# Indiana Beats Miami, Wins First CFP National Championship | College Football

An episode of [The Solid Verbal College Football Show](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/270037732), 20 Jan 2026, 50 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/21437ee1-47d9-4b16-8696-b30d011a2c26/d26233fa-59d3-46ef-8630-b3d8005f47f3/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=51c7e0eb-425c-4d93-b5a8-b30d011a2c46

Indiana did it. Not only did the Hoosiers win their first ever CFP National Championship, they also became the first college football team in history to finish with a mark of 16-0. In this episode, we react to Indiana's 27-21 victory and break down how the Hoosiers won on the margins to knock of a Miami Hurricanes team playing for a title in its home stadium. Plus, a conversation about what the result means for both teams moving forward as well as a quick attempt at putting Curt Cignetti's rise in historical context. Support us this offseason at https://www.patreon.com/solidverbal! Support the show!: https://www.patreon.com/solidverbal See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:02] Speaker 1: Welcome to the solid verbal.
[0:04] Speaker 2: Hulle For me, I'm a man, I'm forty. I've heard
[0:08] Speaker 2: so many players say, well, I want to be happy.
[0:10] Speaker 2: You want to be happy for dake Eda State. Is
[0:13] Speaker 2: that woo woom?
[0:14] Speaker 1: And Dan and Tye.
[0:18] Speaker 3: Dan Rubenstein, we have a national champion. Congratulations to the
[0:30] Speaker 3: sixteen and oh Indiana Who Hoo Hoosiers twenty seven twenty one.
[0:38] Speaker 3: Indiana completes the perfect season, completes the storybook ending, completes
[0:44] Speaker 3: the national championship for the first time ever in the
[0:47] Speaker 3: history of the football program, going into the belly of
[0:52] Speaker 3: the beast, winning this one in hard Rock Stadium in
[0:55] Speaker 3: Miami on a historic evening in South part of the
[1:00] Speaker 3: Indiana Hoosiers get it done, my friend, welcome back.
[1:03] Speaker 2: Think about how ridiculous that sounds. The Indiana Hoosiers get
[1:07] Speaker 2: it done in the national championship, the football, the college
[1:10] Speaker 2: football Playoff, National Championship, the Indiana Hoosiers.
[1:15] Speaker 1: It's unbelievable. I'm a little bit speechless. I mean, there's
[1:18] Speaker 1: two components to this. There's the whole element of needing
[1:23] Speaker 1: to suspend disbelief for a minute in order to talk
[1:28] Speaker 1: about the game at hand, and so I think in
[1:32] Speaker 1: order to do the game justice, in order to do
[1:34] Speaker 1: what Indiana did justice, we need to focus on that,
[1:38] Speaker 1: and we can circle back around and put this in
[1:41] Speaker 1: historical context. Please put this in solid verbal content, whatever
[1:46] Speaker 1: version of that we want. We'll get to that a
[1:49] Speaker 1: little bit later on. Please hit follow, Please hit subscribe.
[1:53] Speaker 1: Both our voices are a little bit raspy. We just
[1:55] Speaker 1: did a three hour and forty five minute live stream
[1:58] Speaker 1: a watch along throughout the course of this game. We
[2:02] Speaker 1: would love to have you along with us for the
[2:04] Speaker 1: remainder of this now off season as we go over
[2:08] Speaker 1: to two episodes per week, Dan Rubinstein, but twenty seven
[2:13] Speaker 1: to twenty one, Man, we both were sort of close
[2:16] Speaker 1: with their final score prediction. Mine was thirty one twenty
[2:19] Speaker 1: I think yours was twenty eight seventeen. So we were
[2:22] Speaker 1: in the neighborhood. Yep, let's start at the very top here. Yes,
[2:28] Speaker 1: we talked in the preview about our keys to victory
[2:31] Speaker 1: for both Miami and Indiana. I think, to our credit
[2:36] Speaker 1: in both cases, both teams tried to do kind of
[2:39] Speaker 1: what we said we thought they might try to do,
[2:42] Speaker 1: but Indiana was just a little bit better around the edges,
[2:45] Speaker 1: just a little bit better on the margins. That's ultimately
[2:48] Speaker 1: how they got this dub. So why don't we start
[2:50] Speaker 1: here at the top. I'll kick it over to you.
[2:52] Speaker 1: I've been talking too much and I got to conserve
[2:54] Speaker 1: the pipes. Yeah, what stood out to you in this
[2:57] Speaker 1: win for Indiana and how'd they get it done?
[3:00] Speaker 2: Indiana just consistently stayed in it right, even when the
[3:04] Speaker 2: offense wasn't there, even when the running game wasn't there,
[3:06] Speaker 2: because they were being walloped up front by Miami's extraordinary
[3:10] Speaker 2: front on defense. Indiana state the course, they made plays
[3:16] Speaker 2: in huge moments, obviously, the Fernando Mendoza play, obviously, the
[3:20] Speaker 2: blocked punt for a touchdown play, obviously, the game sealing interception.
[3:24] Speaker 2: And in those huge moments when it looked like Miami
[3:27] Speaker 2: would be able to get off the field, they were
[3:30] Speaker 2: committing penalties, multiple penalties on those drives. Right, It's the
[3:34] Speaker 2: story of being buttoned up or being a little bit
[3:36] Speaker 2: less than buttoned up in special teams with turnovers in
[3:40] Speaker 2: high leverage moments, not committing penalties. I'm sure Miami fans
[3:43] Speaker 2: are yelling at their air pods or car stereos or
[3:48] Speaker 2: whatever speaker they're listening to this or YouTube whatever, saying
[3:52] Speaker 2: there should have been thirty seven called holds on the
[3:55] Speaker 2: Indiana offensive line. Listen, Reuben Bain and a key mesidor
[3:59] Speaker 2: wreaking havoc hold on, And to that, I say, you're
[4:02] Speaker 2: probably right. I am not going to tell you you're
[4:06] Speaker 2: wrong for being ups like, but I'm also going to
[4:09] Speaker 2: tell you if you bathe in the that was a hold, Jacuzzie,
[4:14] Speaker 2: You'll never be satisfied watching this sport now. But you're
[4:17] Speaker 2: probably right. I'm just telling you that the penalties weren't great.
[4:23] Speaker 2: Miami got away with a blatant defensive holding that wasn't called.
[4:26] Speaker 2: I believe in the defensive backfield on an Indiana player
[4:30] Speaker 2: running a route. You can't live in that space. You
[4:34] Speaker 2: got to live in the like, here's what we can control,
[4:35] Speaker 2: here's what we can't control. Don't grab face masks and
[4:39] Speaker 2: get creative on third down, fourth down. You got to execute.
[4:42] Speaker 2: You can't make killer mistakes. And Indiana was the team
[4:46] Speaker 2: to pounce in those moments. And it was a weird game.
[4:50] Speaker 2: We're still talking about a game in which Miami's offense
[4:53] Speaker 2: outscored Indiana's offense correct twenty one to twenty.
[4:57] Speaker 1: Yep, they had more total yardage as well. Yes, in
[5:01] Speaker 1: this game. I mean it was just a couple of
[5:02] Speaker 1: key moments that we can get into and we can
[5:06] Speaker 1: talk a little bit more about that that swung the
[5:08] Speaker 1: balance of this one. By the way, if you bet
[5:10] Speaker 1: on Miami plus the points, yep, it came away the
[5:13] Speaker 1: victor here. It was a little bit uncertain to me
[5:17] Speaker 1: through that first half what version of Miami we were
[5:20] Speaker 1: going to see in the second because there wasn't a
[5:22] Speaker 1: whole lot of creativity with the play calling. They really
[5:25] Speaker 1: did try to run the Mario Chrystoball version of big
[5:29] Speaker 1: dumb Marrio ball, where it was a lot of you know,
[5:32] Speaker 1: three yards and a cloud of dust trying to bully
[5:34] Speaker 1: guys at the line. To their credit, they were able
[5:36] Speaker 1: to bully the Indiana offensive line.
[5:38] Speaker 2: But they also went away from Mark Fletcher for a stretch.
[5:41] Speaker 2: They went away from Mark Fletcher.
