When it was all said and done, Curt Cignetti and the No. 1-seed Indiana football came out on top and became the last team standing in the College Football Playoff, as the Hoosiers took down the No. 10-seed Miami Hurricanes at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
The game essentially ended when Indiana junior defensive back Jamari Sharpe picked off Miami quarterback Carson Beck with under a minute left in the fourth quarter.
Here’s how it all went down:
INDIANA PICKS IT, THE HOOSIERS ARE ON THE VERGE OF A NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
pic.twitter.com/YFTgZUVC4x
— ESPN (@espn) January 20, 2026
With that interception, the Hoosiers secured the 27-21 victory in the national championship game, something that not many people saw coming before the season.
Down by six points, Beck and the Hurricanes still had a shot to win the game when they got the ball back with a little under two minutes left in regulation. But on a second-and-3rd, Beck seemingly had an underthrown pass intended for senior wideout CJ Daniels, who had two Indiana defenders converging on him. Sharpe perfectly read Beck’s pass, leaping into the air for a two-handed interception.
Sharpe finished the game with six solo tackles on top of his unforgettable interception that will be played over and over again in highlight reels.
With its victory, Fernando Mendoza and Indiana football also capped its season with an undefeated record of 16-0.
To get to the national title game, the Hoosiers defeated the No. 9-seed Alabama Crimson Tide in the CFP quarterfinals and the No. 5-seed Oregon Ducks in the semifinals.
As for Miami, the Hurricanes had everything to still be proud of their season, especially of what they accomplished as a lower-seeded team in the CFP.
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