The final game of the 2025 college football season will be played Monday night at the Hard Rock Stadium, and the betting public, the Las Vegas oddsmakers, and the majority of the country are in solidarity with most Florida State Seminole fans hoping for an Indiana Hoosier (15-0) beatdown of the Miami Hurricanes in the National Championship game. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN.
The Hoosiers will be the designated home team despite the game being played in Miami Gardens at the stadium Miami (13-2) rents to play their “home” schedule. According to Fanduel, the Hoosiers are an 8.5-point favorite over the Canes with the over/under set at 47.5 points.
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Indiana, which some insist on calling this year’s Cinderella team despite finishing the 2024 season ranked 10th with an 11-2 final record, and their only regular season loss being to Ohio State before losing to Notre Dame in the first round of last year’s College Football Playoff, was the only team to finish the 2025 regular season undefeated. The Hoosiers then went on to defeat Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship, beat down Alabama 38-3, before then smacking Oregon around, 56-22, in the semifinals.
Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza’s 73% completion percentage, 3,581 passing yards, 41 touchdowns, with only six interceptions, complements an Indiana rushing offense that averages 218 yards per game. Defensively, the Hoosiers’ 11.1 points allowed per game ranks them 2nd in the FBS.
Indiana was ranked #20 in the preseason polls and could become the lowest-ranked team to win the national championship since Auburn did it in 2010 when they started the season ranked at #22.
Meanwhile, Miami backed in the playoffs with the final at-large selection despite losing two conference games to Louisville and SMU, by virtue of their head-to-head win over Notre Dame in the season opener.
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Notre Dame was so offended by this snub that they opted out of the bowl season, which, in retrospect, is something that Florida State should have done after the committee’s even more egregious treatment and snub of the ACC Champion Seminoles following the 2023 season. The Hurricanes, who have yet to win an ACC Conference Championship since joining in 2004, last played for a title 25 years ago while still a member of the Big East.
Miami’s path to the title game came by squeaking past Texas A&M, 10-3, defending champions Ohio State, 24-14, and Ole Miss, 31-27. To their credit, the $35 million dollars many have estimated Miami spent on their roster this season has paid dividends with their 6th-rushing defense allowing just 86 yards per game, 4th-ranked scoring defense, and 6th-ranked overall defensive unit. Meanwhile, their $4.3 million 6th-year quarterback, Carson Beck, passed for a formidable 3,349 yards, 29 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions, with a 73.3 completion percentage.
Here are some points the announcers will make repeatedly before and during the game, just in case you decide to watch the game muted with no volume:
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Fernando Mendoza played football while attending Christopher Columbus High School in Miami.
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His father, Fernando Sr, also attended Christopher Columbus and played football with Mario Cristobal.
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A Miami win will make Cristobal the first head coach to win a national title as a player and the coach of his alma mater in the AP era (1936).
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If Miami wins, they will be only the third two-loss team to win a national championship, along with LSU in 2007 and OSU last season, and for the second time in a row.
The results of recent SB Nation React surveys show that that 77% of the betting public would put their cash on the Hoosiers to cover.
Meanwhile, most college football fans also find the Miami Hurricanes simply unlikeable, as this SB Nation confirms.
Please share your thoughts on the game. Tell us what Indiana needs to do to win? Will Indiana cover the spread? How about the 47.5 over/under?
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We will also use this post as a live game thread during the game in case you want to share in joy of the Hoosier win.