[5:42] Speaker 1: But I think what I'm getting at is we did
[5:44] Speaker 1: see more creativity as the game world, and certainly what
[5:48] Speaker 1: we saw in the third and fourth quarter from the
[5:50] Speaker 1: Miami offense was a far cry from what we saw
[5:52] Speaker 1: in the first half. So you know, they did make
[5:54] Speaker 1: some adjustments and they did get themselves back into this game. Granted,
[5:59] Speaker 1: in the very beginning, I wasn't sure which way this
[6:01] Speaker 1: thing was gonna go. The defense was doing its part,
[6:04] Speaker 1: the offense just they totally there was nothing there. But
[6:07] Speaker 1: in the second half they did come to play.
[6:09] Speaker 2: Yeah. So look it's Miami starting out the game abhorrent
[6:15] Speaker 2: on third downs. They you know, it's five and out,
[6:17] Speaker 2: three and out, three and out in the first quarter,
[6:19] Speaker 2: and that's what three and out five yards, three and
[6:22] Speaker 2: out negative seven yards. Another three and out in their
[6:25] Speaker 2: first full drive in the second quarter, and they joink
[6:27] Speaker 2: the field goal before the half. Indiana did not play
[6:32] Speaker 2: a perfect game. They kept things pretty conservatively for stretches,
[6:37] Speaker 2: running the ball into traffic, without getting terribly creative themselves
[6:41] Speaker 2: on offense. The back shoulder throws largely didn't seem to
[6:45] Speaker 2: be part of the offense until they were. There wasn't
[6:49] Speaker 2: a ton of you know, Omark Hooper and Charlie Becker
[6:52] Speaker 2: and Elijah Surat making huge plays like they were able
[6:55] Speaker 2: to come through doing time after time this season until
[6:59] Speaker 2: later on in the game, until some of those high
[7:01] Speaker 2: leverage moments we actually saw a dropped I think it
[7:03] Speaker 2: was Elijah surat pass, which is like seeing a unicorn
[7:07] Speaker 2: writing the chupacabra, right, It's it's pretty rare. So it
[7:13] Speaker 2: wasn't a perfect It wasn't a clean, eat off the
[7:15] Speaker 2: floor game for Indiana. And again a lot the front
[7:20] Speaker 2: the linebackers early on were incredible for Miami. Obviously, the
[7:23] Speaker 2: defensive line incredible for Miami. The abuse that Fernando Mendoza
[7:27] Speaker 2: was taking throughout this game, right because hit on the
[7:30] Speaker 2: chin not called I don't believe and he was bleeding. Like,
[7:35] Speaker 2: it wasn't a perfect game. It wasn't a clean game.
[7:37] Speaker 2: The difference in this game was Indiana was better prepared
[7:41] Speaker 2: in that first half to continue going and finding, you know, excavating,
[7:48] Speaker 2: turning over rocks, to find a little bit of creativity
[7:51] Speaker 2: to find third down conversions. I know at one point
[7:54] Speaker 2: Miami was, oh for what on third down?
[7:56] Speaker 1: It was like oh for six or oh for seven. Yeah,
[7:59] Speaker 1: it took a while for them to get one.
[8:01] Speaker 2: There was an a rhythmic quality. And we're not giving
[8:04] Speaker 2: any credit right now to the Indiana defense, which deserves
[8:06] Speaker 2: a ton of credit, especially the secondary. A big part
[8:09] Speaker 2: of this game was both ways. They were letting these
[8:12] Speaker 2: teams get grabby. They were letting these teams fight, they
[8:16] Speaker 2: were letting these defensive backs grab fistfuls of jersey, and
[8:20] Speaker 2: it's okay, I guess if it's called both ways, but
[8:23] Speaker 2: there has to be that line of like, this is
[8:25] Speaker 2: okay when you have the mutual hand fighting or whatever,
[8:28] Speaker 2: but this is the line where it's unacceptable. And we
[8:30] Speaker 2: found that line in Miami did get called for something
[8:33] Speaker 2: at some point, but it was an extraordinarily physical game
[8:37] Speaker 2: and ultimately, once again it's Indiana being the more buttoned
[8:41] Speaker 2: up team in all three phases that made the difference
[8:45] Speaker 2: to me.
[8:46] Speaker 1: I think that's right, And yeah, a couple things stand
[8:52] Speaker 1: out to me on the Indiana side. Please. One of
[8:55] Speaker 1: the keys to the game that we focused on when
[8:59] Speaker 1: we did our preview was pressure and how Miami has
[9:04] Speaker 1: these two edge rushers and Ruben Bay in a key mesador,
[9:09] Speaker 1: who are gonna come screaming off the edge. And though
[9:11] Speaker 1: it's an Indiana line that was very difficult to confuse,
[9:14] Speaker 1: that was a matchup. It was an interesting matchup to watch,
[9:17] Speaker 1: and I think by and large that Miami defensive front
[9:21] Speaker 1: got the better of the Indiana offensive line. Not every play,
[9:27] Speaker 1: but we saw as the game war on, they were
[9:29] Speaker 1: starting to get some sacks, they were starting to push
[9:32] Speaker 1: that line back into Mendoza. Oh.
[9:34] Speaker 2: I think what Indiana did was in spite of getting
[9:37] Speaker 2: absolutely smashed up front of them, they got smashed up front,
[9:40] Speaker 2: and I mean, what Kaylon Black did on the ground.
[9:43] Speaker 1: Is going to be overshadowed in this game, but he
[9:47] Speaker 1: got some tough yards for them on the ground, set
[9:49] Speaker 1: them up a couple times in some key leverage, in
[9:53] Speaker 1: some high leverage, key situations. They were able to get
[9:58] Speaker 1: enough out of him, out of Roman Hemby down the
[10:01] Speaker 1: stretch to have some semblance of a ground game to
[10:04] Speaker 1: keep Miami a little bit off balance. But in terms
[10:08] Speaker 1: of that pressure, Miami had it. And I think what
[10:12] Speaker 1: we saw develop over the course of this game was
[10:15] Speaker 1: Indiana realizing We're not necessarily going to be able to
[10:17] Speaker 1: block these guys. We got to get the ball out
[10:19] Speaker 1: quick and so we saw a lot of that RPO
[10:21] Speaker 1: stuff that they've run a lot of this year. This
[10:24] Speaker 1: wasn't new for their playbook, but we saw a lot
[10:26] Speaker 1: of the quick stuff, a lot of quick hitches, a
[10:28] Speaker 1: lot of quick outs, a lot of quick stuff to
[10:31] Speaker 1: get the ball out of Banana Mendoz's hands as quickly
[10:33] Speaker 1: as possible, and so that had I think that worked
[10:37] Speaker 1: a pretty good effect on the Indiana side. It kept
[10:39] Speaker 1: drives live, it kept things going. They were able to
[10:42] Speaker 1: kind of nickel and dime their way down the field.
[10:44] Speaker 1: They had a couple big plays here and there, but
[10:46] Speaker 1: by and large, that was their mo for moving the
[10:49] Speaker 1: football against this Miami front and so wasn't necessarily them
[10:54] Speaker 1: figuring it out along the line, but it was a
[10:56] Speaker 1: schematic choice that allowed them to extend drives. And then
[11:00] Speaker 1: we saw that again. We're going to bring this up,
[11:02] Speaker 1: I think in perpetuity. But the big call Fernando Mendoza.
[11:06] Speaker 1: It's fourth and five, he's twelve yards away. They call
[11:10] Speaker 1: a time out. What are they gonna do? Are they
[11:12] Speaker 1: gonna go for are they not going to go for it?
[11:14] Speaker 1: They run a quarterback draw, he runs it in for
[11:16] Speaker 1: a touchdown, gets beaten up on his way in. But again,
[11:19] Speaker 1: if you listen to Kurtzignette talk about the play call
[11:22] Speaker 1: after the fact, this was something they saw on tape.
[11:25] Speaker 1: This was something they saw in this game, the coverage
[11:28] Speaker 1: scheme that they were seeing on the Miami side. They
[11:30] Speaker 1: rolled the dice that they were going to see it again.
