The 2026 College Football Playoff National Championship (officially known as the 2026 College Football Playoff National Championship presented by AT&T for sponsorship reasons) was a college football bowl game played on January 19, 2026, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, United States. It was the 12th College Football Playoff National Championship and determined the national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) for the 2025 season. It was the final game of the 2025–26 College Football Playoff (CFP) and the culminating game of the 2025–26 bowl season. The game began at approximately 7:30 p.m. EST and was televised nationally by ESPN.
The game featured the No. 1 Indiana Hoosiers of the Big Ten Conference and the No. 10 Miami Hurricanes of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). It was the teams' third meeting and their first since 1966. Miami entered seeking their sixth national championship, and Indiana seeking its first. The Hoosiers entered as Big Ten champions with a record, while Miami entered with a record.
Indiana placekicker Nico Radicic opened the scoring with a 34-yard field goal late in the first quarter. Three drives ending with a punt preceded it, and three more followed before Indiana scored on a touchdown rush by Riley Nowakowski to cap a 14-play drive with six minutes until halftime. Miami reached the Indiana 32-yard line with 33 seconds remaining but missed a 50-yard field goal and Indiana took a 10–0 lead to half. On Miami's second play of the second half, running back Mark Fletcher Jr. rushed for a 57-yard touchdown to bring Miami within three points. Both teams punted twice afterwards, but Miami's second punt was blocked by Mikail Kamara and recovered in the end zone for an Indiana touchdown by Isaiah Jones. The teams traded scoring drives for much of the remainder of the game: Miami scored on a Fletcher rush and a pass from Carson Beck to Malachi Toney, and Indiana scored on a rush by quarterback Fernando Mendoza and a field goal by Radicic. Trailing by six points with 44 seconds remaining, Beck's pass was intercepted by Indiana defensive back Jamari Sharpe, sealing a 27–21 win for Indiana, winning the Hoosiers their first football national championship in school history. This was the third straight national championship won by the Big Ten Conference.
Background
Host venue On August 15, 2022, the College Football Playoff (CFP) awarded the rights to host the 2026 championship to Hard Rock Stadium. As Hard Rock Stadium hosted the 2021 CFP National Championship, the 2026 game made Miami Gardens the second city to host the CFP national championship twice, after Atlanta, which hosted the championship game in 2018 and 2025.
The stadium is the regular host of the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League (NFL), the Miami Hurricanes football team, and the Orange Bowl. In qualifying for this game, the Hurricanes became the first team to play for the modern college football national championship at its own stadium. Because Indiana was the higher seed, Miami was the designated visiting team for the game. In addition, the stadium hosted four BCS National Championship Games (2001, 2005, 2009, and 2013).
Teams
The championship game featured the Miami Hurricanes of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and the Indiana Hoosiers of the Big Ten Conference. Miami qualified by winning the Fiesta Bowl semifinal, while Indiana won the Peach Bowl semifinal to reach the championship. This was the teams' third meeting; Indiana won, 28–14, in 1964, and Miami won, 14–7, in 1966. Both prior games were also played in Miami.
Miami entered seeking their sixth national championship and their first since 2001, when they defeated Nebraska in the Rose Bowl; their last championship game appearance was the 2003 Fiesta Bowl against Ohio State. Indiana played for their first championship. The game marked the third consecutive championship without a representative from the Southeastern Conference (SEC), the longest such streak since a four-year span from 1999 to 2002.
Miami Hurricanes
Miami opened the season by winning their first five games for the second consecutive year. This stretch included victories against three ranked teams: No. 6 Notre Dame in the season opener, No. 18 South Florida, and No. 18 Florida State. They rose to No. 2 in the AP poll but lost two of their following three games to Louisville by three points and to SMU by six points in overtime. As a result, the Hurricanes dropped to No. 18 in the AP poll and were similarly ranked No. 18 in the first CFP poll of the season. They closed the regular season with four consecutive wins to finish with a 10–2 overall record and a 6–2 record in ACC play. They finished in a five-way tie for second place in the ACC standings but missed the ACC championship on a tiebreaker.
The Hurricanes earned the last at-large spot as the No. 10 seed in the College Football Playoff. In their first-round game, Miami defeated No. 7 Texas A&M, 10–3, at Kyle Field. In the quarterfinal round, the Hurricanes upset defending national champion Ohio State, 24–14, in the Cotton Bowl Classic. They advanced to the Fiesta Bowl semifinal against Ole Miss, where the Hurricanes won, 31–27. Miami entered the championship game with a 13–2 record. As the result of a targeting penalty during the second half of the semifinal, defensive back Xavier Lucas was suspended for the first half of the championship game.
Miami head coach Mario Cristobal entered the game with a 35–18 record through four seasons in the position.
