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Miami Hurricanes vs. Indiana Hoosiers CFP National Championship preview: History, coaching breakdown, and keys to victory
Monday night will deliver the 935th and final game of an action-packed 2025 college football season when the Miami Hurricanes and Indiana Hoosiers do battle at Hard Rock Stadium in the College Football Playoff National Championship.
It seems like only yesterday that Iowa State and Kansas State kicked off the campaign in style in Dublin; since then, we’ve seen nine teams crowned conference champions and twelve invited to the playoffs. Of the dozen that made it to the dance, only two remain.
#10 Miami proved the doubters wrong, handling Texas A&M, Ohio State and Ole Miss to earn a date with destiny. Meanwhile, #1 Indiana - the only undefeated program left this year - destroyed Alabama and Oregon. Can they complete the Cinderella story?
With plenty of pre-game build-up and several coverage options available on DAZN, here's everything you need to know as the Hoosiers and Hurricanes prepare leave it all on the field in the biggest college game of the year.
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Princes & Paupers
These two schools have very different football histories. Miami is a football program that plays amid a backdrop of huge expectations; the dominant, national championship-winning teams of the late 90’s and early 2000’s forever set the standard for all that follow.
That level of success has, without doubt, been a huge burden for the Hurricanes, further compounded by the levels of investment poured into the program by alumni and boosters. This has been even more acute in the NIL era, with resources able to be funnelled directly and legitimately into on-field talent.
Randy Shannon. Al Golden. Mark Richt. Manny Diaz, four head coaches with proven track records elsewhere, struggled down in Coral Gables. And since 2022, the onus has been on Mario Cristobal to bring this esteemed school back to the level expected. Four years later, and he’s on the verge of doing just that.
The story couldn’t be any more different on the opposite sideline on Monday night. Indiana has been the Big Ten whipping boys for as long as anyone cares to remember. Historically, the third-biggest football school in their own state, the Hoosiers, until this past season, held the worst winning percentage of any power conference team in the FBS.
Bloomington has always been known as a basketball hotspot. On the gridiron, they’ve only won more than eight games in a campaign twice in their history - the last under John Pont in 1967. Their last head coach, Tom Allen, was widely considered a success, lasting seven seasons and leaving with a 33-48 record.
Which makes what has happened under Curt Cignetti the last two years quite astonishing. Landing his first big job at 63 years old, Cignetti has transformed the Hoosiers from wooden spoon contenders to championship hopefuls.
Their new head coach has benefitted from the new era in the sport. Indiana has been able to allocate more resources to football than before, and they’ve been active in the transfer portal. Nevertheless, the amount they’ve spent assembling both a roster and a coaching staff pales in comparison to their opponents.
With Vegas favouring Indiana by more than a touchdown, it’s difficult to paint the Hoosiers as plucky underdogs. But history at least tells you that these two programs couldn’t be further apart.
The Head Coaches
Dour, intense, and a little odd, it’s easy to see why Curt Cignetti had to wait some time to get a phone call from a Power 4 school. But if you’re looking for a man who knows how to win football games, then there are very few out there that can match his 145-37 resume.
His list of stops, as you would imagine for a coach in his mid-sixties, is extensive. But notable on his CV would be the four years spent working for Nick Saban at Alabama; study Cignetti’s mannerisms on the sidelines, and you can see a lot of the seven-time national title winner in him.
Following that spell in Tuscaloosa, Cignetti landed his first head coaching role with Division 2 IUP, a different Indiana in Pennsylvania. Six years and 53 wins later, he moves up a division to Elon, managing to take the unfancied Phoenix to back-to-back FCS playoff appearances.
Then came James Madison, the defining era of Cignetti’s rise to prominence. After never doing worse than a playoff semi-final at the FCS level, Cignetti oversaw the Dukes’ move to the FBS ranks, joining the Sun Belt. JMU didn’t break a sweat at their new level, finishing first in the East Division both years and being nationally ranked in 2023.
Despite this persistent success at every stop, his appointment as Indiana head coach raised eyebrows. Having to defend himself in his introductory press conference, Cignetti merely said, “I win. Google me.”
