Latest / Height Differential / Quick Take: Indiana Beats Miami 27–21 to Win First National Championship
Transcript
- 0:00It got a little dicey there in the fourth quarter.
- 0:01I wasn't, I wasn't convinced I was going to be able to pop
- 0:04them. But you know, they, they found a
- 0:06way. The defense stepped up on that
- 0:08last drive when they needed to and, and got that dub.
- 0:12So we were popping bottles. 2721 Miami with the ball pretty, I
- 0:19mean, had I would say the momentum in the second-half
- 0:24after control, controlling the whole game, that it did make you
- 0:27a little nervous on that last draft.
- 0:29I mean, yeah, they had, what, 60 something yards of offense in
- 0:32the first half and they finished the game with 342.
- 0:35So the second-half adjustments by Miami's offense, I mean, they
- 0:39were moving the ball up and down the field on a really, really
- 0:41good IU defense. So they figured it out and we
- 0:46were talking about it. It's like, you know, earlier in
- 0:48the fourth quarter, instead of taking the field goal, Sig
- 0:52rolled the dice, went forward on 4th and five couple 4th downs
- 0:55had that that yeah, had two on the drive, had the the call
- 0:59design QB draw with Mendoza, who made maybe the play of the year
- 1:04bouncing off tacklers and diving into the end zone.
- 1:06But you know, if you're going to go for it in that situation, you
- 1:10you got Miami on the ropes. They're out of time outs with a
- 1:13minute and whatever was left out of timeouts, it was about a.
- 1:16Minute 50. It was minute 47 I believe.
- 1:18Minute 47, fourth and four, you have 4 yards and the national
- 1:22championship is yours. And they kicked the field goal
- 1:24in that situation and you and I both agreed we thought they
- 1:27should have gone for it. Especially the way that the way
- 1:29that Sig had called the game earlier and the way that the
- 1:32Miami was moving the ball. It's like I wasn't convinced and
- 1:35you weren't convinced either that three points to get that
- 1:38six point lead was going to get it done.
- 1:40So 4 yards to win the championship.
- 1:42They decided not to and luckily it it paid off but.
- 1:47In that case, I mean, after, especially after seeing him go
- 1:50for it twice earlier, I was surprised.
- 1:54I was honestly surprised that they did bring out the field
- 1:57goal unit. And look, like I said, Miami did
- 2:01kind of have the momentum in the second-half and their offense
- 2:04was moving the ball. And whether you're up three or
- 2:07you're up 6, the other team's offense can still go in the
- 2:12game. Yeah.
- 2:14And to me, being up 6 was not that big of an advantage of
- 2:19being over three to not take that shot on 4th down to try to
- 2:23just go ahead and win it right there.
- 2:26I agree. And it, it did surprise me a
- 2:30little bit because I, I think it kind of, it kind of was not the
- 2:35mold of what we're used to seeing with Signetti.
- 2:37And look, and I know his thought process is, look, now they got
- 2:42to get a touchdown, a field goal doesn't send this to overtime.
- 2:46And, and I get that, but if you give me 4 yards to win a ship,
- 2:52and even if I don't get it, even if I don't get it, we're still
- 2:55up 3. Yes.
- 2:57And, and they've got to go 80 yards, yes.
- 3:01And it's not a score, a touchdown or nothing.
- 3:05They could kick a field goal on 4th down if even if they get in
- 3:08that area and then you still have a chance in overtime,
- 3:12correct? It worked out, it worked out.
- 3:16But if they go down the score and get that and kick an extra
- 3:19point to win it, I I think you regret not going for it on 4th
- 3:23down for a long, long. Time and the one earlier in the
- 3:27fourth, he was going to kick it and change his mind and decided
- 3:29to go on the on the Mendoza touchdown.
- 3:31He had the field goal team running out there.
- 3:33The play clock was running out. So he called time out and
- 3:36changed his mind. And I mean, it worked out on
- 3:39that one. So I mean, I'm putting the ball.
- 3:41I, I would rather put the ball in in the Heisman trophies
- 3:44winner to get me 4 yards and win that national title then risk
- 3:48Miami coming back, especially when Miami put up, like I said,
- 3:50almost 300 yards in the second-half.
