MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Indiana coach Curt Cignetti took a timeout with 9:27 remaining in the fourth quarter. The Hoosiers faced a fourth-and-4.
Indiana previously sent the field goal team out with a 17-14 lead against No. 10 Miami, but Cignetti changed his mind. Receiver Charlie Becker recounted what quarterback Fernando Mendoza said in the moment.
"We need a touchdown and we're going to score a touchdown," Becker confirmed.
Mendoza then made the run that forever will define the unlikeliest national championship story in the history of college football. He waited long just enough for Miami edge rushers Rueben Bain Jr. And Akheem Mesidor to run past the play. Mendoza weaved upfield, slammed into Miami linebacker Wesley Bissainthe, but that was not the end.
Mendoza kept going. He stretched his arms into the end zone between Miami defenders for a 12-yard touchdown and a 24-14 lead.
WHAT A PLAY BY MENDOZA!!! Pic.twitter.com/FiV4nS44lv
— ESPN Radio (@ESPNRadio) January 20, 2026
"Fernando, I know he's great in interviews and comes off as the All-American guy," Cignetti said. "But he has the heart of a lion when it comes to competition. That guy competes like a warrior. He got really smacked a few times in this game. … Can't say enough about his effort on that play and our team finding a way to get it done."
No. 1 Indiana defeated No. 10 Miami 27-21 in the College Football Playoff championship at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla, on Monday. This was not expected at the beginning of the season. Yet the Hoosiers (16-0) were heavy favorites against the Hurricanes (13-3) in the closing act of the second 12-team College Football Playoff. How do you balance that?
Is this the most unlikely national championship program of all time? Of course. Is this the greatest team of all time? That's up for eternal debate. Is this the best single-season Big Ten team of all time? We can go there. But there is no question Mendoza's unexpected play defined the national championship celebration that followed.
Mark Cuban – an Indiana alum and multi-million dollar businessman – put this bizarro college football world into perspective before the Hoosiers took the field.
"Everybody is an Indiana fan right now," Cuban told AllSportsPeople. "It's because we're such an underdog story. That adds so much to it."
By the end of the night, Cuban was putting on a national championship T-shirt, too.
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Clutch plays lead Indiana's victory against Miami
Cignetti gnawed on his gum with a cold stare toward the line of scrimmage after a timeout with 6:17 left in the first half.
Tight end Riley Nowakowski lined up at fullback on a play where seven offensive linemen were on the field. He picked through the line of scrimmage on third-and-goal for a 1-yard TD run with 6:13 left in the first half to give the Hoosiers a 10-0 lead. It wasn't what anybody expected given Nowakowski had two carries this season. That is Indiana football.
Indiana's defense dominated the first half. Defensive stars Cignetti brought with him from James Madison and developed into All-Americans made the plays. Linebacker Aiden Fisher ended a drive with a sack. D'Angelo Ponds had a pass breakup. Miami has run 14 plays for 26 yards on its first four drives. This is Indiana football, too.
Mikail Kamara – yet another James Madison transfer – shot past two Miami blockers and swatted Miami punter Dylan Joyce's punt, which Isaiah Jones pounced on in the end zone with 5:04 left in the third quarter that gave the Hoosiers a 17-7 lead.
"This was actually a return, and Mikail blocked the punt," Cignetti said. "We didn't have a punt block called."
The Hurricanes had fought back. A Pro Football Hall of Fame legion of program legends such as Michael Irvin and Ed Reed lined the sidelines looking for an equally unlikely national championship as a No. 10 seed. Bain and Mesidor – the ferocious edge-rushing tandem – had three sacks in the second half. Mark Fletcher Jr.'s second TD run cut the lead to 17-14 with 14:57 remaining in the fourth quarter.
That set up Mendoza's fourth-down run and a series of incredible clutch plays.
Indiana delivers in fourth quarter
Mendoza – the Heisman Trophy winner – took the hits in this victory. Yet that run epitomized what the potential No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft brought to this game. The Miami native barreled into the end zone for the moment everyone will remember.