[11:32] Speaker 1: They guessed, right, he runs just installed it. Yeah, and
[11:37] Speaker 1: just installed it. So I think the big takeaway from
[11:40] Speaker 1: this is going to be, as you pointed out, Miami
[11:44] Speaker 1: not getting it done on the margins. Indiana maybe executing
[11:47] Speaker 1: a little bit better in some of those key moments,
[11:50] Speaker 1: but I think by a large the chess match that
[11:53] Speaker 1: everybody likes to refer to, Indiana won that two in
[11:56] Speaker 1: just a couple spots. They made a couple moves that
[11:59] Speaker 1: set them up later in the game that turned this
[12:02] Speaker 1: thing on its ear. Of course, there was a big
[12:04] Speaker 1: block punt, which we can talk about, but there were
[12:06] Speaker 1: a couple other really high leverage moments that Indiana was
[12:10] Speaker 1: able to win, either because of their scheme, because of
[12:13] Speaker 1: their skill, because of their discipline, whatever you want to
[12:15] Speaker 1: call it. It was just a few of those moments
[12:19] Speaker 1: on the margins that gave them this national championship.
[12:22] Speaker 2: Yeah, a couple drives that I thought stood out to
[12:24] Speaker 2: me from the Indiana defense and the stops that they got.
[12:27] Speaker 2: It was a nearly six minute drive from Miami before
[12:30] Speaker 2: the half that ended up in that joinked field goal.
[12:32] Speaker 2: One of the things we had talked about before was
[12:34] Speaker 2: Miami can't afford to end a long drive with nothing
[12:38] Speaker 2: in this game because Indiana is too adept at generating
[12:41] Speaker 2: their own longer drives, and obviously on that point, Indiana
[12:45] Speaker 2: couldn't afford to do that either, and they I don't
[12:47] Speaker 2: believe they did. Did they have any long drives that
[12:50] Speaker 2: ended in nothing Indiana?
[12:52] Speaker 1: I mean, Indiana had drives of let's see here, they
[12:57] Speaker 1: had a.
[12:57] Speaker 2: Six minute drive for the field goal, They had a
[12:59] Speaker 2: six nearly seven minute drive for the touchdown. But there
[13:03] Speaker 2: they had a couple punt drives that were like three
[13:05] Speaker 2: minutes but nothing like five minutes.
[13:07] Speaker 1: Plus everything that went over four minutes amount ri points, right.
[13:12] Speaker 2: And so that was the doink that they couldn't finish
[13:14] Speaker 2: that drive before the half, and I think it was
[13:16] Speaker 2: attempted with thirty or forty seconds left, and then after
[13:20] Speaker 2: the long Mark Fletcher run. I believe with all the
[13:24] Speaker 2: stadium going crazy, right, it's the semi home crowd, whatever
[13:27] Speaker 2: you want to say it, but it's obviously in terms
[13:30] Speaker 2: of comfort, a semi home game for Miami and very
[13:33] Speaker 2: much a road environment for Indiana. Indiana follows that up
[13:37] Speaker 2: by forcing a three and out. I think they allowed
[13:39] Speaker 2: a yard on that drive, So Indiana bowing up when
[13:43] Speaker 2: there is an electrist in the air. After that Mark
[13:45] Speaker 2: Fletcher run, I thought was enormous. Obviously coming up with
[13:48] Speaker 2: the turnover at the end of the game to seal
[13:50] Speaker 2: things clearly huge. But I have nothing but respect and
[13:57] Speaker 2: was so impressed with Miami no knowing they had to
[14:00] Speaker 2: do something to open things up and opening it up,
[14:04] Speaker 2: getting creative with Malachai Toni in the second half, leaning
[14:06] Speaker 2: on Mark Fletcher. Obviously the long run helped everything, but
[14:12] Speaker 2: it's still it's you can't overcome a bad half of
[14:16] Speaker 2: football in a game this big against a team this
[14:19] Speaker 2: good or not football, a bad half of offense in
[14:23] Speaker 2: this in a game this big, No, I mean I
[14:26] Speaker 2: think that, or at least really tough.
[14:29] Speaker 1: Yeah, it's really tough, and so I listen, you got
[14:33] Speaker 1: to credit the Indiana defense for the job that it
[14:36] Speaker 1: did in this game, because for the vast majority of it,
[14:39] Speaker 1: if you watch any of like the skycast from behind
[14:42] Speaker 1: Carson Carson Beck and no one throws who nobody was open.
[14:45] Speaker 1: I mean, this Indiana zone defense did a really good
[14:48] Speaker 1: job covering deep pass plays. We saw them try to
[14:51] Speaker 1: take some shots a little bit later on Kilan Marrion
[14:53] Speaker 1: almost reeled one in later in the game, which was
[14:57] Speaker 1: I mean, it would have been an incredible moment. So
[15:00] Speaker 1: they were trying down the stretch, but this is just
[15:03] Speaker 1: such a discipline zone that Indiana runs, and there were
[15:06] Speaker 1: many instances they were just dropping eight guys. They knew
[15:09] Speaker 1: Carson Back really wasn't going to run for it. They
[15:11] Speaker 1: weren't worried about his legs. They were dropping eight and
[15:14] Speaker 1: you could see him progressing through trying to get to
[15:17] Speaker 1: his one, try to get top to with time. They
[15:20] Speaker 1: were giving him time. They were just content to play
[15:22] Speaker 1: their zone coverage and by and large they did a
[15:26] Speaker 1: good enough job containing him. Now, Mark Fletcher still served
[15:30] Speaker 1: as a bit of a catalyst on the ground. Seventeen
[15:32] Speaker 1: carries one hundred and twelve yards. Of course, the big
[15:35] Speaker 1: one was a fifty seven yard touchdown run, and then
[15:38] Speaker 1: he followed that up a little bit later with another
[15:40] Speaker 1: touchdown run. He had two on the day.
[15:42] Speaker 2: A beautiful play call in that one where they used
[15:44] Speaker 2: malachay Toni as a decoy and two Indiana dudes followed him. Yeah.
[15:47] Speaker 1: Absolutely, But I think we came to a point in
[15:51] Speaker 1: this where they just couldn't rely on Fletcher the entire way,
[15:54] Speaker 1: and especially down the stretch. You know, as the clock
[15:58] Speaker 1: is winding down, you can't hand the ball off, you're
[16:00] Speaker 1: out of timeouts. You got to find a way to
[16:02] Speaker 1: move the ball down the field. And again, though they
[16:04] Speaker 1: moved the ball a little bit, it's ultimately just really
[16:08] Speaker 1: tough to find any kind of space against the zone.
[16:10] Speaker 1: It's been a problem playing against Indiana all year. Frankly, so, Yeah, I.
[16:16] Speaker 2: Give my Angelo Ponds everywhere, by the way, not to
[16:19] Speaker 2: everyone off had pass bay cups. Yeah, it was just
[16:22] Speaker 2: he was he was very sticky.
[16:24] Speaker 1: Yeah, I give Indiana a lot of credit for what
[16:26] Speaker 1: they did on defense. I also give Miami a lot
[16:28] Speaker 1: of credit for what they did on offense. As a
[16:30] Speaker 1: game we're on. But to your point, can't have a
[16:32] Speaker 1: bad half of offensive football against a team like Indiana,
[16:34] Speaker 1: which just usually does not give you anything.
[16:36] Speaker 2: Which, by the way, they almost were able to weather
[16:40] Speaker 2: a bad half against Indiana on offense. They were driving
[16:43] Speaker 2: for the win in this game. Nope, there was a
[16:48] Speaker 2: big moment in this game. We're talking about the block
[16:52] Speaker 2: punt for the touchdown. Yeah, that was a critical moment
[16:59] Speaker 2: in this footame. It seemed as though this thing was
[17:02] Speaker 2: relatively neck and neck. We've got a block kick.
[17:07] Speaker 1: It comes about five minutes remaining in the third quarter,
[17:10] Speaker 1: deep inside Miami territory, Miami's own fifteen yard line. Whatever
[17:16] Speaker 1: it was. Block kick goes back for a touchdown that
[17:20] Speaker 1: makes it seventeen to seven. That gives Indiana a little
[17:23] Speaker 1: bit more breathing room at a moment where it felt
[17:25] Speaker 1: like after that Mark Fletcher long touchdown run, there was
[17:29] Speaker 1: potential for Miami to get back in this thing. There
[17:31] Speaker 1: were a couple moments in this one where it felt like,
[17:33] Speaker 1: either because of Miami's pressure or because of Miami's offense
[17:38] Speaker 1: and some of what they were doing creatively on that
[17:40] Speaker 1: side of the ball, that they were finding ways to
[17:43] Speaker 1: spark some new momentum. There were a couple instances in
[17:46] Speaker 1: this game where even though Miami lost, there was a
[17:48] Speaker 1: never say die quality to what they were doing out there.