- 3:52Your defense was tired. They were allowing yards and
- 3:55even on the last drive, Miami was they were moving it.
- 3:57They were moving it until Carson Beck, until Carson Beck turned
- 4:01into Carson Beck. Finally, at midnight and.
- 4:04He he to be fair, he didn't throw the ball downfield a ton
- 4:07yesterday and hasn't really been asked to do that a lot in the
- 4:10playoff. And maybe that's something that
- 4:13you're relying on the fact that, you know, he's not throwing the
- 4:17ball downfield a ton. And if he does, he doesn't have
- 4:19the arm straight to some other quarterbacks and it's going to
- 4:21hang up there and it's going to get picked off.
- 4:23And and that's what happened. But even on the play where
- 4:28Mendoza had the 4th and five, the clock management and the
- 4:31timeout management was still a little bit odd with with Sig and
- 4:36even at the end of the half where they kind of just.
- 4:39You thought they were, yeah, they were going to run the ball
- 4:40and just go to halftime because they had the ball start the
- 4:42second-half and they ran the ball, didn't call a timeout, and
- 4:45then all of a sudden they're starting to throw it.
- 4:47It's like you're going. To do that, then you.
- 4:49Get to the 50 and you have two timeouts and there's really
- 4:52nothing you can do with it. Yeah, I so it was, it was odd.
- 4:55It was very odd. So there were some moments, but
- 4:59the 4th and five by Mendoza and Sig talked about this after the
- 5:03game, how they kind of thought that that play, that draw would
- 5:07work against the defense that Miami ran on 3rd down.
- 5:10And they were just banking on the fact that they're going to
- 5:12run that same defense. And they?
- 5:13Did and they did and I'm telling we were watching it together and
- 5:17I'm like he he stopped, he stopped there were.
- 5:21Two dudes right there, yeah. He bounced off tackles and, and
- 5:26every championship game or most when it's a good game, there's a
- 5:29play that is just that iconic play that you're going to see
- 5:31over and over again. And it reminds you a little bit
- 5:35of John Elway in the Super Bowl with the flip to get to the end
- 5:39zone. At least that's what it reminds
- 5:41me a little bit of him just flipping and giving his all to
- 5:45get in the end zone. And I mean, it was a Heisman
- 5:48moment for the Heisman Trophy winner.
- 5:50Yeah, and he he won, you know, the game's MVPI mean his stats
- 5:54weren't eye popping. He didn't throw a touchdown 186
- 5:57yards was 16 of 27. So he now has more incompletions
- 6:01than touchdowns finally in the playoff.
- 6:03But the guy that I thought really stood out and and and I
- 6:07thought won the game and was also deserving of that.
- 6:09I mean, it was the the plays that Charlie Becker was making
- 6:13that for the 4th down conversion that they had was to him on the
- 6:16back shoulder. And then he made another
- 6:17outstanding back shoulder catch on 1/3 and I think it was like
- 6:20third and 10 in the fourth quarter to keep the chains
- 6:23moving in the clock running for Miami started having to use
- 6:25their time out. So I mean, Charlie Becker in the
- 6:28second-half of the season has just been an absolute monster.
- 6:31He had, I think, what 6 catches through October and all of a
- 6:35sudden in November he's a monster.
- 6:38Well, Sir, I got hurt in the Penn State game and that's kind
- 6:40of where his coming out party was.
- 6:42But no, it a lot of it was Miami's defense.
- 6:46They were getting pressure the entire game and really taking
- 6:50Indiana what out of what they wanted to do in the passing
- 6:52game. They really didn't have a lot of
- 6:54opportunity to throw down field and made those back shoulders
- 6:58were about the only thing that was working.
- 7:01And Becker was they made unbelievably catch, unbelievable
- 7:04catches the to continue some drives and yeah, he deserves a
- 7:08ton of credit. I mean, without Mendoza, I mean
- 7:11without Becker, Mendoza's might not be the MVP because I don't
- 7:15know if they win the game. Correct.
- 7:17That is correct, yeah. But on Miami's defense, though?
- 7:23They played a great. Game the pressure that they got
- 7:25the entire game. Mendoza was under duress the
- 7:28entire game. We we both said last week that
- 7:32we thought if Indiana played the way that they've been playing,
- 7:36they're going to win by 2030 points.
