ranked.

It was a game so lopsided that Georgia players ate chicken wings from a field-level suite during the fourth quarter. The Bulldogs set the record for the largest margin of victory in a CFP or bowl game (before breaking their own record a year later) and won their second consecutive national championship behind a six-touchdown effort from quarterback Stetson Bennett IV. TCU looked like a team of destiny that season until it suffered its first loss in the most humbling manner imaginable. Georgia led by double digits for all but about 50 minutes of game time.

The 2020 Alabama roster was perhaps the greatest one Nick Saban ever constructed, and it dispatched Ohio State without too much resistance in the title game. The Crimson Tide, with Heisman Trophy winner DeVonta Smith, never trailed against a Buckeyes team that had only played seven games up to that point due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In front of a reduced-capacity crowd, Alabama took a two-possession lead with 3:19 left in the first half and entered cruise control en route to its most comfortable championship game victory of the CFP era.

10. Clemson 44, Alabama 16 (2018)

If one of Alabama or Clemson was expected ahead of time to roll to a blowout win, it would have been the Crimson Tide. Instead, Dabo Swinney won his second championship in resounding fashion with a 28-point victory in a battle of undefeated teams. Things got off to an inauspicious start for Alabama when Tua Tagovailoa threw a pick 6 on his first possession, and while he helped pull his squad out of the early hole to take a second-quarter lead, it was all Clemson from that point forward. The stout Clemson defense held Alabama scoreless over the final 44 minutes while Trevor Lawrence, Travis Etienne and Tee Higgins asserted their stardom to pull away.

Washington had an opportunity to put the Pac-12 on top of the college football world before its collapse the ensuing offseason, but the Huskies ran into a juggernaut. Jim Harbaugh closed his Michigan tenure as a national champion — and an undefeated one at that — with a three-touchdown win in his final game with the Wolverines. Donovan Edwards ran for touchdowns of 41 and 46 yards in the first quarter, and that was a telling sign of Michigan’s advantage in the trenches. Even when the margin shrunk to seven points in the third quarter, it hardly felt as if the result was in doubt.

Jim Harbaugh and Michigan won the first of three consecutive national championships for the Big Ten Conference.
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8. Ohio State 42, Oregon 20 (2014)

Ohio State became the first national champion of the CFP era and one of two No. 4 seeds to reach the mountaintop when it pulled away from Oregon late in the title game. Cardale Jones cemented himself as a Buckeyes legend when he ascended from the third-string role to the starting job and led his offense to a 42-point, 538-yard explosion against Marcus Mariota and the Ducks. It was Ezekiel Elliott, though, who did the heavy lifting. The running back scored four touchdowns on the Oregon defense including three in the final 15 minutes to break a tight game wide open.

7. Ohio State 34, Notre Dame 23 (2024)

Ryan Day’s $20 million team got off to a slow start in the championship game, initially raising questions about whether it would suffer a third loss. And then it turned on the jets. Quinshon Judkins scored three consecutive touchdowns during a stretch in when Ohio State built a 31-7 lead. Notre Dame did not go down without generating some drama, though. Riley Leonard connected with Jaden Greathouse on a pair of 30-yard touchdowns to make it a one-possession game late in the fourth quarter and put a legitimate scare into a Buckeyes team that for much of the night looked set to win by a wide margin. The comeback effort fell short, though.

6. LSU 42, Clemson 25 (2019)

The 2019 LSU squad is widely considered the greatest college football team of the 21st century, if not all time. But for a few moments, it was in danger of suffering its first and only loss on the biggest stage. Clemson, loaded with a host of its own future NFL stars, jumped out to the initial lead and built a 10-point advantage in the second quarter. Joe Burrow reminded everyone that he was the Heisman Trophy winner for a reason, though, when he passed for five touchdowns and ran for another to erase LSU’s deficit, hold off a second-half surge from Clemson and ultimately separate for a three-possession win.

5. Georgia 33, Alabama 18 (2021)

The all-SEC championship battle of 2021 was an old-school rock fight for three quarters. Georgia and Alabama flexed their defensive muscles and traded field goals until the Bulldogs finally broke through for the game’s first touchdown with 1:20 to play in the third period. Zamir White’s 1-yard plunge opened the floodgates for a thrilling fourth quarter that featured two lead changes and a game-sealing pick 6 by Kelee Ringo, which remains one of the greatest plays in CFP history.

4. Indiana 27, Miami 21 (2025)

Indiana had to work harder for its championship game win than it did in the previous two rounds as Miami put up a valiant effort on its home turf, three times pulling within a field goal after falling behind early by 10 points. Every time the Hurricanes built momentum, the Hoosiers had an answer. None of those responses were as outstanding as Fernando Mendoza’s gritty 12-yard touchdown run on fourth down, which put the Heisman Trophy winner and his group back on top by two scores in the final period. Carson Beck had a shot at closing his college career as a winner, but down by six on Miami’s final possession, he threw a game-ending interception on a shot towards the end zone.

3. Alabama 45, Clemson 40 (2015)

The first of three national championship battles between Alabama and Clemson was a classic. Three ties and four lead changes led to the Crimson Tide winning their first title of the CFP era. The margin was within one score for all but four minutes as two stellar offenses featuring Heisman Trophy winner Derrick Henry, Deshaun Watson, Calvin Ridley and Hunter Renfrow traded punches until the final possession. The Crimson Tide made the play of the game with a kickoff return touchdown from Kenyan Drake in a fourth quarter that featured 40 total points.

2. Clemson 35, Alabama 31 (2016)

Clemson won the rematch with Alabama one year after losing a heartbreaker. And it did so in the most thrilling fashion. Again led by Deshaun Watson and Hunter Renfrow, the Tigers erased deficits of 14-0 and 24-14 and took a decisive lead with one second remaining. Down by three, Watson connected with Renfrow on a 2-yard touchdown pass to put the Tigers ahead for good. Watson broke his own record for passing yards in a national championship game with 420, establishing himself as a CFP legend.

1. Alabama 26, Georgia 23 (2017)

The first of two Alabama vs. Georgia championship showdowns remains the only national title game of the CFP era to require overtime. For much of the night, overtime was not at the front of anyone’s mind as the Bulldogs twice led by 13 points (13-0 and 20-7). But after going scoreless in the first half, Alabama made the most memorable in-game quarterback change in college football history, inserting Tua Tagovailoa into the lineup. The backup hit Calvin Ridley for a touchdown to send the game to extra time. Then, down three in the additional period, Tagovailoa took a sack before delivering a 41-yard, game-winning strike to DeVonta Smith that will forever be enshrined in Alabama football lore.