[17:51] Speaker 1: They were not playing the big dumb Mario crystal ball.
[17:54] Speaker 1: They were well early on early on, but later on, Yeah,
[17:58] Speaker 1: they sort of threw that into the fire and they
[18:00] Speaker 1: realized the situation and they were creative. They came back
[18:05] Speaker 1: from the dead a couple times. They just couldn't do
[18:08] Speaker 1: it when they needed to. On that final drive, Carson
[18:11] Speaker 1: Deck tries to kind of gets fooled, kind of tries
[18:13] Speaker 1: to make a throw that he just didn't put enough
[18:16] Speaker 1: air on underthrows, it ends up ending the game with
[18:19] Speaker 1: an interception. So he tried, he tried to stretch the field,
[18:26] Speaker 1: but they just didn't have timeouts. And again this zone
[18:29] Speaker 1: was just so damn stingy that there was just not
[18:31] Speaker 1: a whole lot of yards to be had.
[18:33] Speaker 2: No, I couldn't agree more. It was a great game,
[18:39] Speaker 2: Like the back and forth of it all was really
[18:41] Speaker 2: really good to see. The you mentioned the chess match,
[18:44] Speaker 2: Like just the individual performances that we got from both
[18:48] Speaker 2: of these teams sort of weirdly encapsulated everything we had
[18:53] Speaker 2: seen from these teams this season, right the up and
[18:56] Speaker 2: down nature of Miami and mistakes and bashing teams in
[19:00] Speaker 2: upfront and the defense of like enormous improvement this season
[19:04] Speaker 2: under Corey Heatherman and Carson Beck being like a steadying presence,
[19:09] Speaker 2: the veteran presence for him and the offensive line giving
[19:12] Speaker 2: him a ton of time in these moments against a
[19:13] Speaker 2: really fierce Indiana front Malachai Toni being like the do
[19:17] Speaker 2: everything guy line him up creatively and see what he
[19:20] Speaker 2: can do. So you got like the full encapsulation obviously,
[19:23] Speaker 2: the turnover at the end of the game for Carson
[19:25] Speaker 2: Beck and the Miami passing game. And then on Indiana's front, right,
[19:29] Speaker 2: you get a little bit of the creativity. You get
[19:31] Speaker 2: Fernando Mendoza's legs being killer in a huge moment. You
[19:35] Speaker 2: get terrific play calling, you get the lack of mistakes
[19:37] Speaker 2: and the lack of killer mistakes. You get the back
[19:40] Speaker 2: shoulder stuff. You didn't get the rushing attack, which I
[19:42] Speaker 2: think was underrated for you know how you attribute Indiana's
[19:46] Speaker 2: success this season. But you got the heady play upfront
[19:49] Speaker 2: from Indiana, the incredibly smart and physical play from the
[19:54] Speaker 2: defensive backfield for the Hoosiers. So it was, weirdly a
[19:58] Speaker 2: complete performance was sort of the microcosm of both of
[20:02] Speaker 2: these teams seasons. So you can't really hope for more
[20:05] Speaker 2: beyond having a really fun back and forth a competitive
[20:08] Speaker 2: game between these teams, and I don't know that's what
[20:12] Speaker 2: we got. You know, you hope it doesn't end in
[20:14] Speaker 2: like a back breaking mistake. You just hope it ends
[20:17] Speaker 2: with you know, competitive play and it decides it one
[20:20] Speaker 2: way or the other, but either way it was. It
[20:23] Speaker 2: was a really fun watch. And we'll put it into context.
[20:27] Speaker 2: I'm sure Indiana's your national champion.
[20:31] Speaker 1: It's hard to get your head around this.
[20:33] Speaker 2: It is.
[20:34] Speaker 1: And we put out a video. We put out an
[20:39] Speaker 1: episode a couple of weeks ago where I tried to
[20:42] Speaker 1: give voice to this a little bit mm hm. And
[20:46] Speaker 1: as you might expect, the pushback from a lot of
[20:48] Speaker 1: Indiana fans was, Oh, you don't know ball.
[20:49] Speaker 2: You know, you don't know what you're twenty right, you know,
[20:51] Speaker 2: they've been college football fans for eighteen months. Now you
[20:53] Speaker 2: gotta listen.
[20:55] Speaker 1: And then there were other Indiana fans who chimed in
[20:57] Speaker 1: and they were like, listen, we knew we had a
[21:00] Speaker 1: good team this year. We didn't know we were going
[21:02] Speaker 1: to go sixteen in the national chap And nobody in
[21:05] Speaker 1: their right mind when Kurt Signetti took over. There were
[21:08] Speaker 1: pictures floating around before this game from people who were
[21:12] Speaker 1: in the stands for Kurt Signetti's first game as an
[21:15] Speaker 1: Indiana coach in Bloomington. There's nobody in the stands whatsoever.
[21:21] Speaker 1: So to go from that to where they are now
[21:23] Speaker 1: in the span of two seasons, is frankly unlike anything
[21:28] Speaker 1: I think we've ever covered, certainly in the college football
[21:31] Speaker 1: since I agree, but more broadly in a sports sense,
[21:36] Speaker 1: I know this is another thing we've given a little
[21:38] Speaker 1: bit of voice too. It is up there with some
[21:41] Speaker 1: of the greatest sports stories of all time. I agree.
[21:46] Speaker 1: I mean, it is so improbable if you had told
[21:49] Speaker 1: us five years ago we would be here with Indiana winning.
[21:52] Speaker 1: Indiana was the team you picked in the old college
[21:55] Speaker 1: football dynasty as one of the bad teams to try
[21:58] Speaker 1: and build them up. Yeah, I mean truly. Now.
[22:03] Speaker 2: The only thing I'll push back on is maybe just
[22:05] Speaker 2: the wording this is not. This is not the Indiana
[22:09] Speaker 2: roster that we saw two years ago. So it's not
[22:12] Speaker 2: a like Bad News Bears Mighty Ducks like Kitty Sports movie,
[22:17] Speaker 2: where it's a bunch of like the rejects who can't
[22:19] Speaker 2: even skate blah blah blah, and figuring it out like
[22:23] Speaker 2: it's as a program, as a college football story, as
[22:27] Speaker 2: a sports story, a program going from the losingest two
[22:31] Speaker 2: n national champion and very much of these times and
[22:33] Speaker 2: being able to rebuild the roster. It is without a
[22:37] Speaker 2: doubt in that conversation. But it's not like we're taking,
[22:41] Speaker 2: you know, the Tom Allen roster and Chritz Signetti's just
[22:44] Speaker 2: coaching them up into something incredible.
[22:46] Speaker 1: I mean one of the things that you and I
[22:48] Speaker 1: have talked about and a mutual friend of ours, I
[22:52] Speaker 1: remember you telling me the story that you got a
[22:54] Speaker 1: text from him talking about how is this really Indiana?
[22:59] Speaker 1: Is it just right bunch of players with an Indiana
[23:01] Speaker 1: logo on them? I mean the transfer portal and nil.
[23:05] Speaker 1: And we don't need to drone on about how the
[23:08] Speaker 1: game has changed. If people are listening to this, they already.
[23:10] Speaker 2: Know that Indiana did a better job riding the wave
[23:15] Speaker 2: of change than anybody else.
[23:17] Speaker 1: But I think the improbable nature of taking a program
[23:23] Speaker 1: that has been a doormat and convincing enough quality talent
[23:30] Speaker 1: to come there in spite of all that, that is
[23:34] Speaker 1: the real genius of Signetti. His ability to get these
[23:37] Speaker 1: guys in as quickly as he did granted thirteen guys
[23:40] Speaker 1: from JMU his first year obviously was very successful still
[23:45] Speaker 1: some of those guys around, but was more successful this
[23:47] Speaker 1: time around, clearly in the transfer portal to assemble his
[23:51] Speaker 1: roster in twenty twenty five twenty six here. But the
[23:55] Speaker 1: improbable nature of taking a program that's been this down
[23:58] Speaker 1: and out rebuilding its so quickly, and the pixie dust
[24:03] Speaker 1: of getting guys to want to come to Indiana I
[24:05] Speaker 1: think is the hard part, because it's just not a
[24:08] Speaker 1: prestigious football program. Why would it be the fact that
[24:12] Speaker 1: he was able to do this as quickly as he did,
[24:15] Speaker 1: the fact that they were as efficient, the fact that
[24:18] Speaker 1: they were as surgical and clinical as they ended up
[24:21] Speaker 1: being here in the very end against a very good
[24:24] Speaker 1: team in the Miami Hurricanes. Their run this season, they're
[24:30] Speaker 1: run through the playoffs. I need more time to think
[24:33] Speaker 1: about it, honestly, about what this means, because it to
[24:36] Speaker 1: me just feels like I'm still pinching myself a little bit.
