#1 Hoosiers Compete a Perfect Season over the #10 Hurricanes 

By Nick Jenkinson/Excel H Sports

Photos by: Eric Thieszen, Excel H Sports/Thieszen Photo Creations

    The #1 Indiana Hoosiers have completed one of the best turnarounds in all over sports winning the College Football Playoff National Championship Monday Night at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida with a 27-21 victory over the #10 Miami Hurricanes to become just the second team in FBS History to go 16-0 in a season joining Yale in 1894.

  The Hoosiers are 27-2 under Curt Cignetti and coming into the season Indiana had the most losses of any FBS Program with 715 and now second all-time behind Northwestern who has 716. Cignetti came to Bloomington with a mission to change a fanbase who was used to losing and made a lot of bold statements that he has backed up and believed form day one he could make Indiana Football one of the best College Football Teams in the nation. Indiana was 9-27 in the three years before Cignetti arrived and now, they have reached the pinnacle of College Football.

  Heisman Trophy Winner Fernando Mendoza who grew up 2 miles from the University of Miami Campus and dreamed of playing for the Hometown Hurricanes made the biggest play of the game to lead the Hoosiers to the title in his hometown. On a fourth and four at the 12-yard line Mendoza took off and willed his way to the end zone with 9:18 left in the game to give Indiana a 24-14 lead. Mendzoa finished the game 16-27 for 186 yards passing but did not throw a touchdown pass. Mendoza who is the first Heisman Trophy Winner in School History became the first player since Alabama Wide Receiver DeVonta Smith in 2020 to win College Football’s biggest award and a National Title in the same season.

  Miami who ends the year 13-3 was the first team in the College Football Playoff/Bowl Championship Era to play for the title in its home stadium and were looking for their first National Title since 2001. The Hurricanes scored two rushing touchdowns two by Mark Fletcher Jr and with 6:37 left in the game Carson Beck found Malachi Toney on a 22-yard touchdown pass that made it 24-21 as Indiana led throughout the entire game and always came up with an answer for the Hurricanes. Nico Radicic hit a field goal to make it 27-21 Indiana with 1:42 left in the game.

   Miami had one more chance and with 44 seconds left Carson Beck was picked by Miami Native Jamari Sharpe who played at Northwestern HS to seal the deal for the Hoosiers and lift the College Football Playoff National Championship Trophy in front of a crowd of 67,227 fans and majority wearing cream and crimson as the Indiana Fan Base showed up in force during this run to the National Championship.

  Beck finished the game 19-32 for 232 yards passing with a touchdown and an interception. Mark Fletcher Jr. had 112 yards rushing with 2 touchdowns on 17 carries. Malachi Toney caught 10 passes for 122 yards and a touchdown. Carter Davis missed a 50-yard field goal with 33 seconds left before halftime as the Hoosiers led 10-0 at the break holding Miami to 69 yards offense which was the fewest by a team in a CFP Championship Game.

  Indiana scored with 2:42 left in the first quarter with a 34 Yard field goal by Nico Radicic to make it 3-0. Riley Nowakowski scored on a yard run with 6:13 left in the second quarter to make it 10-0. Fletcher Jr. ripped off a 57-yard run 11:06 left in the third quarter to make it 10-7 Indiana. Special teams came up big as Mikail Kamara blocked a punt and Isaiah Jones recovered it in the end zone as the Hoosiers went up 17-7 with 5:04.

   Miami opened the fourth quarter with a 3-yard run from Mark Fletcher Jr. to make it 17-14 with 14:57 left in the game. Indiana made another fourth down gamble when Mendoza found Charlie Becker for 19 yards to keep the drive alive and then four plays later Mendoza scored. The Hurricanes outscored the Hoosiers 14-10 in the fourth quarter, but the Indiana defense made the play it needed with the Jamari Sharpe Interception to seal the victory and send the largest living alumni fan base into a frenzy.

 In 1976 Indiana won the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship with a 32-0 record and no team has gone undefeated since now 50 years later Indiana does it again in Football and joins UCLA as the only school to finish with an unbeaten season in both sports. Curt Cignetti and Indiana have silenced all of the critics once and for all and what was a long history of losing has changed, and they are here to stay and now there will a be a National Championship Trophy in the Case at Memorial Stadium and that is something most thought was only a dream is now a reality.