"Any player on our team, if they had that opportunity, they would put their body on the line, too," Mendoza said. "Coach Cig has talked about how close we are, like that's just the epitome of how close we are."
Miami answered again – this time with a 22-yard TD pass from Carson Beck to freshman receiver Malachi Toney with 6:37 remaining.
Yet there was no panic. That's when "Hurts So Good" – the 80s ballad by Indiana native John Mellencamp – played in Hard Rock Stadium. Indiana fans sang in unison. Mendoza led a field-goal drive with a pair of clutch third-down conversions to Omar Cooper Jr. And Becker. Mendoza finished 16 of 27 for 186 passing yards.
Indiana had a chance for its defense to close the game.
"We told ourselves on the sideline we're going to have a chance to go and win this thing, and I feel like that was kind of fitting for our team," Fisher said. "Put it on us one more time and kind of let the chips fall."
Beck – a sixth-year senior – had a chance to lead a game-winning drive with 1:42 remaining. Miami pushed to the Indiana 47-yard line, but Beck's next pass fluttered short.
Indiana defensive back Jamari Sharpe – the nephew of former Miami defensive back Glenn Sharpe – made the interception. Glenn Sharpe was the player called for the controversial pass interference in overtime against Ohio State in the 31-24 double-overtime loss in the 2003 BCS championship game. Miami coach Mario Cristobal – whose passion has put the Hurricanes back on the national radar, too – was close. Just not close enough.
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"It's the right place to go with the ball," Cristobal said. "Just got to be a little bit further and a little bit farther outside. We didn't connect on it, and turnover."
That touched off a wild celebration. Indiana players hugged, cried and posed for pictures in the stream of crimson-and-cream confetti. Mendoza – in perhaps of the unlikely moment of the night – dropped an F-bomb in the post-game interview on live television.
"I'd say overall my emotion and it's the pinnacle peak," Mendoza said. "All season -- sometimes I've had these cookie-cutter responses, media-trained responses, on to the next game, on to the next play, and now we did it."
Is Indiana the best team ever?
Indiana is the first FBS team to finish 16-0 since Yale in 1894, and with apologies to those Bulldogs, the Hoosiers will be in those greatest all-time team conversations with the best team of the four-team CFP era – 2019 LSU – the best team of the BCS era – pick between 2001 Miami and 2005 Texas – and perhaps the 1995 Nebraska team in the poll era.
Indiana earned that with a buzz-saw run through the 12-team College Football Playoff that include a 38-3 blowout against No. 9 Alabama in the Rose Bowl Game on Jan. 1 and a 56-22 blowout against No. 5 Oregon in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl on Jan. 9. It's not an underdog this year, but rather a two-season overhaul that defies imagination before Cignetti said two words — "It's pretty simple. I win. Google me" – at a press conference on Dec. 23, 2023.
"It's a great story, a tremendous story," Cignetti said. "Most people would tell you that are in the know, it's probably one of the greatest stories of all time in terms of a team that most people. We got it done."
Nobody from the Big Ten establishment took Cignetti at his word at the time, and why would they? Indiana had just one victory each against Ohio State and Michigan – the last two national champions since 1990. Cignetti upset the establishment with a roster whose starting lineup averaged 2.5 stars but four-plus years of college experience. Despite an 11-2 record and CFP appearance last season, there were doubters.
"Everybody said, 'Who is going to be the next Indiana?'" Becker said. "We're Indiana. We're always going to work our butts off to try to get to the next level."
It's hard to dispute that now. Indiana is the only 16-0 team in FBS history. Now, Cignetti will be expected to do it again. How will he enjoy this moment?
"Good question, because I'll be dealing with underclassmen going to the NFL tomorrow and who knows what else," he said. "If I was smart, I'd probably retire. Then I'd really be a story. But we need the money. What would I do? What would I do?"
Then he answered his own question.
"We'll be back at it," Cignetti said. "I love what I do. I love football. I'm a football guy. I don't have many other things that I do besides family, and in the summer go for a walk with my wife... I'm a film junkie and I like putting a team together and we're going to have a lot of challenges next season. But I will have a chance to look back at what we got done."