Indiana Hoosiers
The 2025 season included numerous firsts for Indiana football, which entered the season with the most all-time losses by an FBS program. The Hoosiers defeated a top-five ranked opponent on the road for the first time (Week 7 at Oregon); were ranked No. 1 in each of the AP poll, Coaches Poll, and CFP rankings for the first time; had a road victory at Penn State in Week 11, marking their first ever win in Beaver Stadium; finished the regular season with an unblemished 12–0 record for the first time (exceeding their program record of 11 wins from the previous year); and made their first Big Ten Championship Game in program history. In that game, they defeated Ohio State for the first time since 1988 to win the Big Ten title for the first time since 1967. Indiana also won the conference outright for the first time since 1945, which was the most recent time that Indiana finished a season undefeated (). The 2025 Hoosiers team became the first team in program history to finished the regular season undefeated and untied. Quarterback Fernando Mendoza became the first Hoosier to win the Heisman Trophy.
In the playoffs, the Hoosiers received a first-round bye; they defeated Alabama in the 2026 Rose Bowl quarterfinal, 38–3, which marked Indiana's first bowl win since the 1991 Copper Bowl against Baylor. The Hoosiers subsequently defeated Oregon in the 2026 Peach Bowl semifinal at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, 56–22, leading the Hoosiers to their first-ever national championship appearance. The Hoosiers do not claim any prior national championships in college football.
Indiana was led by second-year head coach Curt Cignetti, who entered with a record of 26–2 at the school.
Starting lineups
Miami Position IndianaOffense Keelan MarionWR Elijah Sarratt 4 CJ Daniels 6 WR Charlie Becker Malachi Toney WR Omar Cooper Jr. 1 Markel Bell 3 LT † Carter Smith Matthew McCoyLG Drew Evans James Brockermeyer C Pat Coogan 6 Anez Cooper 6 RG Bray Lynch † Francis Mauigoa 1 RT Kahlil Benson Alex Bauman TE Riley Nowakowski 5 Carson Beck 3 QB † Fernando Mendoza 1 Mark Fletcher Jr. RB Roman HembyDefense Justin Scott DT Tyrique Tucker Ahmad Moten Sr. DT Dominique Ratcliff Akheem Mesidor 1 DE Mikail Kamara † Rueben Bain Jr. 1 DE Mario Landino Mohamed Toure LB Aiden Fisher 7 Wesley Bissainthe LB Isaiah Jones OJ Frederique Jr. CB Jamari Sharpe Ethan O'Connor CB D'Angelo Ponds 2 Jakobe Thomas 3 SS Louis Moore Zechariah Poyser FS Amare Ferrell Keionte Scott 4 NB LB Rolijah Hardy (number corresponds to draft round)
Broadcasting The game was televised in the United States on ESPN for the twelfth consecutive year, with Megacast coverage across numerous other channels in the ESPN family. The primary ESPN broadcast featured the Saturday Night Football commentary team of Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, and Holly Rowe, in addition to Molly McGrath. Former Big Ten referee Bill Lemonnier also joined as a rules analyst. Field Pass with The Pat McAfee Show aired on ESPN2, hosted from the sidelines by Pat McAfee. This was the first championship Megacast since 2021 to include Coaches Film Room, which aired on ESPNU. It was hosted by Zubin Mehenti with Steve Addazio, Dave Clawson, Gene Chizik, Mike Gundy, and former Big Ten referee Jerry McGinn as a rules analyst. The Megacast coverage also included Field Pass with ACC Huddle on the ACC Network, SkyCast on ESPNews, and both Command Center and All-22 on ESPN Unlimited. The national ESPN telecast was produced in 4K resolution.
The ESPN radio feed featured Sean McDonough on play-by-play with analysis from Greg McElroy, with Ian Fitzsimmons and Katie George on the sidelines and former SEC referee Matt Austin as a rules analyst. The Miami Hurricanes Radio Network and WQAM feeds featured Joe Zagacki, Don Bailey, and Josh Darrow on the call, while the Indiana Hoosier Sports Network featured Don Fischer, Buck Suhr, and John Herrick.
A Spanish-language broadcast aired on ESPN Deportes, with commentary from Eduardo Varela, Pablo Viruega, Sebastian Christensen and Carlos Nava. The game was televised on TSN in Canada.
In addition, Indiana had a student radio broadcast on WIUX-LP with Luke Brennaman, Ben Haller and Nick Rodecap.
Game summary The game's officiating crew, representing the Big 12 Conference, was led by referee Michael VanderVelde. The game was scheduled for 7:30 p.m. EST and began at 7:52 p.m. The pregame coin toss was won by Indiana, who deferred their choice to the second half, giving Miami the ball to begin the game.
First half
The game began with a kickoff by Indiana's Brendan Franke which was returned by Keelan Marion to the Miami 28-yard line. The Hurricanes earned a first down in two plays but gained five yards on the next three plays and punted to end the possession. Indiana's first play was an 11-yard completion from Fernando Mendoza to Omar Cooper for a first down, but similarly the Hoosiers' offense were unable to earn another and punted. After a Miami three-and-out, Mendoza passed to Cooper for a 25-yard gain and then completed passes to Elijah Sarratt and Riley Nowakowski. Indiana entered the red zone on a Kaelon Black rush with under four minutes left in the first quarter, and the 12-play drive concluded with a 34-yard field goal by Nico Radicic which opened the scoring and gave Indiana a 3–0 lead. The teams then traded three-and-outs which included a sack of Carson Beck by Aiden Fisher and a minus-6 yard rush by Roman Hemby.