Miami magic and ‘Cinderella’ Cignetti: playoff semi-finals deliver as Hoosiers & Hurricanes progress

The National Championship game is set.

The buildup to Thursday and Friday’s two college football playoffs semi finals was dominated by different narratives. Head coach defections, teams proving they belong, schools returning to relevance, and perhaps the greatest turnaround of a football program in the history of the sport.

With that as the backdrop, the games had no choice to deliver. And they duly did, with two gripping contests that entertained for very different reasons - proving once again that college football is awesome. 

Hurricane Heist

Did twenty-five years of mediocrity die in Arizona on Thursday?

A football program with a proud tradition, Miami has suffered some lean seasons since the turn of the century. Memories of Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Michael Irving, Warren Sapp and Clinton Portis had slowly been fading to the recesses of even the most ardent Hurricane fan’s brain.

All that changed with a three-yard scramble.

Down a field goal with three minutes on the clock, quarterback Carson Beck led his team 60 yards to the doorstep of the Ole Miss endzone, before being given a clear path to paydirt. With just 24 seconds remaining, the touchdown gave Miami an unassailable 31-27 lead - and the Hurricanes had booked their place in the National Championship game for the first time since 2003.

It’s been a long time coming. The ‘Canes lost that last game, a heartbreaking overtime loss to Ohio State that signalled the start of a barren period in South Florida. For a program that had won four Natty’s in fifteen years before that, standards in Coral Gables have remained high, even if the performances have not.

But finally, after years of sustained investment in staff, facilities and personnel, they have returned to their former status - quite the turnaround after only just squeaking into the playoffs, controversially jumping Notre Dame in the final rankings despite neither playing that week.

Head coach Mario Cristobal and his team have been on a mission to prove their worth ever since. And after dispatching Texas A&M, Ohio State and now Ole Miss, they have more than shown they belong.

But this Fiesta Bowl was no formality. Ole Miss, fueled by a similar siege mentality, came to play. In a pulsating contest that ebbed and flowed and had seven lead changes, the Rebels could very well have been the ones lifting the Fiesta Bowl trophy on Thursday night. One more drive, two more minutes on the clock? Who knows.

He didn’t know it at the time, but this was Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss’ final college football game. The two-time Division II champion with Ferris State was denied a waiver for another year of eligibility by the NCAA on Saturday. Nevertheless, a 300-yard performance was a fitting way to bow out.

With similar numbers, perhaps the difference for Miami’s quarterback was the tools that he had to work with. Beck routinely moved the chains targeting Keelan Marion and freshman phenom Malachi Toney, who enjoyed 200 yards between them and a touchdown each. Throw in a punishing ground game from running back Mark Fletcher, and the ‘Canes had just enough to see them through.

Ole Miss head coach Pete Golding can be proud of how he navigated choppy waters following the exit of Lane Kiffin. And with two playoff wins under his belt, he can turn that immediate proof of concept into momentum in the transfer portal and the recruiting trail. The Rebels will be back in 2026.

But this was the Hurricanes’ night - a night they have not enjoyed in some time. And with the final being played in their very own Hard Rock Stadium in a week’s time, is a miracle in Miami written in the stars?

One more for Indiana immortality

It’s early in the fourth quarter of the Peach Bowl. Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti is growling on the sidelines, incensed at back-to-back dubious officiating calls. Considering the stakes, it’s understandable - games of this magnitude can be determined by the smallest of margins.

Except for one thing: the Hoosiers were winning 42-15, in total cruise control. The result of this contest, if you could call it that, had not been in doubt since before the half.

This relentless competitiveness perfectly encapsulates the nature of Indiana’s eccentric head coach, a 64-year old man who had to wait far too long for a Power 4 opportunity. But once he got his shot, Cignetti went full scorched earth - and in two years turned a languishing program into the envy of college football.

Some final scorelines flatter teams. Not the 56-22 beatdown that the Hoosiers put on Oregon on Friday night; a total demolition of a team that laid a fifty-burger on JMU in the first round and shut out Texas Tech in the quarter final.

The Ducks are a very good football team, with a roster that boasts 55 four and five-star recruits. They have one of the hottest young head coaches in the country in Dan Lanning, and have Nike supremo Phil Knight propping up the program with millions of dollars. Friday’s humbling should have been a shock to everyone.

But it wasn’t. Roared on by close to 60,000 fans, Indiana were dominant from the first snap, corner D’Angelo Ponds picking off Dante Moore and returning the ball 25 yards to open the scoring. Two drives later, and Moore - who may be the number 1 overall pick in the Draft in April, fumbles the ball, leading to another touchdown. From then on the result was inevitable.

Indiana’s rise to prominence under Cignetti would be considered too unrealistic for Hollywood. Comparatively, these two programs should not be in the same stratosphere - the Hoosiers don’t have one five-star player to their name. They call themselves ‘misfits’ - a moniker that looks more ironic with each passing victory.

Fifteen years ago, Cignetti began his head coaching career at IUP, a D2 school in the state he now owns. His coordinators, Mike Shanahan and Bryant Haines, were both paid $8,000 a year. They’ve stuck with him through Elon, James Madison, and now the trio are sixty minutes away from being national champions.

The addition of Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza might seem to casual observers as the catalyst for this success. Mendoza has taken them that final step, the author of numerous game winning drives throughout the season. But in reality, this ship had already been turned around the previous year.

Oregon will be stunned right now. They were run all over, couldn’t defend the pass, and Dante Moore was under pressure all evening. Indiana beat them in Eugene earlier in the year, a game that was much closer. In what felt like an Indiana home game, the Ducks were simply outplayed and outcoached.

Friday was the seventh time this year that Indiana has scored 55 points or more. Only once have they conceded more points - 24 against Penn State in Week 11. Cignetti and his motley crew have answered every question thrown at them. Only one remains - if they finish the fairytale next week, where does he want his statue?

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