MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — From audacious upstart to unbeaten national champion, Curt Cignetti and the No. 1 Indiana Hoosiers accomplished their meteoric rise to the highest of faculty soccer Monday evening.
Fernando Mendoza and the Hoosiers took No. 10 Miami’s greatest photographs and beat the Hurricanes on their residence subject 27-21 in the College Football Playoff championship recreation.
Indiana started this season because the losingest main program in the historical past of faculty soccer and ended it with the college’s first national championship, capping a remarkable two-year turnaround by Cignetti. Indiana is the first crew in trendy faculty soccer historical past to complete a season 16-0, the first first-time national title winner since Florida in 1996 and possibly the most unlikely champion in the historical past of the game.
“Let me tell ya: We won the national championship at Indiana University. It can be done,” stated Cignetti, the curmudgeonly 64-year-old who informed followers to Google his record when he arrived and promised he would lastly carry a profitable program to Bloomington, Ind.
Mendoza, enjoying a couple of half-hour drive from his highschool, was bloodied and bounced round by the Hurricanes’ ferocious go rush, however confirmed the unflappable poise that helped make him Indiana’s first Heisman winner.
Never greater than on fourth-and-4 from the Miami 12 with 9:27 left in the fourth quarter. Holding a 17-14 lead however largely getting outplayed in the second half by the Hurricanes (13-3), Cignetti took a timeout to ponder kick or go.
The Hoosiers went for it, and Mendoza darted by site visitors for the first down with a quarterback draw earlier than pinballing off tacklers and lunging previous the aim line for the landing and a 24-14 lead. Mendoza took a shoulder in the again whereas reaching for the tip zone and received up slowly with some assist from his buddies.
Miami’s response was an eight-play, 91-yard drive, with fabulous freshman Malachi Toney electrifying the house followers with a 41-yard reception and 22-yard landing catch and run that made it 24-21 with 6:37 left in regulation.
In a season outlined by newfound parity in faculty soccer, a championship recreation that no one would have predicted earlier than the season turned out to be a traditional.
Needing one extra drive to lastly put the Hurricanes away, Mendoza transformed two third downs, the second on a 19-yard, back-shoulder throw to sophomore breakout wideout Charlie Becker that put the Hoosiers on the Miami 33. Miami stiffened, and Nico Radicic knocked residence a 35-yard subject aim to make it 27-21 with 1:42 to play.
Mendoza completed 16-of-27 for 186 yards, and Becker caught 4 passes for 65 yards.
The Hurricanes made it to the championship game with a last-minute, go-ahead landing run by Carson Beck against Ole Miss in the semifinals. Beck would have needed to do it once more to earn Miami its sixth national championship and first since 2001.
A roughing the passer name on IU’s Mario Landino gave Miami a lift to begin the drive, however there was no extra magic left for Beck and the Hurricanes.
On first-and-10 from the Indiana 41 with 51 seconds left, Beck dropped again and regarded deep for Keelan Marion, however Jamari Sharpe raced throughout the sphere and picked off the go. All Mendoza wanted to do was take a knee twice to set off the confetti cannons, setting off a storm of Indiana cream and crimson in Hard Rock Stadium.
Moments later, Indiana followers received to serenade their hero as Abba’s “Fernando” blared.
Before the sport, the vibe on the Miami sideline felt somewhat bit like a celebration, with rapper Fat Joe and DJ Khaled holding court docket in their Hurricanes gear. Sec. of State Marco Rubio flashed the “U” hand sign and chatted with former Hurricanes national championship quarterback Bernie Kosar.
Crowds gathered round Miami legends Michael Irvin and Ed Reed as they joined ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith for what might have been an impromptu episode of “First Take.” President Donald Trump arrived simply earlier than kickoff and took in the sport from a set.
It was a championship recreation that introduced again reminiscences of Orange Bowls previous, with Miami in place to win a national championship on its residence subject in opposition to a Midwest foe. Back in the day, it was normally Tom Osborne’s Nebraska groups standing in the way in which.
Indiana followers, who packed one more stadium for a Playoff recreation, have by no means been half of something like this. Well, at least not during football season.
Indiana has 5 NCAA basketball championships and claims Bob Knight has the patron saint of this system.
IU is a soccer faculty now, led by Cignetti, the perfectionist from Pittsburgh employed away from James Madison after the 2023 season.
The Hoosiers had been lovable underdogs in 2024, with a shocking run to the Playoff however lopsided losses to Ohio State and Notre Dame that made many query their endurance. Cignetti added Mendoza, the Cal switch who grew up in Miami, and turned the Hoosiers right into a juggernaut this season. In the postseason, the Hoosiers simply dispatched Alabama and Oregon to advance to South Florida and regarded like they could do one thing just like Miami at halftime.
Indiana led 10-0 on the half, controlling Miami’s operating recreation and placing collectively one lengthy landing drive. Mendoza went 85 yards on 14 performs, changing 4 third downs, together with one the place the Hoosiers received a do-over after an offside penalty on All-America go rusher Rueben Bain Jr.
Of course, Indiana made the Hurricanes pay for his or her mistake. It’s the Hoosiers’ specialty.
Riley Nowakowski plunged in from the 1 to make it 10-0 Hoosiers with 6:07 left in the first half.
Miami lastly discovered Indiana territory with its ultimate drive of the first half, however going through fourth-and-2 from the Hoosiers 32, Canes coach Mario Cristobal bled the clock down and despatched out Carter Davis for a 50-yard subject aim that the senior kicker promptly doinked off the correct upright.
After bullying their means by three CFP video games behind 225-pound Mark Fletcher, the Hurricanes’ backs managed simply 27 yards on 11 carries in the first half in opposition to Indiana.
Miami received some good licks on Mendoza, bloodying his lip early on a shot from Jakobe Thomas that probably could have drawn a flag for concentrating on. Bain and Akheem Mesidor every had sacks on IU’s first drive of the second half. Then, on Miami’s second offensive play of the third quarter, Fletcher discovered a seam on a stretch play and went 54 yards for a landing to chop the result in 10-7.
After profitable their first two CFP video games by a mixed 69 factors, Indiana confronted its hardest second-half problem for the reason that Hoosiers beat Ohio State to win their first Big Ten title since 1967.
Unable to maintain Miami’s go rushers away from Mendoza, Indiana’s response got here from particular groups. Mikail Kamara swatted Dylan Joyce’s punt from close to Miami’s aim line and Isaiah Jones fell on the bouncing ball in the tip zone to place the Hoosiers up 17-7.
Miami was undaunted. The final at-large crew picked in the 12-team subject, the Hurricanes spent a lot of the final month of the season attempting to show their Playoff-worthiness.
They did it once more in opposition to IU behind Fletcher, who ran for 112 yards and two touchdowns on 17 carries, and Toney, who had 10 catches for 122 yards.
But this was Indiana’s evening and Indiana’s season. Once a laughing inventory in faculty soccer, a punching bag for the likes of Ohio State and Michigan in the Big Ten, the Hoosiers’ rags-to-riches story ended completely.