It was a dominant first half from Indiana in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game, leading Miami 10-0. That makes 31 scoreless quarters from the Indiana defense and eight scoreless halves.<\/p>\n
Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza has passed for 116 yards. Miami quarterback Carson Beck has passed for 49 yards. Mendoza is out-performing Beck, even with the Hurricane defense getting pressure on six of 17 (35 percent) of Mendoza’s drop backs.<\/p>\n
On the ground, Miami has struggled, too, gaining only 2.5 yards per carry. We’ve seen an overall lack of explosiveness from the Hurricanes in the first half. That’s placed The U behind the sticks more often than not and has contributed to an offense that went 0-6 on third downs.<\/p>\n
Yet, Miami is no stranger to scoreless first halves. Let’s not forget that the Hurricanes opened the CFP with a scoreless first half against Texas A&M. The difference in that first-round game and the national title game might be that Miami\u00a0WILL NOT\u00a0open the second half with the football, and the Hurricanes trail.<\/p>\n
Miami’s defense NEEDS to prevent a touchdown to open the third quarter more than SpongeBob needed water at Sandy’s house. If Indiana’s offense can find the end zone, it’ll be hard for any offense to overcome a three-score deficit against the Hoosiers. That’s without factoring in the pressure of a national championship on the line.<\/p>\n
2019-20 LSU is the last team to overcome a 10-point deficit to win a CFP title game. 2013-14 Florida State’s 18-point comeback in the BCS championship is the largest comeback across the BCS and CFP era.<\/p>\n