Overview
- Indiana defeated Miami 27-21 to claim the College Football Playoff championship, with Jamari Sharpe’s interception with 44 seconds left sealing the win.
- Fernando Mendoza’s tackle-breaking 12-yard run on fourth-and-4 with 9:18 remaining pushed the lead to 24-14 and stood as the decisive play.
- A pivotal special-teams moment came when Mikail Kamara blocked a punt that Isaiah Jones recovered for a touchdown, the first blocked-punt TD in the CFP era.
- The victory completed a rare 16-0 campaign and continued Indiana’s two-year turnaround under Curt Cignetti, who is 27-2 over that span.
- Mendoza, Indiana’s first Heisman Trophy winner, is widely projected as the No. 1 pick in the upcoming NFL Draft, with reports frequently linking the Raiders.