College Football Championship: Indiana vs. Miami - Who Has the Advantage?

by Eric Fulton

Tonight, the Indiana Hoosiers and Miami Hurricanes will battle it out to see who will become the National Champion of the 2025 college football season. Both programs are very different when it comes to college football power. Miami was once the king of college football in the 1980s and early ‘90s. They had one of the best college football teams of all time in 2001. But in the past 20-plus years, Miami has not been anywhere close to becoming the championship contender it once was. Now, the Hurricanes have the opportunity to return to the top of the college football world. 
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On the other side, Indiana is looking to finish perhaps the greatest season in the history of college football. The Hoosiers are looking to finish a perfect 16-0. The last time any football team finished 16-0 was Yale in 1894.  Historically, Indiana has not been a good college football program. In fact, for many years in the ‘90s and 2000s, they were among the worst programs in the country. Now with NIL (Name, Image and Likeness), Indiana is proving that any team can win a national championship. 

Both teams will be led by veteran college quarterbacks. For Miami, Carson Beck has played on the National Championship stage before. Prior to his arrival in Miami, he was a part of two national championship teams with the Georgia Bulldogs. With his big-game experience, Beck will help his teammates play well. Indiana counters with the 2025 Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza. Mendoza began his college career at the University of California, Berkeley. Unlike Beck, Mendoza did not play for championships at Cal, but he did have the opportunity to be part of a winning program at Indiana. If the Hoosiers win this game, Mendoza will complete the greatest season by a quarterback in college football history, and he would do it at an unlikely place, Indiana. 

In my opinion, the biggest key to the game will be defense. Miami played great defense in the first two playoff rounds, but against Ole Miss, it had opportunities to ice the game early and did not capitalize. Ole Miss came back and nearly won the game until Beck’s game-winning touchdown in the final seconds put the Hurricanes on top for good. Meanwhile, Indiana has been dominating in their two playoff games. Neither of the Hoosiers' games was really close, but this could be a low-scoring affair for both teams. This should be exciting as both defenses have the potential to make big plays. 

Another key is who can coach a better game. For Mario Cristobal, he won national championships as a player at Miami and now as a coach would be the ultimate dream for him. Curt Cignetti, on the other hand, is looking at history. The fast meteoric rise of Cignetti has been outstanding. He won many games at James Madison University in Virginia. Now, he has quickly become one of college football’s most fascinating and winning head coaches. Both of these coaches will be aggressive and will like to help their teams make big plays. The key is who will have a better game plan and who will make a difference. To me, this coaching matchup is going to be amazing. 

I think Indiana will win this game because of the better quarterback and better defense. But I think with the national championship game being in Miami’s home stadium, that will give the Hurricanes a shot at playing well in front of their crowd. It should be an exciting game to end a wonderful college football season.