Pinch yourself, folks, because Indiana is a football powerhouse now.
Fernando Mendoza dazzles, racking up touchdown passes.
Curt Cignetti takes Indiana on a two-year tear unlike any we’ve seen before.

ATLANTA – Cinderella’s got a mean right hook, and she’s not real big on showing mercy, either.

So fierce, she’s become, she stopped resembling Cinderella months ago.

Last year’s Indiana Hoosiers were an underdog story.

These Hoosiers are a dadgum heavyweight. They just knocked Oregon out cold.

‘We’re here to dominate,’ Hoosiers defensive lineman Daniel Ndukwe said.

Pinch yourself, folks, because Indiana is a football powerhouse now. What’s next, the sun rising in the west? A blizzard in hell?

Ostensibly, this 56-22 blowout in a College Football Playoff semifinal pitted two of the nation’s best teams against one another. The gap between the No. 1 seed and everybody else looked miles wide for a second straight playoff game.

Good luck, Miami.

Cheer up, Alabama. Oregon looked every bit as overmatched as the Tide did in the Rose Bowl.

Sure, some team perhaps could stop Curt Cignetti’s machine. Some team like 2020 Alabama or 2019 LSU. Teams that aren’t in this playoff bracket.

Indiana football fans storm into Atlanta, celebrate a beatdown

Did the last one out of Indiana remember to turn out the light?

Oregon fans mostly stayed home. Consider it money smartly saved.

A quick glance around Hartsfield-Jackson Airport the day before the game told you this would be akin to a home game for Indiana.

‘Man, they’re doing their part as the 12th man,’ Indiana offensive lineman Carter Smith said. ‘It means the world to me and it means the world to this team.”

In a downtown pub the night before the game, Hoosiers fans watching Miami beat Mississippi kept shouting, “Hoo Hoo Hoo Hoosiers!”

A day later, they were chanting that on repeat as the touchdowns piled up throughout what could go down as the most significant win in program history — for the next 10 days, anyway.

Indiana scored on the first play from scrimmage when D’Angelo Ponds jumped a sideline route, intercepted Dante Moore’s pass and returned his prize for touchdown. The raucous crowd clad in crimson and cream hollered in delight, and a train horn blared inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

That horn blasted inside this domed venue after every score.

By the third quarter, my ears were ringing. The Ducks will hear that horn in their offseason nightmares.

Curt Cignetti keeps historic run with Indiana football rolling

You can’t call this an Indiana revival or resurrection, because this program never truly lived before Cignetti. Not like this. Old-timers can tell you about the 1967 team that reached the Rose Bowl, but that was a short gulp of glory smashed between a bad season and a mediocre one.

This two-year tear came out of nowhere. It’s truly beyond compare. If you peep Indiana’s transfer class, you’ll see Indiana is trending toward becoming a staying power.

So, you say you don’t care for pay-for-play or transfer free agency? Well, all that money and all that freedom of movement leveled the playing field for schools like Indiana. Transfers are littered throughout this Indiana roster.

Donor Mark Cuban attended this Peach Bowl romp, and he must have enjoyed seeing that his money contributed to building a team unlike any Indiana has ever experienced.

‘From the outhouse to the penthouse, baby. That’s the IU Hoosiers,’ Cuban told reporters afterward. ‘We ain’t done yet.”

Fernando Mendoza lights up Oregon

It starts with the quarterback. Third-down maestro Fernando Mendoza kept moving those chains with smooth flicks to his reliable wide receivers. He threw more touchdowns (five) than incompletions (three). The offensive line kept Mendoza protected and the ground game moving. The defensive front persistently harassed Moore. Indiana blocked a punt in the fourth quarter, just for some extra style points.

Total mismatch.

How bad did it get for Oregon? Well, running back Dierre Hill Jr. forced his own quarterback to fumble when he bumped into the football while Moore was preparing to pass, jarring the ball loose. Indiana recovered and scored a few plays later.

A disaster, through and through, for Oregon.

Critics moaned after two Group of Five qualifiers got skunked in the playoff’s first round. Yeah, well, one of the Big Ten’s best just got embarrassed by a conference peer.

Wasn’t too long ago blowouts happened at Indiana’s expense. Now, Cignetti’s team keeps handing them out. This becomes Indiana’s eighth win by at least 24 points against a Power Four opponent this season.

Cignetti watched, hands on hips and with a grim expression on his face, as his team turned a playoff semifinal into a laugher.

As the Indiana coach headed toward the locker room at halftime, he fiddled with his watch. If he’d left then, he could have caught the end of “Sheriff Country.” He stuck around to watch Indiana make a carcass out of another playoff team.

One more to go.

Cinderella’s taken her glass slipper off. She’s beating the competition over the head with it.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s senior national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.

The Ducks’ only two losses of the season came against the Hoosiers, while they won 13 games against all other opponents.
Turnovers plagued Oregon, including a pick-six on the first play and two fumbles by quarterback Dante Moore in the first half.
This marks Oregon’s second consecutive one-sided playoff loss to a Big Ten team, raising questions about the program’s postseason performance.

ATLANTA — Oregon will chew on this one for 239 days, reliving a 56-22 blowout loss to Indiana in the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Peach Bowl again and again until its 2026 season kicks off against Boise State on Sept 5.