[24:41] Speaker 2: Let's I mean, look, if you're going to take stock
[24:42] Speaker 2: of it, it's Kurt Signetti, who did not have an
[24:46] Speaker 2: opportunity at a major place until last year, finds Cal's quarterback.
[24:54] Speaker 2: Cal is best known for being like a team with
[24:58] Speaker 2: funny fans. Last season they go six and six, and
[25:04] Speaker 2: I've heard stories about how the end of everything played
[25:07] Speaker 2: out for Fernando Mendoza at Cal. I'm sure there's truth
[25:10] Speaker 2: to all sorts of different stories about how everything went down,
[25:14] Speaker 2: but Indiana identified him. I'm sure they would talk to
[25:16] Speaker 2: others as well, helped to develop him this season. He
[25:20] Speaker 2: was pretty good at Cal. He was a Heisman winner
[25:22] Speaker 2: at Indiana. They identify Roman Hemby, who I looked up
[25:26] Speaker 2: was like the twentieth best Big ten running back from
[25:29] Speaker 2: Maryland in twenty twenty four. They've got the James Madison
[25:34] Speaker 2: transfers right the school that what Urban Meyer and Joel
[25:38] Speaker 2: Klatt considered to be a safety issue that James Madison
[25:41] Speaker 2: players in the playoff, it's just not fair. And then
[25:45] Speaker 2: you have Michale Kamara and di'angelo Pons and Elijah Surratt
[25:50] Speaker 2: dominating dudes. You have a road that includes consecutively beating
[25:56] Speaker 2: Ohio State, Alabama, Oregon in Miami, teams with wall to
[26:03] Speaker 2: wall NFL talent on both sides of the ball, that
[26:06] Speaker 2: didn't play for James Madison, that didn't play like Stephen
[26:09] Speaker 2: Daily did for Kent State. Right that, you have these
[26:13] Speaker 2: dudes just playing as a team more efficiently and more
[26:17] Speaker 2: murderously than any Is that a word, Yeah, I'd probably
[26:20] Speaker 2: not than anybody in the country.
[26:23] Speaker 1: And so.
[26:26] Speaker 2: Their specific path is just so wild in the way
[26:31] Speaker 2: that they did this that they have to win sixteen
[26:33] Speaker 2: games and go sixteen and oh to do it, because
[26:37] Speaker 2: they obviously go twelve and oh they survived scares against
[26:40] Speaker 2: Penn State, against Oregon, against Iowa, against Ohio State, and obviously,
[26:45] Speaker 2: you know, winning all of those games in close, impressive fashion.
[26:49] Speaker 2: It's just.
[26:51] Speaker 1: You can't.
[26:52] Speaker 2: I can't fully wrap my mind around the odds that
[26:55] Speaker 2: would take. He took him to the playoff in year
[26:57] Speaker 2: one with a mac quarter with a beat up thumb
[27:02] Speaker 2: and a torn ACL loses a ton has what the
[27:07] Speaker 2: cows Col's quarterback who led them to a six and
[27:10] Speaker 2: six record under center, taking snaps from a Notre Dame
[27:14] Speaker 2: offensive lineman who Notre Dame said hey, we like you,
[27:18] Speaker 2: but you're not gonna play here. And he goes in
[27:21] Speaker 2: state to Indiana, wins the Rose Bowl. MVP. Does he
[27:25] Speaker 2: not pack Hoogan right on their way to winning the
[27:30] Speaker 2: national championship in Miami against Miami, I just and beating
[27:36] Speaker 2: what Oregon by three touchdowns, four touchdowns whatever it was,
[27:39] Speaker 2: five touchdowns, beating Alabama by five touchdowns. It's just when
[27:46] Speaker 2: you start stacking the bullet points of what Indiana did
[27:50] Speaker 2: to get here, you start saying to yourself. Historically, what
[27:54] Speaker 2: are we talking about here? With college football? They don't
[27:57] Speaker 2: have the NFL receivers of like recent Alabama and LSU
[28:00] Speaker 2: monsters the last five six years, right, They don't have
[28:03] Speaker 2: the physical talented quarterback of like Cam Newton or any
[28:07] Speaker 2: of those like, but all of their players were just
[28:10] Speaker 2: a little bit more polished, more often than any team,
[28:16] Speaker 2: and to do it sixteen times to be unbeaten, I
[28:20] Speaker 2: don't know, man, any modern conversation about best team now
[28:25] Speaker 2: has to include this team squarely in it.
[28:29] Speaker 1: I also think, more broadly, the fact that a let's
[28:34] Speaker 1: be honest, non blue blood won the National Championship is
[28:37] Speaker 1: really meaningful. Yeah, for a lot of people. Now. Probably
[28:40] Speaker 1: wasn't meaningful in terms of TV ratings because I don't
[28:43] Speaker 1: think this is going to draw a big number, right,
[28:45] Speaker 1: But that's sort of beside the point. It wasn't all
[28:49] Speaker 1: that long ago you and I would go on after
[28:51] Speaker 1: the National Championship and do a stream like this, and
[28:55] Speaker 1: the response that we would get from people. First off,
[28:58] Speaker 1: people didn't download it, right, and secondly among those that did,
[29:03] Speaker 1: or among those that watched watch alongs that we did,
[29:07] Speaker 1: there was almost this sense of inevitability there was almost
[29:11] Speaker 1: this sense of, oh, yeah, this was a foregone conclusion
[29:14] Speaker 1: at the start of the year that Georgia, that Alabama,
[29:16] Speaker 1: that Ohio State was going to win the national championship,
[29:20] Speaker 1: right and Indiana winning might not be for everybody, but
[29:25] Speaker 1: I do think it's a pretty significant moment where we're
[29:29] Speaker 1: at now. It signifies where we're at now in college
[29:32] Speaker 1: football that because of the transfer portal, because of NIL,
[29:37] Speaker 1: because of all of these new factors that you didn't
[29:39] Speaker 1: have to consider a decade ago, stories like this are possible.
[29:44] Speaker 1: How sustainable is it? I mean, Indiana's kind of done
[29:46] Speaker 1: this two years in a row. Now we'll see what
[29:48] Speaker 1: they're able to do next year, what kind of a
[29:50] Speaker 1: program they're able to build moving forward. The sustainability of
[29:53] Speaker 1: building through the portal is still, I think, very much
[29:57] Speaker 1: in question. But the fact that Signetty was able to
[30:00] Speaker 1: do it two years in a row and take again
[30:03] Speaker 1: a program that's been one of, if not the worst
[30:06] Speaker 1: historic programs in all of FBS and get them to
[30:10] Speaker 1: this point now is just sort of mind blowing. And
[30:15] Speaker 1: for people like you and I who cover this, for
[30:17] Speaker 1: people in our discord and our community who I know
[30:20] Speaker 1: care about college football and often root for the underdog.
[30:23] Speaker 1: We started getting questions this week about when do we
[30:25] Speaker 1: start rooting against Indiana with how hard played and how
[30:29] Speaker 1: hard they've been to bet. That's a conversation for another day,
[30:32] Speaker 1: but I just the fact that this is possible is
[30:37] Speaker 1: I think the biggest takeaway if you're a college football fan,
[30:40] Speaker 1: if you like the sport, if you don't care about
[30:42] Speaker 1: Indiana or Miami or anybody, but the fact that you
[30:46] Speaker 1: can have this happen is I think a much needed
[30:50] Speaker 1: dose of like variability in the sport. To have a
[30:57] Speaker 1: new team in it means that it's possible for a
[31:00] Speaker 1: bunch of new teams that haven't been anywhere close to
[31:02] Speaker 1: it in the past, and that in and of itself,
[31:05] Speaker 1: I think is kind of exciting.
