Either Indiana or Oregon will play for its first national championship in school history on Jan. 19.
This is the closest the Hoosiers have come to a national title while Oregon is trying to make its third title game appearance in the last 16 seasons. The Ducks played for the national title after the 2010 season and were part of the first College Football Playoff national title game in January of 2015.
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[More CFP: Fiesta Bowl players to watch, key to game]
Peach Bowl: No. 1 Indiana vs. No. 5 Oregon
Indiana (14-0): The Hoosiers are now the only team to get a first-round bye and win a quarterfinal game in the brief history of the 12-team College Football Playoff. And Indiana made it look easy, too. The Hoosiers absolutely dominated Alabama 38-3 in the Rose Bowl as the Crimson Tide were overmatched in nearly every facet.
Indiana ran 66 plays for 407 yards — that’s 6.2 yards per play — while Alabama had 50 plays for 193 yards. The Hoosiers had 22 more rushing yards than Alabama had total yards. It was a butt-kicking. And a butt-kicking that was unprecedented in modern times for the Crimson Tide.
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Oregon (13-1): The Ducks also dominated their quarterfinal opponent. Oregon’s defense was statistically even better than Indiana’s in its 23-0 Orange Bowl win over Texas Tech. The Red Raiders turned the ball over four times and had just 215 yards on 62 plays. That 23-0 game felt like 40-0, especially in the second half as it was evident that Texas Tech’s offense was not getting out of neutral.
Oregon’s offense ran 81 plays in the game but struggled to move the ball against a Texas Tech defense that is one of the nation’s best. The 3.8 yards per play that Oregon averaged was the team’s worst single-game output of the season. The worst mark before that: 4.2 yards per play in Indiana’s 30-20 regular-season win.
How the QBs stack up
It’s incredibly possible — and maybe even likely — that the game will feature the top two picks in the 2026 NFL Draft.
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Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza won the Heisman Trophy and is widely expected to declare for the draft at the end of the season. After all, the Hoosiers just signed former TCU QB Josh Hoover out of the transfer portal for 2026.
Mendoza’s efficiency was on full display against the Crimson Tide. As Indiana rushed the ball 50 times, he threw 16 passes. Mendoza completed 14 of them for 192 yards and three scores. It was the fourth time this season that he finished with more touchdown passes than incompletions.
Including the playoff, Mendoza has completed 72% of his passes this season for 3,172 yards and 36 TDs with just six interceptions.
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Oregon’s Dante Moore is seen as the best non-Mendoza prospect in the draft if he declares. Moore was 26-of-33 passing for 234 yards and had an interception against the Red Raiders. It was just the third time all season that Moore finished a game with more interceptions than touchdown passes. Yes, one of the other two games was the loss to Indiana.
Counting his two playoff games, Moore is 272-of-373 passing for 3,280 yards and 28 TDs with nine interceptions. He’s posted those numbers as Oregon has dealt with a depleted wide receiver group for much of the season. Evan Stewart hasn’t played all year because of a knee injury and both Dakorien Moore and Gary Bryant Jr. have missed significant time.
Players to watch
Indiana RBs Kaelon Black and Roman Hemby: It’s impossible to pick one or the other ahead of the Peach Bowl. Hemby cracked the 1,000-yard mark against Alabama and now has 194 carries for 1,007 yards and seven scores. Black has 157 carries for 898 yards and eight touchdowns. It’s very possible that he could top the 1,000-yard mark against the Ducks.
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If he does, then Indiana will be in very good shape. As Indiana rushed for 215 yards, the two backs combined for 188 of those yards on just 33 carries. Each scored a touchdown too. Mendoza has gotten all the plaudits all season, but the contributions that Black and Hemby have made — along with the offensive linemen that block for them — cannot be overlooked.
Oregon RB Noah Whittington: The sixth-year senior’s importance got even greater with Tuesday’s revelation that Jordon Davison would miss the game. Davison scored twice against Texas Tech but reportedly suffered a broken clavicle against the Red Raiders.
Whittington is the team’s leading rusher with 129 carries for 829 yards. He had just four carries against James Madison before he had 13 for 31 yards against Texas Tech.
Davison isn’t the only running back unavailable for Friday night’s game, either. Jayden Limar is entering the transfer portal too. He’s the team’s fourth-leading rusher.
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Whittington has primarily been used as a runner between the tackles. Can Oregon be effective up the middle against Indiana’s front? If the Ducks want to stretch the field laterally, Dierre Hill Jr. will probably be their best bet.
Key to the game
In October, Indiana picked Moore off twice and held the Ducks to 81 rushing yards on 30 carries. Davison was the team’s leading rusher in that game. He had eight carries for 59 yards; Whittington, Limar and Hill combined to rush 11 times for 41 yards.
Davison’s absence makes it incredibly hard to pick Oregon in the rematch, especially given the way that Oregon’s offense would stall out against Texas Tech. Yes, the Ducks had a couple short fields thanks to turnovers, but Oregon still averaged fewer than four yards per play. Indiana’s defense is comparable to that of Texas Tech.
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The Ducks can’t put all the pressure on Moore to carve up the Indiana secondary with quick throw after quick throw. But that may be the situation that Oregon is in given their sudden lack of running back depth.
