This one had drama to it. It was a full four-quarter game that came down to the very last snap.
Indiana, the #1 seed in the playoff and only undefeated team, completed the perfect run and became college football’s first 16-0 national champions since 1894. Unlike in the quarterfinals and semifinals, the Hoosiers couldn’t knock Miami out in two quarters and get out in front by three scores early.
But every time the Hurricanes dared them to make a play, IU answered, never surrendering the lead and coming out on top 27-21 with Jamari Sharpe’s red-zone interception sealing the title and beginning the celebrations.
Both teams left everything out on the field in a very “gutty” game, as Coach Cignetti described it afterward. Here are three takeaways from the national championship in Hard Rock Stadium that declared the Indiana Hoosiers the winners of the 2025 College Football Playoff:
1. Most exciting title game since Alabama-Georgia in 2018
Most national championship games in the CFP era have been blowouts or at least multi-score wins. This was the first title game to be decided by a touchdown or less since 2018, when Alabama and Georgia famously went to overtime, and Tua Tagovailoa threw a 41-yard TD pass to DeVonta Smith on 2nd & 26 to win a “walk-off championship”. This one didn’t get quite that crazy, but the 4th quarter went “Miami TD, Indiana TD, Miami TD, Indiana FG, Miami INT, Indiana runs out the clock.”
For all those fans who paid $4000+ to see it in-person, they sure got themselves an extremely memorable ballgame.
2. Indiana completes “The Perfect Run”
9-0 Big Ten record for shared regular season title. Big Ten Championship trophy. Rose Bowl trophy. Peach Bowl trophy. Final AP #1 team and #1 overall seed in the CFP. Beat six top 10 teams. Heisman trophy. 12-0 regular season. And 16-0 national champions hoisting the 2025 CFP national championship trophy in Hard Rock Stadium.
One of the most impressive and dominant runs by any team in any season in a long time. Curt Cignetti and the Hoosiers built themselves into the best team in football, and one game at a time, marched all the way to the title without ever being beaten all fall and all winter.
3. Miami went from barely included to the razor’s edge
The Hurricanes were barely included in the 2025 CFP, receiving the last at-large bid instead of Notre Dame, which caused uproar across much of the college football landscape—not just in South Bend. But once the playoff started, Miami went on the road and bested Texas A&M in College Station, did the unthinkable and bounced Ohio State from the CFP in just the quarterfinals, and outlasted Ole Miss to become Indiana’s challenger for the national title.
Once there, they gave Indiana their toughest fight of the CFP, coming far closer to winning than higher-seeded at-larges Alabama and Oregon. In the final poll, they should be ranked #2, because they went from barely included to the razor’s edge of the national championship, which was way, way closer than Ohio State, Georgia, Texas Tech, and all the others got.