[31:06] Speaker 2: I mean, I guess and to a certain extent, you're
[31:08] Speaker 2: right right. Ole Miss ends up in the final four
[31:11] Speaker 2: and they had never done anything in terms of the
[31:13] Speaker 2: playoff for the BCS era. You know, it's been a
[31:15] Speaker 2: long time. It is possible. Ole Miss, certainly in the
[31:19] Speaker 2: last few years, has been more advantage than Indiana. Though
[31:23] Speaker 2: there is part of me that when I hear you
[31:24] Speaker 2: say that, you're like, this is possible. Via the portal
[31:27] Speaker 2: via nil Via, like the changing landscape of college football,
[31:31] Speaker 2: it's possible to find a guy to get your affairs
[31:34] Speaker 2: in order, and get your roster together, and to be
[31:37] Speaker 2: detail oriented and to just be a killer. It's happened
[31:40] Speaker 2: once in the history of this sport. Yeah, but it's possible.
[31:44] Speaker 2: And he got him the playoffs two years in a row.
[31:46] Speaker 2: And whatever he is doing with his portal talent is clearly.
[31:50] Speaker 1: Different than what nuses are doing. I mean because and
[31:54] Speaker 1: this is not to dunk on Oregon, but who gets
[31:56] Speaker 1: more transfers in Oregon?
[31:58] Speaker 2: I hear you.
[31:59] Speaker 1: Oregon got blown out by this team, and they had
[32:01] Speaker 1: better talent across the board. I would argue, maybe they're
[32:05] Speaker 1: the talent on that team that probably has a much
[32:07] Speaker 1: higher ceiling than a lot of the guys playing in Indiana.
[32:10] Speaker 1: But that's funny. By the point, they got drilled by
[32:13] Speaker 1: the Indiana So it's not all a talent thing. A
[32:15] Speaker 1: lot of it's coaching. Whatever pixie dust Kurt Signetti has
[32:19] Speaker 1: sprinkled on this Indiana program. It's it's truly remarkable, and
[32:24] Speaker 1: I think it's a good thing for the sport. I'm
[32:27] Speaker 1: sure people will grow tired of Kurt Signetti before long,
[32:30] Speaker 1: not Indiana fans, but fans of everybody else in the
[32:32] Speaker 1: Big Ten and around college football if they keep doing this.
[32:35] Speaker 1: But here we sit today, I guess it's now January
[32:39] Speaker 1: the twentieth, as we record this, we've got a new
[32:42] Speaker 1: national champions with Indiana Hoosiers. Let me take a step back.
[32:46] Speaker 1: What does this mean now for Miami having made it
[32:50] Speaker 1: to this game at home, wind, at their back home crowd.
[32:56] Speaker 1: You know, this could have been the culmination for the
[33:00] Speaker 1: crystal Ball era, for getting Miami back to previous heights
[33:05] Speaker 1: that had been you know, twenty five years since they
[33:08] Speaker 1: won a national championship. I guess twenty four to twenty
[33:11] Speaker 1: three years since they last played and went against Ohio State.
[33:15] Speaker 1: To get this close, to not be able to get
[33:17] Speaker 1: over the hump obviously is going to be crushing, especially
[33:19] Speaker 1: since it was at home. But I think, just as
[33:22] Speaker 1: a proof of concept, the fact that they were able
[33:25] Speaker 1: to work their way through this tournament. First off, they
[33:27] Speaker 1: almost didn't make it, but secondly, the fact that they did.
[33:30] Speaker 1: As a ten, see they beat a bunch of good teams.
[33:32] Speaker 1: They made it to this game, they ran into a juggernaut.
[33:37] Speaker 1: How do you feel if you're a Miami fan right now,
[33:40] Speaker 1: once the disappointment wears off.
[33:44] Speaker 2: Good is probably too strong a word. I mean encouraged, obviously,
[33:48] Speaker 2: dramatically encouraged that Mario Christobal can build a roster via
[33:52] Speaker 2: high school recruiting and the Portal can hire coaches. Obviously
[33:56] Speaker 2: the hires of Shannon Dawson and Corey Therman. Shannon Dawson
[34:01] Speaker 2: helps to lead the number one offense in America last season,
[34:05] Speaker 2: and the defense was dramatically improved, and on all three
[34:08] Speaker 2: levels there are huge playmakers via the Portal and via
[34:11] Speaker 2: high school recruiting and development. That the progress has been
[34:14] Speaker 2: exceptional on both sides of the ball, That the offensive
[34:18] Speaker 2: line is going to be great for years to come.
[34:21] Speaker 2: That Darien Mensa is going to build the greatest ski
[34:25] Speaker 2: chalet that the Swiss Alps have ever seen. You can't
[34:31] Speaker 2: imagine how finally appointed the rugs will be in Darien
[34:35] Speaker 2: Mensa's Swiss ski chalet.
[34:37] Speaker 1: My got.
[34:39] Speaker 2: No that things aren't the Mario Chriso Ball's vision has
[34:43] Speaker 2: come to life, and you have to be thrilled by it.
[34:46] Speaker 2: That he's a Miami guy, that he understands it, he's
[34:48] Speaker 2: a recruiting killer, especially upfront, as you like to say,
[34:52] Speaker 2: what does he build it from the inside out? Tie?
[34:54] Speaker 2: That's drink if you ever hear somebody talk about Miami, Yeah,
[34:57] Speaker 2: Chris Ball building from the inside out, because that's a
[34:59] Speaker 2: novel concept. Only Mario Christoval knows how to do that.
[35:04] Speaker 2: That they're going to be an absolute national force moving forward.
[35:09] Speaker 2: And you know, you can grow frustrated with some of
[35:11] Speaker 2: the undisciplined elements of where Miami was this year, but
[35:16] Speaker 2: this is proof of concept, and you know, they're going
[35:20] Speaker 2: to have to keep finding quarterbacks and if they're going
[35:24] Speaker 2: to spend, they're going to keep finding quarterbacks. But beyond that,
[35:27] Speaker 2: we'll see what they look like with coaching turnover, with
[35:30] Speaker 2: coordinator coaching turnover. And I don't know, I think they
[35:34] Speaker 2: are the clear team in the ACC moving forward, especially
[35:39] Speaker 2: now that they took the ACC champions quarterback from underneath
[35:43] Speaker 2: their their roster. So yeah, Miami is the absolute, you know,
[35:48] Speaker 2: top of the line in that conference and should be
[35:50] Speaker 2: a perennial playoff contender moving forward.
[35:54] Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean Miami's going to lose a lot. They're
[35:57] Speaker 1: going to lose a lot before correct, you know, losing
[36:03] Speaker 1: those edge rushers will.
[36:04] Speaker 2: Hurt Stacy Maligoa.
[36:06] Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, yeah, there's there's a lot of beef
[36:10] Speaker 1: that's that's going to be walking out. But you still
[36:13] Speaker 1: got Malachai Tony for at least two more seasons. It
[36:18] Speaker 1: looks as if it's going to be Darien Mensa at quarterback.
[36:24] Speaker 1: There's enough to build on here. And to the point,
[36:26] Speaker 1: this is crystal Ball's vision come to life. This was
[36:29] Speaker 1: a team that you know as it's a program that
[36:33] Speaker 1: has been a massing talent, and he's been doing a
[36:34] Speaker 1: really good job of it. They have been slowly building.
[36:37] Speaker 1: I think given the state of affairs in the ACC,
[36:40] Speaker 1: if you're a Miami fan, it's a very realistic expectation
[36:44] Speaker 1: to expect that you'll be back in the playoff and
[36:46] Speaker 1: get another bite at the Apple next year. And so
[36:50] Speaker 1: I for as disappointing as it is to lose this
[36:53] Speaker 1: game at home and to have a team this good,
[36:56] Speaker 1: with a pass rush and a defense this good and
[36:58] Speaker 1: not be able to convert, I think Miami is going
[37:03] Speaker 1: to get several more opportunities in the years to come.