- 7:39Maybe we underestimated the Miami defence a little bit
- 7:42because they did things that we hadn't seen since that first
- 7:45drive against Alabama where Mendoza got sacked 2 out of the
- 7:48first 3 plays. Yeah.
- 7:50And painted with. 33 sacks total I think on the game, but.
- 7:54Even that, even with just that, he he was under pressure the
- 7:57entire game. He was and and the IU plan of
- 8:00attack, I mean it was it was a run heavy attack.
- 8:02They ran the ball 45 times compared to only 27 passing
- 8:06attempts and you know, 45 carries for 131 yards, only two
- 8:10point 9A carry. So and when it wasn't much, they
- 8:13did give up a couple big chunk plays, a couple maybe a 20 yard.
- 8:17They had a 20 yard run from black and a 15 yarder from envy.
- 8:19But the the IU plan of attack was was run it, run it, run it.
- 8:24So Mendoza, you know, with especially with the pass rush
- 8:27and I mean that Miami did a great job.
- 8:30I think I'm on on on stopping the run in in the past.
- 8:33Yeah. But I will say to their credit,
- 8:35they ran the ball even more in the second-half and they just
- 8:39stuck with it. And there were a lot of times
- 8:41where they lost a couple yards on 1st down where it was first
- 8:44beat 2nd and 12:00. And they'd still run it on 2nd
- 8:48down and be able to get 5-6 yards to get back on schedule
- 8:51where they have a chance on 3rd down.
- 8:53And, and I think that was a big part of the game.
- 8:56Yeah. But I, I mean, Miami's defense,
- 9:00I think just deserves a ton of credit.
- 9:02And you knew you knew Fletcher was going to make a play
- 9:05eventually. You knew Malachi Tony was going
- 9:07to make make a play eventually. And they both did in the
- 9:10second-half to give them a chance.
- 9:14And I mean, I ain't alive for a second.
- 9:17I thought, I thought Miami's going to figure out a way to
- 9:19pull this thing out. And then you're right, Beck just
- 9:21had to throw the ball down field and it hung up there a little
- 9:24bit. And it fell into the hands of of
- 9:28Jamari Sharp. Yeah, and I mean every time that
- 9:33you know, Miami like after the Fletcher play and like they they
- 9:37would draw close, you know, I you had an answer.
- 9:40So like Miami that Fletcher made it 10-7 and then IU has to have
- 9:46a big play. What do they do?
- 9:47They block the punt for a touchdown.
- 9:48Which, yeah, we haven't even touched.
- 9:50On that yet I mean that was that that put them right back up by
- 9:5210. And then Miami starts the fourth
- 9:54quarter with a touchdown. It's back to a three-point game
- 9:57and that very next Dr. Mendoza goes down.
- 9:59I mean, that was the the the the play we were talking about.
- 10:02They go 12 plays and 75 yards and once again, they're right
- 10:05back up by 10. So every time that Miami cut it
- 10:08to that 3 point, you know, score, that one score game,
- 10:11Indiana needed a big play or a big drive and their their
- 10:14players stepped up to the occasion and they made those
- 10:17plays that they needed to make. And and with the punt, I mean,
- 10:21that's their 8th blocked kick in two years.
- 10:26Yeah. And which is just a phenomenal
- 10:30stat and the possession before Malachi, Tony tries to catch the
- 10:36ball at the four trying to make something happen.
- 10:39They get they get caught what he was tackled at the five and they
- 10:43they go 3 and out, they punt on 4th.
- 10:46They put on 4th and one yeah. And then you get that block punt
- 10:51and it it just changes. I mean they you win by 6 and you
- 10:53get a block punt block puts big reason why you won the game.
- 10:57That is a huge play, no doubt. But just a couple, Like, they
- 11:05talked a lot about Mendoza growing up, you know, just a
- 11:08mile from Miami's campus. His dad was a teammate with
- 11:12Mario Cristobal. His mom played tennis at at
- 11:15Miami. And how him not not getting
- 11:18offered a scholarship in Miami and the whole story.
- 11:20I mean it, it is it's going to be a 30 for 30.
- 11:23But how about Jamari Sharp too, Also a Miami native, also not
- 11:29offered a scholarship at Miami, The nephew of Glenn Sharp.
