College Football Playoff · Feature
Bloomington’s First Banner
Wright · Editorial·Jan 20, 2026
Indiana football did not have a national championship. For more than a century, that sentence was simply true — a fact you could set your watch by. On the night of January 19, 2026, it stopped being true.
The Hoosiers beat Miami 27–21 at Hard Rock Stadium to finish 16–0 and win the first national title in the program’s history — the first team to claim its first championship since Florida did it in 1996.
Players in this story
Fernando Mendoza →QB · Heisman · Player of the Game · IndianaMikail Kamara →DE · Player of the Game · IndianaLouis Moore →S · 6 INTs on the year · IndianaMark Fletcher Jr. →RB · 112 yds, 2 TD · Miami
A title-game story, so both teams are tagged — every athlete on the Indiana and Miami 2025 rosters gets it on their timeline.
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AE original. Public facts, in our voice. No league logos, no broadcast footage.