[37:06] Speaker 1: So I would, after the disappointment wears off, probably hang
[37:10] Speaker 1: my hat on that because crystal Ball has proven at
[37:14] Speaker 1: every stake. You can say what you want about him
[37:16] Speaker 1: trying to play bully ball and some of the conservative
[37:19] Speaker 1: decisions that he has made in spots. Dude knows how
[37:22] Speaker 1: to recruit, and he knows how to recruit to the
[37:24] Speaker 1: offensive and defensive lines. Right. He is an offensive lineman
[37:28] Speaker 1: at heart, so he cares about the trenches and yes, drink.
[37:31] Speaker 1: When you build from the inside out, that tends to
[37:34] Speaker 1: be a pretty sustainable way to go about doing your business.
[37:36] Speaker 1: So I'm I'm encouraged by Miami getting to this game.
[37:39] Speaker 1: I'm encouraged by how they didn't wilt when they went
[37:42] Speaker 1: down a few scores. I'm encouraged by how they sort
[37:45] Speaker 1: of made adjustments on the fly. It was a parent
[37:47] Speaker 1: if you watch the game. So there's a lot of
[37:49] Speaker 1: good here on the Miami side. They just a couple
[37:53] Speaker 1: key moments went against him. The punt block, obviously, the turnover, late.
[37:58] Speaker 2: Penalties, yeah, penalty, just a few.
[38:02] Speaker 1: It's it's tough to even call them dumb things. They're
[38:05] Speaker 1: just sort of like incidental things that happened throughout the
[38:07] Speaker 1: course of a football game that went against Miami. And
[38:11] Speaker 1: if a few things break in their direction, maybe we're
[38:13] Speaker 1: having a different conversation here.
[38:15] Speaker 2: So, okay, so now we have a Miami program that
[38:19] Speaker 2: will have not championship expectations, because there have always been
[38:23] Speaker 2: championship expectations, but supported proof of concept championship expectations for
[38:28] Speaker 2: Mario Cristobal. Right, so now you're operating under the umbrella
[38:32] Speaker 2: of Okay, you have shown us that you can lead
[38:35] Speaker 2: us to that championship conversation. What is your next move?
[38:39] Speaker 2: What are your next two moves? What are the games
[38:42] Speaker 2: that we shouldn't be losing anymore that we're losing or
[38:45] Speaker 2: not losing that kind of thing. Right then, now it's
[38:47] Speaker 2: all in a different context. Now Miami hadn't been to
[38:50] Speaker 2: the playoff. Now they're a championship contender in the last drive. Similarly,
[38:57] Speaker 2: now Indiana fans expect a championship contender, not championships every year.
[39:04] Speaker 2: Once you fly first class DAN, once you fly first
[39:07] Speaker 2: class nineteen B doesn't quite cut it in the same way.
[39:12] Speaker 2: And so Indiana fans know the drill. They know how
[39:15] Speaker 2: this team is going to be built. In the short term.
[39:17] Speaker 2: I assume that Kurtzignetti is going to I mean, they
[39:20] Speaker 2: do try and succeed on in the high school ranks.
[39:23] Speaker 2: As well, but we understand where the focus has been
[39:26] Speaker 2: and will continue to be with you know, bringing in
[39:28] Speaker 2: guys like Nick Marsh and Josh Hoover, guys like that.
[39:32] Speaker 2: So the expectation now for Indiana fans, and I think
[39:36] Speaker 2: rightfully so, is they've got to be a tennish win
[39:40] Speaker 2: program moving forward.
[39:43] Speaker 1: Right.
[39:44] Speaker 2: You're not saying championship or bust every year, no, but
[39:48] Speaker 2: you're saying, Okay, you've exclusively gone to the College Football Playoff,
[39:55] Speaker 2: and it looks like we're expanding, if not this year,
[39:57] Speaker 2: in the coming couple or whatever. Right, So Indiana as
[40:03] Speaker 2: now like an eight and four program is going to
[40:06] Speaker 2: grow really unacceptable, really fast. Yeah, so I don't expect it.
[40:12] Speaker 2: How Indiana got to this point tells me that they're
[40:14] Speaker 2: not going to be an eight and four program anytime soon.
[40:17] Speaker 2: But they got to hit on these transfers every year.
[40:20] Speaker 2: They got to hit on Josh Hoover, they got to
[40:22] Speaker 2: hit on whoever they're bringing in to replace the James
[40:25] Speaker 2: Madison players that Signetti brought with him to Bloomington. So
[40:31] Speaker 2: that's going to be the interesting thing. Can he make
[40:34] Speaker 2: this style work forever? Who am I to say no?
[40:38] Speaker 2: But that's the question now for Indiana fans, not style,
[40:41] Speaker 2: but this method of roster building, program building, and development.
[40:45] Speaker 2: I have nothing to stand on when he won a
[40:48] Speaker 2: NASH championship in two years. So that's going to be
[40:51] Speaker 2: the question now. Playing with the expectations, playing with Okay,
[40:56] Speaker 2: you're in a conference with Ohio State and whatever Michigan's
[40:59] Speaker 2: going to be under, Kyle Winning, called Winningham, Matt Campbell's
[41:02] Speaker 2: Penn State, Dan Lannings Oregon, Lincoln Riley's USC, Kirk Farrence's Iowa, whatever,
[41:07] Speaker 2: you take your pick. There are pretty good to really
[41:10] Speaker 2: good teams in this conference. I'm not terribly worried about
[41:12] Speaker 2: Pat Fitzgerald and Michigan State. Happy to be proven wrong there.
[41:17] Speaker 2: But this, this is new context for Indiana. It's not
[41:21] Speaker 2: just a cute story when you go through Ohio State, Alabama, Oregon, Miami.
[41:26] Speaker 2: This is a force now and so now Indiana expects
[41:30] Speaker 2: something in the vicinity of a force moving forward. And
[41:34] Speaker 2: that's that's definitely different for Indiana football fandom.
[41:38] Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I think back a couple of years
[41:42] Speaker 1: when it was Georgia against TCU out in LA and
[41:46] Speaker 1: you and I were out there. We did a live
[41:47] Speaker 1: show out there and I remember we met a bunch
[41:51] Speaker 1: of TCU fans and the prevailing thought was that they
[41:56] Speaker 1: were going to get creamed by Georgia. Right, and the
[41:59] Speaker 1: TCU people that we talked to, we're just happy to
[42:01] Speaker 1: be there, like we're playing with house money. This is
[42:03] Speaker 1: incredible to be in this game. Very early on the
[42:07] Speaker 1: Sunny Dyke's tenure, right, I mean, this was awesome. They
[42:09] Speaker 1: were thrilled by that.
[42:10] Speaker 2: I can't believe Max Duggan told us that.
[42:12] Speaker 1: But continue, But you think of how different the mentality
[42:16] Speaker 1: was this time around. Now, different situations, it's not apples
[42:19] Speaker 1: to apples, but this was an Indiana team. This was
[42:22] Speaker 1: a fan base that expected to win this game. And
[42:25] Speaker 1: so whereas some of the TCU conversations we had, I
[42:29] Speaker 1: remember asking people, well, what happens after this? What are
[42:31] Speaker 1: your expectations after this? And nobody really had a good answer.
[42:34] Speaker 1: They were just happy to be there, like a you know,
[42:36] Speaker 1: well hopefully it continues. Well we'll see where it goes
[42:40] Speaker 1: from here. It is a much different conversation on the
[42:42] Speaker 1: Indiana side. To your point, there's going to be now
[42:45] Speaker 1: a new base level expectation, and I think that's dangerous
[42:49] Speaker 1: when you've got a huge alumni base like Indiana does
[42:52] Speaker 1: the largest in the country.
[42:53] Speaker 2: Are going to spend like they expect that they're going
[42:55] Speaker 2: to spend.
[42:55] Speaker 1: There are people that want to help boost this program further.
[42:59] Speaker 1: It is a big school in the Midwest, just because
[43:02] Speaker 1: they have not been big in football. They were big
[43:05] Speaker 1: in basketball for a long time. Everybody knows that. But
[43:08] Speaker 1: clearly this is an Indiana program now in Indiana just
[43:12] Speaker 1: in general institution that has a lot to give to
[43:15] Speaker 1: the program if they see this paying off. And so
[43:19] Speaker 1: my hunch is that the resources will be there. Obviously,
[43:22] Speaker 1: they feel pretty good about the coach they have in
[43:24] Speaker 1: place and the talent that they're bringing in. I think
[43:27] Speaker 1: it's entirely realistic to expect that they can get back
[43:30] Speaker 1: to just that ten win plateau. The ten win plateau
[43:33] Speaker 1: is sort of the watermark or the benchmark, I should say,
[43:37] Speaker 1: that's where you want to get if you want to
[43:39] Speaker 1: try and get in this playoff. You don't need to
[43:40] Speaker 1: win all the games like they did this year, but.