- 11:33The nephew of Glenn Sharp. Who was passenger?
- 11:36The famous mass interference against Ohio State in 2002, Just
- 11:43a lot of connections there. Like it wasn't just Miami
- 11:46playing at home, it was a lot of Indiana kids going back and
- 11:49playing in their hometown. Yeah, no, a lot of good
- 11:52storylines in this game, you know, just good for those kids.
- 11:57You know, they they weren't given the chance at the hometown
- 11:59school that, you know, that they probably wanted to go to in
- 12:01Miami. They got passed over and you
- 12:04know, they got their, they got their revenge last night.
- 12:09Yeah, so I just, I'm glad like we both predicted to be a 2030
- 12:14game point game. I'm glad it wasn't because it it
- 12:16was an entertaining game. It was a very good game.
- 12:19They so Indiana obviously their first championship in school
- 12:25history. They entered the season with the
- 12:28most losses in FBS history, was 715 and now they're national
- 12:32champions. They had six wins versus AP
- 12:37ranked teams this year. The the previous record was 3
- 12:42under Signetti. Their record when scoring 20
- 12:44plus points is now 26 and O. Their record when allowing 27 or
- 12:49fewer is 26 and O. When they out rush opponents,
- 12:53they're 25 and O They're two and two.
- 12:55The the games where they don't out out rush opponents well.
- 12:59You you throw these snaps out and Signet, he's only lost one
- 13:02what, two games? Two games since he's paid IU.
- 13:04So they're going to be a lot of, there's going to be a lot of
- 13:06something in OS going on here because he's only lost two
- 13:09games. Will we continue on that note?
- 13:14Indiana 3 ball wins this year from 1899 to 2024, three bow
- 13:22wins. Kirk Signetti has a 931 winning
- 13:28percentage. As you said, he just has those
- 13:30those two losses. He has three ball wins and one
- 13:33national title. All others have a 414 winning
- 13:37percentage. And as we just mentioned, those
- 13:39three ball wins Prior Mendoza becomes the 5th quarterback in
- 13:47the BCS CFP era to win the Heisman and the National
- 13:52Championship in the same season. Do you know the other 4?
- 13:58Joe Burrow. In 2019.
- 14:01Wasn't it? Was the brat?
- 14:03Was that Eric Crouch? Maybe from Nebraska.
- 14:05No, it was, I think that was before the the BCS era.
- 14:08Oh, but oh, BCS era. Sorry, sorry.
- 14:11All right, so Joe Burrow, I was going to be in Ohio.
- 14:15Did Troy Smith. Troy Smith, was he?
- 14:21Zeke didn't get the state. No.
- 14:23Ohio State No. Ohio State, Alabama quarterback,
- 14:27right? Nope.
- 14:29Or not. I'm sorry, Oklahoma quarterback
- 14:31is what I meant. Oklahoma quarterback.
- 14:32No Tim Tebow. No.
- 14:34What, not even Tim Tebow? Nope.
- 14:38Hey. You got Mark.
- 14:39Ingram, Mark Ingram. No, it's no Alabama.
- 14:43You do have one SEC school, one ACC school and then they were a
- 14:49PAC 12 school at the time. One ACC school?
- 14:54Clemson. Nobody from Clemson won a title
- 14:57or won the Heisman now. It's not Clemson, that's why.
- 15:02Oh, Jameis Winston. Jameis Yeah, in 2013.
- 15:07One SEC school? Yep.
- 15:14And you said no, Alabama? It's not Alabama.
- 15:22Are we counting Texas in this or Oklahoma in this?
- 15:26No, it was an SEC school at the time.
- 15:28Oh dude, this is hard. This is hard.
- 15:31All right, 2010 Auburn. Oh, Cam.
- 15:37Cam, 2004 USC. Reggie.
- 15:43Matt Liner. Oh Liner.
- 15:45So is the year after Reggie. OK.
- 15:48But just so many stats and what we learned yesterday, Indiana
- 15:55was the first, first time champion since Florida in 1966.
- 15:59They said that on the broadcast. Really just an historic night.
- 16:06And do you think the party is still going at Kilroy's?
