Moving the Chains: Takeaways from the National Championship game

By Scott Ludwig, [email protected]

Tying up some loose ends before getting to the final game of the season:

• Maybe I was overstepping a while back suggesting Kalen DeBoer may lose his job for his bone-headed call on fourth down against Indiana, or Ryan Day losing his for admitting he didn’t have his team prepared to play Miami.

Then again, maybe not.  There are plenty of Alabama and Ohio State faithful, respectively, who will never be satisfied with just making it to the college football playoff quarterfinals.  For them, nothing short of a National Championship will ever be enough.

That being said, why not go ahead and add Kirby Smart’s name to the list of coaches whose employment is in jeopardy?  His even-more-bone-headed-than-DeBoer’s call on a 4^th down play – that resembled a razzle dazzle trick play performed by the Keystone Cops – was disastrous, and led to a plethora of anti-Smart comments on any number of Georgia Bulldog message boards (I checked).  

• If you aren’t aware, CBS sports announcer Gary Danielson announced his retirement. Danielson was responsible for the prime SEC game of the week since 2006, until CBS switched over to covering the Big Ten in 2024.  I imagine it was a rough transition – going from announcing the Iron Bowl and the Florida-Georgia game to calling mostly meaningless games between teams from the east and west coasts.  

• In this year’s preseason poll, the AP had Penn State at #2 and Clemson at #4.  In case you missed it, the two teams met on December 27 in the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl (no, I didn’t make that up.)  Penn State won the game, 22 – 10, which meant both teams ended the season unranked and with identical 7 – 6 records.  More evidence that preseason polls are meaningless.

• In the first two years of the 12-team playoff, the top 4 seeded teams have lost 7 of the 8 quarterfinal games.  Something needs to change, because getting a bye in the 1^st round and automatically moving on to the quarterfinals isn’t working out how the committee thought it would … or at least hoped it would.  

There is a lot to be said for momentum, as the opponents that the top 4 seeds play will always have one win under their belts.  Additionally, teams playing in the first round have an extra game to work out any rust or kinks following the lengthy layoff after the regular season ends.  Teams ranked 1 through 4 receiving a bye in the first-round don’t have either of those advantages or opportunities.  

So don’t be at all surprised if the playoffs expand to 16 teams – probably sooner rather than later – although I’m still convinced their best bet is to cut it back to 8.  

Now let’s get to the Biggest Game of the Season.  

When the 12 playoff teams were selected, I felt that either Mississippi or Indiana would win the National Championship: Mississippi because it would be the ultimate middle finger to Lane Kiffin for his somewhat disgraceful exit from Oxford, and Indiana because it would be the perfect ending to their storybook season.  

I never thought for a moment it would be (#10) Miami; in fact, I didn’t think they deserved a spot in the playoffs in the first place, having finished in a 5-way tie for second place in their own conference.  By comparison Notre Dame, also with 2 losses, lost to #4 Texas A&M and #10 Miami by a total of 4 points (3 to Miami).  

Since the Hurricanes beat the Fighting Irish by a field goal in head-to-head competition, Miami was chosen to be in the playoffs over Notre Dame.  I don’t believe their loss to Miami in the opening game of the season should have been the determining factor to keep them out of the playoffs, but I do think that a pair of  ACC losses to unranked teams should have kept the Hurricanes out. 

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In the National Championship game, #1 Indiana drew first blood with an early field goal.  In the middle of the second quarter, the Hoosiers ran the ball on 3^rd and 13 – Miami was expecting a pass and was totally caught off guard – to continue what would be a 14-play drive/85 yard drive for a touchdown.  (Worth noting: at that point in the game, Miami had only run 14 total plays for 1 first down and 26 total yards).  Worth mentioning: Indiana got a second chance on the aforementioned 3^rd down play because the Hurricanes were offsides.

Miami attempted a field goal just before halftime that doink’ed off the right upright.  Halftime score: Indy – 10, Miami – 0.  The Hurricanes only scrounged up 3 first downs and 69 yards in the first 30 minutes, courtesy of a razor-sharp Hoosier defense and some exceptional tackling.  

After holding Indiana to a 3-and-out on the opening possession of the second half, Miami quickly scored on a 57-yard run by Mark Fletcher to cut the Hoosier’s lead to 10 – 7.  Indiana got it right back by blocking a Miami punt and recovering it in the end zone for a TD to extend their lead to 17 – 7 at the end of the third quarter. (Worth noting: Indiana’s extra point doink’ed off the left upright – only this doink was successful.)  

Fletcher scored his second TD of the game for Miami on a 3-yard run on the first play of the 4^th quarter to cut Indiana’s lead to 17 – 14.  Once again Indiana answered, wisely spending two of their timeouts that both resulted in 4^th down conversions, the second one a 12-yard run for a touchdown by Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza, upping Indiana’s lead to 24 – 14.  The Hurricanes answered with a 91-yard drive of their own, resulting in a 22-yard TD run by freshman Malachi Toney to cut the deficit to 24 – 21.  

Indiana answered with a field goal to stretch their lead to 27 – 21, which proved to be the final score after Miami QB Chip Beck threw a game-ending interception that ended the quest for a 6^th National Championship for the Hurricanes – and gave the Indiana Hoosiers their first.  Indiana became the second college football team – the 1894 Yale team was the first – to finish the season with a record of 16 – 0.   

Indiana’s first Heisman.  Indiana’s first perfect record.  Indiana’s first National Championship.

The perfect ending to the Hoosiers’ storybook season.  

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Closing thoughts:

• This marked the third straight season the national champion came from the Big Ten.
• Earlier this season I referred to Indiana as the conference’s ‘flavor of the month.’  But they did what no other such team could do, which is to go all the way.  Time will tell if Indiana supplants Penn State in the ‘Big Four’ – Ohio State, Michigan, and Oregon are the other three – in the Big Ten.  With Curt Cignetti as the Hoosier head coach, my guess is yes.
• Fernando Mendoza reminds me a lot of Tim Tebow.  It’s the best compliment I have.