[43:42] Speaker 2: For now, I mean for now, you can go nine
[43:44] Speaker 2: and three and finish twentieth and you might make the
[43:47] Speaker 2: playoff next year.
[43:48] Speaker 1: Yeah, unbelievable. So I just think to put it in perspective,
[43:54] Speaker 1: what Indiana did here. It's certainly one of the better
[43:58] Speaker 1: college football stories that we've covered, one of the best
[44:01] Speaker 1: that I can remember. It's up there in the conversation
[44:04] Speaker 1: with some of the best sports stories that I could remember.
[44:07] Speaker 1: Just this quick turnaround in such a short period of
[44:10] Speaker 1: time to get to the height of college football. It's
[44:13] Speaker 1: pretty cool. So congratulations to the Indiana Hoosiers. Congratulations occurred
[44:18] Speaker 1: signetti for Nanda Mendoza. So Mark Cuban was there, Congratulations
[44:22] Speaker 1: to him. I guess, of course he's throwing in for
[44:24] Speaker 1: Nil as well.
[44:25] Speaker 2: Your girl of Bella Danger was unfortunately rooting for sure.
[44:30] Speaker 1: Man. Yeah, continue, Sorry, but an incredible story, man, I
[44:36] Speaker 1: don't know. I don't even know what else'll say.
[44:38] Speaker 2: Indiana's schedule next year, by the way, Ohio State and
[44:42] Speaker 2: USC at home, and they are at Michigan, at Washington
[44:46] Speaker 2: at Nebraska. That was my first glance. Big Ten schedule
[44:49] Speaker 2: is not out yet. In terms of win our bye weeks,
[44:52] Speaker 2: winter is so and so playing so and so so.
[44:54] Speaker 2: The chronology of Indiana's schedule is not out yet. Miami
[44:58] Speaker 2: has Notre Dame on the road in South Bend. They're
[45:01] Speaker 2: at Clemson to whatever extent that is meaningful in twenty
[45:04] Speaker 2: twenty six, and they have pitt in Florida State at home. Otherwise,
[45:08] Speaker 2: it's a pretty great schedule for Miami to rebuild and
[45:11] Speaker 2: stack up a bunch of wins.
[45:14] Speaker 1: Indiana is your national champion twenty seven to twenty one.
[45:18] Speaker 1: They put the bow on a sixteen and o season,
[45:20] Speaker 1: the first ever in the history of college football. Yes,
[45:27] Speaker 1: congratulations to you, Congratulations to me. We made it through
[45:30] Speaker 1: another season. I honestly don't even know how many it's
[45:33] Speaker 1: been for us. It's been a long time that you
[45:36] Speaker 1: and I have been doing this, and that this was
[45:39] Speaker 1: one of the better seasons. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Congratulations
[45:42] Speaker 1: again to the forballers out there who I know enjoyed
[45:46] Speaker 1: the season with us and hung with us and hopefully
[45:49] Speaker 1: got their money's worth if they support us on Patreon,
[45:52] Speaker 1: or even if they don't, even if they're just getting
[45:54] Speaker 1: it for free, hopefully. Congratulations to you guys for staying
[45:59] Speaker 1: the course with us.
[46:00] Speaker 2: Not even just congratulations, thank you well that you've been
[46:04] Speaker 2: killer all season long, whether or not you've participated in
[46:08] Speaker 2: the games on Patreon and been behind the scenes with
[46:11] Speaker 2: us on Patreon, or subscribe to the YouTube channel. If
[46:14] Speaker 2: you have not subscribed to the YouTube channel, if you're
[46:16] Speaker 2: watching us there, if you've subscribed to the audio feed,
[46:20] Speaker 2: the newsletter, whatever, Your support is everything, and Ty and
[46:23] Speaker 2: I are eternally grateful. Could not do this quite literally,
[46:26] Speaker 2: could not do this without you. This is what we do.
[46:30] Speaker 2: We pour our heart and soul into this every day.
[46:33] Speaker 2: We started studying for this season in June, mid June,
[46:37] Speaker 2: late June. It's currently the real feel is negative four
[46:41] Speaker 2: hundred outside in wintertime here in the Midwest, So it's
[46:45] Speaker 2: a slog in the best way. And what keeps our
[46:48] Speaker 2: heads above water is everybody who seems to enjoy the show,
[46:54] Speaker 2: even if it means your team isn't good this year,
[46:56] Speaker 2: even if it means your team crushes your heart, even
[46:59] Speaker 2: if it means your team won the national championship, even
[47:02] Speaker 2: if we argued in YouTube comments, even if Ty convinced
[47:06] Speaker 2: you after sending a mean message to our inbox to
[47:09] Speaker 2: that we can still be friends like it's incredibly meaningful,
[47:13] Speaker 2: the relationship we have with all of you. We don't
[47:16] Speaker 2: take it for granted. And it's been forty seven years
[47:20] Speaker 2: doing this show, and we can't wait for number forty eight.
[47:23] Speaker 1: I also want to give a shout out to other
[47:27] Speaker 1: people who do stuff like this, other people who are
[47:31] Speaker 1: in the college football content game. Sure, you know, there
[47:34] Speaker 1: are a lot of good shows. We happen to like
[47:37] Speaker 1: ours the most. Obviously we're a little bit biased, but
[47:39] Speaker 1: there are a lot of good shows, many of which
[47:41] Speaker 1: you've heard of, more of which you haven't. A lot
[47:45] Speaker 1: of people doing this for love of the game. Yeah,
[47:47] Speaker 1: it can be a grind. It can be a grind
[47:49] Speaker 1: covering this day in and day out. Things change at
[47:51] Speaker 1: a moment's notice. It's a lot and so there are
[47:55] Speaker 1: a lot of good people out there who care about
[47:57] Speaker 1: this sport, who put their heart and soul into it,
[48:01] Speaker 1: and we are two of many, but it is a
[48:05] Speaker 1: pleasure to be in their company as Yeah, so a
[48:07] Speaker 1: big shout out and congratulations to everybody who is kind
[48:11] Speaker 1: of doing the same thing we are and putting their blood,
[48:15] Speaker 1: sweat and tears into it. It's always cool to go
[48:19] Speaker 1: out there and look to see what's going on in
[48:21] Speaker 1: the community. So yeah, that does it. Congratulations again to Indiana.
[48:29] Speaker 1: We will be doing our next episode. It drops on Thursday.
[48:32] Speaker 1: From this point forward, throughout the off season, two episodes
[48:35] Speaker 1: a week. Please do support us by hitting follow or subscribe.
[48:39] Speaker 1: We would love to have you with us through the
[48:41] Speaker 1: long cold off season. We promised we will make it
[48:44] Speaker 1: worth your while. If you want to support what Dan
[48:46] Speaker 1: and I do, help us keep the lights on, you
[48:49] Speaker 1: can go on out to patreon dot com slash solid
[48:52] Speaker 1: Verbal or go to verballers dot com either or we'll
[48:56] Speaker 1: get you over to the Patreon. We'd love to have you.
[48:59] Speaker 1: We absolutely love to have you. We've already started work
[49:01] Speaker 1: on some of the cool things we're going to be
[49:03] Speaker 1: doing for next year, so we'll talk about those in
[49:05] Speaker 1: due course. But for the meantime, we got to celebrate
[49:07] Speaker 1: this for Indiana man, definitely sixteen and oh twenty seven
[49:11] Speaker 1: to twenty one. That is your final score.
[49:14] Speaker 2: And later in the week it will be our exhaustive
[49:17] Speaker 2: Pinstripe Bowl recap.
[49:19] Speaker 1: For that guy over there, my good friend Dan Rubinstein,
[49:22] Speaker 1: for myself over here in Eastern PA. Thank you as
[49:26] Speaker 1: always for downloading, for listening, for supporting. It has been
[49:29] Speaker 1: a pleasure to be with you this season. One more time.
[49:31] Speaker 1: Congratulations to Indiana. We'll talk to y'all on a few days.
[49:35] Speaker 1: Stay summer, peace,

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