- 16:10At Nick's? 100% did you see they were lined
- 16:13up the night before, camped out in single degree temperatures to
- 16:18get a spot in the bar at 11 AM when the bar opened?
- 16:22I mean just the amount of time that you spending at the bar.
- 16:27So you get in at 11, you're probably not leaving until they
- 16:30close. Is it 2 or whatever it is?
- 16:33I mean, no, I mean, the scenes were absolutely on Kirk Webber
- 16:36were absolutely electric. Dudes climbing on poles and
- 16:39light poles and trees and just massive amount of people in the
- 16:43middle of the street. And if there's one thing that IU
- 16:45knows the the students know what to do.
- 16:47They know how to party at IU. Yep, I have a Yeah, You've been
- 16:52there? Yeah, they do.
- 16:54You've dabbled in that scene before.
- 16:55Curt Cignetti One thing that he earned last night was a lifetime
- 17:01supply of beer from the What's the Upland Burger?
- 17:10Lifetime beer. So does Kirk Signetti drink
- 17:12beer? He looks more of a wine guy to
- 17:14me. Did you?
- 17:15Watch the post game. I was too busy drinking my own.
- 17:19The first thing he says, they ask me how he's gonna celebrate.
- 17:22Well, give me a beer. And then the press conference,
- 17:25he said that beer tastes pretty Dang good.
- 17:27I, I wouldn't mind tasting another one.
- 17:29And I know what he means doing all this again.
- 17:32But who's your game day logger from Upland Brewery.
- 17:35He mentioned that by name in the in the post.
- 17:37Game I had. I had two of those last night.
- 17:39And he has landed lifetime supply.
- 17:44Good for him. That might be, I mean is that
- 17:48that's that's better than that might be a little bit better
- 17:49than any bonus in his contract, a lifetime supply.
- 17:53Lifetime supply and, he says, his favorite beer.
- 17:57Good for Kurt. Good, good night for Sig and I
- 18:01hope we don't own a T-shirt company.
- 18:06We we used to, we don't, I, I used to, we don't anymore.
- 18:09But I have you seen anybody print the Sig natty T-shirt yet?
- 18:15Is it? I've I've not seen it, I've not
- 18:17seen it. It's a good idea though.
- 18:19How much gear did you buy last night?
- 18:22None yet. None yet.
- 18:23I haven't haven't had time to to get on and really look at it and
- 18:26got to get some gear, got to get some stuff for the basement.
- 18:30You know, maybe the Sports Illustrated cover, the where
- 18:33Mendoza's diving over the end zone was pretty cool.
- 18:35That might look good on the wall down here.
- 18:37But we will. We will get to that this week.
- 18:41And before we move on, I'm going to give you one more stat.
- 18:45OK. Best point differential in the
- 18:48season? In the A poll era, the number
- 18:52one is the 2013 Florida State team.
- 18:55Their point differential is 553 points.
- 18:59Second, I would make you guess this, but it's 1944 and it's
- 19:05Randolph Field. Never heard of them. 489 points.
- 19:09Indiana ranks 3rd all the time with 479 point differential.
- 19:17I mean, they were what was the average over?
- 19:19It was over 20. I think 27 somewhere in the 20s
- 19:23we have to do. That divided by 16.
- 19:26Incredible. And look, that's why after
- 19:30saying, well, you kind of saying you were worried in the first
- 19:34two rounds when they're facing Alabama and Oregon, I think
- 19:36that's while we finally both had the gumption to be like, hey, if
- 19:40they do what they're going to do, they're going to blow,
- 19:42they're going to win this thing by 20-30.
- 19:43And I do think they didn't play an A game.
- 19:49I think they probably played ABB plus game.
- 19:52And I thought Miami's defense played exceptional.
- 19:57Their offense didn't have an A game.
- 19:58But I, we said Indiana didn't have to play their best game to
- 20:03win. And I, I kind of think that's
- 20:04what happened. No, I agree.
- 20:07I mean, the the Miami defence is a big part of that, but I yeah,
- 20:10it was not their best, but it wasn't their their worst.
- 20:14I mean, I think probably the Penn State game might have been
- 20:16their worst and they still end up winning that game.