That was enough to get him some national media attention. But he became a household name a few days later by declaring that “Purdue sucks, but so does Ohio State and Michigan” at a Hoosiers basketball game. Rarely do we see a coach put a target on their backs so keenly. But Cignetti knew what the rest of us were about to learn - Indiana was about to shock the college football world.
Much like the juxtaposition of the two schools in the championship game, Mario Cristobal’s football journey is wildly different to that of his opposite number. Born in Miami and having played as an offensive tackle for the Hurricanes team that won two national titles, Cristobal began his coaching career as a graduate assistant in Miami in 1998.
Cristobal was a fast riser, heading to Rutgers for three years to work with Greg Schiano before returning home as tight ends and o-line coach. He got his first head-coaching break with the FIU program, a very young football team that had played only five years prior to his arrival. At the time, he was the second-youngest head coach in the FBS.
Cristobal spent six seasons with the Panthers, and despite being fired in 2012, it’s hard to see his tenure as anything other than a success - FIU went from one win in 2007 to eight in 2011, including the school’s first-ever bowl win the year before.
Much like Cignetti, Cristobal spent some time working on the offense at Alabama under Nick Saban, before heading to Oregon to run the Ducks’ offense. He replaced Willie Taggart as head coach in 2018, and the COVID year aside, never won fewer than nine games in a season in Eugene.
Oregon is a huge school, and not many others could prise their head coach away. But his love for Miami saw Cristobal return to Coral Gables in 2017.
Two very different head coaches, but both with a wealth of experience and knowledge; the tactical battle will be intriguing on Monday evening.
Keys to Victory
The undeniable favourites, Indiana have bulldozed all in their path in 2025. Built from the trenches out, they boast elite talent on both sides of the ball. Heisman trophy winner Fernando Mendoza is obviously the jewel in the crown, but 1,000-yard rusher Roman Hemby, receiving duo Elijah Sarratt and Omar Cooper, linebacker Aiden Fisher and corner D’Angelo Ponds all would be star pieces on any FBS roster.
The Hoosiers will want to win the line of scrimmage early in this one - no mean feat when you take a look at the lines Miami have also been able to build. But they’ve been a more consistent team both on the ground and through the air than their opponents this season. Keep ahead of the chains, and they’ll be confident of victory.
If Indiana can establish an early lead, it puts the ball in the hands of Hurricanes quarterback Carson Beck. That’s when it’s time for sack master Rolijah Hardy to go to work. Despite the talent on Miami’s roster, it’s difficult to see a matchup that favours them in this contest.
What that means for the Hurricanes is they have to win the key moments. The good news? They have the pieces to do it. Much like IU, Miami will want to control the clock. Their ground game is their strength, with Mark Fletcher running the rock behind one of the biggest and best offensive lines in college football.
They also need their quarterback to be mistake-free, not something Carson Beck can always claim to be. If they get the Beck who threw four picks in an almost very costly midseason loss to Louisville, this game will get ugly. But if the one who picked apart Ole Miss in the semi-final shows up, they have a chance.
One final thing for Miami: taking advantage of momentum-swinging moments. The Hurricanes' defence had the chance to intercept Trinidad Chambliss three times in their last game, and came up snake eyes. If they allow Mendoza similar leniency, then the presumed number-one overall pick in next year’s NFL Draft will take full advantage.
Indiana have the head coach advantage, looks stronger in individual matchups, and have the better quarterback. But Miami just about edges the run game, it’s a de facto home game for them at Hard Rock Stadium, and in receiver/returner Malachi Toney, perhaps has the biggest wildcard of all.
Cignetti or Cristobal? Beck or Mendoza? Hoosiers or Hurricanes? Tune into DAZN on Monday night to find out!
Miami Hurricanes vs. Indiana Hoosiers: Kickoff date, time and location
- Date: The game is scheduled for Tuesday, January 20, in the UK (GMT), and Monday, January 19, 2026, in the US (ET/PT)
- Kickoff: 12.30am GMT (Tuesday) / 7.30pm ET (Monday) / 4.30pm PT (Monday)
- Location: Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida
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