{"id":411036,"date":"2026-09-26T05:16:41","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T05:16:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/411036\/"},"modified":"2026-09-26T05:16:41","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T05:16:41","slug":"national-championship-communication-cut-off-during-trumps-exit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/411036\/","title":{"rendered":"National championship communication cut off during Trump\u2019s exit"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Photo credit: Jake Sperling, Ibis Yearbook \/\/ True freshman wide receiver Malachi Toney attempts to break Indiana’s Amare Ferrell in the National Championship game on Jan. 19, 2026.<\/p>\n

Communication during the 2026 College Football Playoff National Championship Game between Miami and Indiana was cut off during Malachai Toney\u2019s 22-yard touchdown.<\/p>\n

The lack of headset communication was due to President Trump\u2019s exit, according to Texas Longhorns Head Coach Steve Sarkisian<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year, when they were playing Indiana in the national championship, [Miami] had that drive at the end of the game,\u201d Sarkisian said to On Texas Football<\/a> on Thursday. \u201cThey had no communications because [President Trump] was leaving early before the game ended. You get no warning. It just cuts out, you have to be prepared for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sarkisian\u2019s comments come as the White House confirmed to The Athletic<\/a> on Wednesday that President Trump will be attending Saturday\u2019s matchup between No. 1 Texas and No. 14 Tennessee in Knoxville, Tenn.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sarkisian worked with Miami Hurricanes Head Coach Mario Cristobal under Nick Saban at Alabama. The Longhorn coach referred to Cristobal as a \u201cgood friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Miami Hurricane reached out to the University for comment but has not received a response.<\/p>\n

That same evening, Indiana Head Coach Curt Cignetti spoke to Indiana sports podcast<\/a> Kirkwood & Dunn. He said that communication was not knocked during the final drive of the game and called Sarkisian\u2019s report \u201ca bunch of b\u2014.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s floating around on social media is that the communication device went down on Miami\u2019s last drive of the game on offense,\u201d Cignetti said<\/a>.\u201cI had to dispel that. The communication devices came back right after the touchdown and we had no problem on either side.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cignetti tells ESPN\u2019s Pete Thamel<\/a> that the headsets went down with roughly 6:45 left in the fourth quarter and it impacted a few plays for Indiana\u2019s defense \u2014 including a 41-yard pass to Toney and his 22-yard touchdown that cut Indiana\u2019s lead to 24-21.<\/p>\n

We couldn\u2019t hear [on the TD] then it came back,\u201d Cignetti said. \u201cIt came back before kickoff. We both had communication from that point on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sources from inside Miami\u2019s football program told CBS Sports<\/a> a similar story. While different sources said the communication disruption came at various times, each source claimed the lack of communication lasted a couple of plays and did not have a significant impact on the game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But, what remains consistent across all sources is that the President\u2019s departure caused communication devices to be cut for a small period of time.<\/p>\n

Teams use headsets to communicate between coaches on the sideline and assistants that work from the press box, usually located in the upper-level of a stadium. Communication also feeds into the quarterback\u2019s helmet and one member of the defense, most likely a linebacker.<\/p>\n

Without headset communication, teams are forced to go \u201cold-school,\u201d yelling out plays in code from the sideline and giving it out to players.<\/p>\n

The communication interruption ultimately did not impact the Hoosiers stopping Miami on the final drive of the game, the play that led Indiana to claiming its first national championship.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Down 27-21 with less than two minutes left, Miami was driving down the field and found its way to the Indiana 41-yard line.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On first down, Miami quarterback Carson Beck launched the ball down the field, looking for receiver Keelan Marrion. Instead, the ball found Indiana\u2019s Jamari Sharpe at the Hoosiers\u2019 14-yard line, going down to the ground and clinching the game<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Jakobe Thomas is consoled by two team members at the CFP National Championship game as confetti rains down for Indiana on Monday, Jan. 19. \/\/ Photo Credit: Jake Sperling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo credit: Jake Sperling, Ibis Yearbook \/\/ True freshman wide receiver Malachi Toney attempts to break Indiana’s Amare…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":411037,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-411036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=411036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411036\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/411037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=411036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=411036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=411036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}