- 20:18But no, I would agree with the the BB plus and that was good
- 20:22enough to win. And now they're running the
- 20:25portal, so just go do it again. But this is also the fact that a
- 20:33program like Indiana, who historically is the worst
- 20:36powerful program in college football, the way that
- 20:41everything is designed out with the portal, with NIL, it allows
- 20:46something like this to happen it.
- 20:49Does. And look, there's a lot of
- 20:51negative things with everything that's going on, but the fact
- 20:55that a team like Indiana can come out of nowhere and hired a
- 20:59new coach and two years later make two runs to the tournament
- 21:02and then win the whole thing is a positive.
- 21:04Because I do think it team people get tired of seeing
- 21:08Alabama, Ohio State, Oh yeah, every single year in the
- 21:11national title game. And I think it was refreshing to
- 21:14see Indiana play Miami. And I know Miami's in historical
- 21:17program, but they just, they haven't been there in the last
- 21:2020 or so years, right? No, I mean it, it starts with,
- 21:24with fan support and donor support.
- 21:26You know, you, you, you got to get the, the money flowing in to
- 21:29get to get the players and the coaches.
- 21:31And you know, they, it's been talked about a lot that Indiana
- 21:35has the largest living alumni base in the country.
- 21:38So when you got that kind of support and like those bigger
- 21:41numbers behind you, you know it, it's, it's possible to do
- 21:44something like this. And and now Mark Cuban has seen
- 21:47what SIG can do, and he's got the wallet open.
- 21:49He's writing checks. He's he's writing checks.
- 21:52I'm surprised you didn't pull out the fumble stat on IU.
- 21:54Did you hear about the fumble stat?
- 21:56Blow it out. They're one.
- 21:59I provided like 20 something. Statute.
- 22:00Only one lost fumble on the entire season for IU.
- 22:04It happened in the first quarter of the first game.
- 22:07Well and never lost the fumble again.
- 22:08Longest streak in college football history.
- 22:11Which is what, 15 games now? I think the previous was 12 is
- 22:14what I read so. Just really.
- 22:18And they didn't turn the ball over in the postseason.
- 22:20No, they that's that's a big part of why why they're national
- 22:24champion. Does they take care of the
- 22:25football? Well, and we've talked about it
- 22:27over and over again, they're just so fundamentally sound.
- 22:29They are. And maybe a lot of that has to
- 22:32do with the fact that their roster average age is the age of
- 22:35some of the youngest teams in the NFL.
- 22:38Yeah. But they didn't make mistakes
- 22:42and neither did Miami until until the last drive.
- 22:44And they had a chance there. And just ironic that Sharp would
- 22:50get would get the pick 20 years after his his uncle got called
- 22:55for pass interference against Ohio State.
- 22:57I mean still one of the the I still don't think it was a pass
- 23:00interference. I know and I haven't looked at
- 23:03it in forever, but I just remember seeing it when it
- 23:06happened. Correct.
- 23:07There was no way. I agree.
- 23:09It was on 4th down, wasn't it? It was more of an end of the
- 23:12game, Yeah, no, no pass interference.
- 23:14I agree with you on that. And when we transition to the
- 23:17NFL, we get to talk to a little bit more about pass
- 23:19interference. There were some controversial
- 23:23ones. There were what, just to put a
- 23:26bow on it, and we've mentioned this several times, just nothing
- 23:29like it in the history of sports.
- 23:32There's there's nothing that you can compare this to, no.
- 23:35It's it's the one. It's the greatest, one of the
- 23:37greatest sports stories of all time.
- 23:39Yeah. Has anybody checked on Has
- 23:41anybody checked on Michael Irvin this morning?
- 23:45They didn't show him as much as I thought they would last.
- 23:47Time they were winning, so you're probably not going to
- 23:48show Michael Irvin when you're not winning.
- 23:50Well, even on like the. The big welfare We need a
- 23:52welfare check. Michael Irvin.
- 23:54They I just thought they would show me more.
- 23:56Yeah, no. But he he definitely needs a
- 23:59welfare check. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- 24:03He had a nice little run, got a lot of pub out of it.
- 24:05He did I, I think he's doing OK. Yeah.
- 24:11So Indiana Hoosiers are your 2026 national champions in
- 24:17football, and Indiana University has the last two teams to go
- 24:21undefeated in both college football and college hoops.
- 24:26Yep.