Overview
- Miami and Indiana will meet for the College Football Playoff national championship on Jan. 19 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens.
- Mario Cristobal characterized facing Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza as a "full-circle" moment, noting he played high school football with Mendoza’s father at Christopher Columbus High School.
- WSVN reports that nearly two dozen alumni of South Florida programs are expected to take part, including Miami Central’s Rueben Bain Jr. and Wesley Bissainthe and American Heritage’s Malachi Toney and Mark Fletcher.
- Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza, the 2025 Heisman Trophy winner and a Columbus alum who grew up a Hurricanes fan, reportedly received only a walk-on offer from Miami before taking a scholarship at Cal and later transferring to Indiana.
- High school coaches in Miami-Dade and Broward expressed pride in their former players’ presence, while Cristobal emphasized keeping hometown distractions in check during title-game preparations.