Indiana’s dream season continued on Friday night in Atlanta, and now the still-unbeaten Hoosiers are one victory away from a national championship.
Using a 35-point offensive onslaught in the first half, Indiana never looked back in a 56-22 Peach Bowl pounding of Big Ten rival Oregon that sent the Hoosiers to the national title game. IU has never won a national championship in football, and it will go for history against Miami, a program steeped in championship history from the 1980s and beyond.
And the Hoosiers will go for that history in the Hurricanes’ backyard, with the football programs from different sides of the planet going head-to-head at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami on Jan. 19. While Indiana rolled in its semifinal victory on Friday night at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Miami had to reach down deep and pull out a 31-27 victory over Ole Miss on Thursday night at the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Ariz.
While Indiana will roll into the national title game with a 15-0 record and the opportunity to become the first Power 4 national champion to finish 16-0, Miami was the last team into this season’s College Football Playoff. The Canes lost twice during the regular season and are the No. 10 seed in the Playoff, with IU being the top seed after winning the Big Ten title over Ohio State.
Miami also took down Ohio State on the way to making it back home for the national title game, beating the Buckeyes in the quarterfinals on Dec. 31 after winning at Texas A&M in the first round.
Want another juicy subplot? Indiana quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza, who threw 5 touchdown passes in Friday night’s rout of Oregon, is a Miami guy who’ll be heading back home, too, to face his hometown team for all the marbles.
It’ll be an incredible title game backdrop for 2 programs who got there in much different ways.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