If only these new Hoosiers were still the same-old Hoosiers. If only. The Indiana program’s evolution into a Power Four devourer of worlds was the one hurdle in the Ducks’ path during a season that can split into two camps: on one side, two losses in two games against Hoosiers; on the other, 13 wins in as many tries against everyone else.

Oregon bulldozed No. 12 seed James Madison in the opening round of the College Football Playoff and then did the same to No. 4 Texas Tech in the Orange Bowl. But Indiana presented a challenge Oregon couldn’t overcome. That no one else has conquered the Hoosiers doesn’t make this one any easier to swallow.

“I think it’s probably too premature for me to speak on what happened tonight until I go back and really evaluate it,” said Oregon coach Dan Lanning. “I also think you can’t discredit that we played well. We’ve played well at times even here in the postseason. Yeah, there will be an opportunity for reflection and evaluation, but I couldn’t speak on that right now.”

On the heels of a second one-sided playoff loss to a Big Ten foe in as many years — the 2024 Ducks went unbeaten in the regular season and won the conference but suffered a 41-24 loss to Ohio State in the Rose Bowl that was over in the first half — Oregon can only wonder:

How did this happen? And what do we have to change to finally capture an elusive national title?

“Man, you hurt for those guys because the world is going to judge everybody in that room based on the result tonight,” said Lanning. “They’re not failures. These guys won a lot of damn ball games. They’ve had a lot of success. They’ve changed some peoples’ lives, but right now, that moment is going to hurt.”

The first question is easy to answer. Indiana is unquestionably the better team, defying recruiting rankings that heavily favor Oregon. In every way and on nearly every play, the Hoosiers dictated the terms to the Ducks, just as they did earlier this month in a similar rout of No. 9 seed Alabama in the Rose Bowl.

But in addition to being more physical and more explosive on both sides of the ball, Indiana was unmoved by the high-pressure stakes that have come with each new achievement this team has unlocked during a breathtaking 2025 season.

The same can’t be said of Oregon. To suffer another meltdown on this stage raises significant concerns about the Ducks’ preparedness and mindset in neutral-site games against the best of the best.

“Man, I feel like the gameplan we had was awesome,” said Oregon guard Dave Iuli. “I just feel like, you know, we went out there and didn’t execute our jobs. Usually, when it comes to critical moments like this with three teams left or four teams left, the biggest thing is executing. Once people stopped executing, we stopped winning.”

Quarterback Dante Moore tossed a pick-six on the first play from scrimmage. He fumbled with 9:29 left in the second quarter to goose an Indiana touchdown drive that put the Hoosiers up 21-7. He fumbled again about seven minutes later to set up another touchdown, making it 35-7 at the half.

With lead running backs Noah Whittington and Jordon Davison unable to play due to injury, backups Dierre Hill Jr. and Jay Harris combined for 121 yards on 21 carries. But the Ducks ran for 93 yards on 3.6 yards per carry as a team, counting sacks, with 71 yards coming on a Hill run in the third quarter when they were down 35 points.

Offensively, Oregon was wobbled early and remained off-balance the rest of the way, unable to regain its footing as Indiana pinned its ears back and threw the kitchen sink at Moore.

“They have a great defense, great disguise and different looks, but you can’t win football games if you’re causing turnovers,” Moore said. “But overall, I mean, Indiana’s defense is great, defensive coordinator, but at the end of the day, we beat ourselves.”

Defensively, a group that engulfed the Duke and the Red Raiders was helpless against Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza and a brilliant, steady-handed receiver corps headed by Elijah Sarrat (75 yards and two touchdowns), Omar Cooper Jr. (one score) and Charlie Becker (48 yards and two scores).

While the Hoosiers had three sacks and 10 tackles for loss, Oregon’s defensive front barely sniffed Mendoza, who continued his Joe Burrow-like postseason run by hitting on 17 of 20 passes for 177 yards and five touchdowns. Through two playoff games, he has more touchdowns, eight, than incompletions, five.

And while the Ducks committed three game-changing giveaways in the first half, Indiana continued to play nearly perfect football. The Hoosiers turned the ball over with a fumble on their 18th play from scrimmage in the season opener against Old Dominion but have not lost a fumble since.

Adding insult to injury, an Oregon punt near its own goal line in the fourth quarter was blocked by Indiaan, which then scored on a short Mendoza pass to Sarratt for a third touchdown drive lasting fewer than 22 yards.

“Yeah, it sucks right now,” said linebacker Bryce Boettcher. “I’m not going to lie. Not how I envisioned it whatsoever. Obviously prepared to win, and Indiana was a better team tonight. Doesn’t take away from our season. We had one heck of a season.”

It’s possible to look at this loss with a slightly optimistic slant: Oregon was minus-three in turnover margin and doomed its own chances against the No. 1-ranked team in the country. The loss hurts, sure, but the Ducks have still gone 26-3 since joining the Big Ten last season. There is no question this is an elite program.

Yet regular-season success is just not translating to the postseason. As the Ducks head into a crucial offseason defined by their ability to rebuild a roster set to be picked apart by graduation and early NFL draft entries, Lanning’s biggest charge will be assessing and fixing the flaws that have led to two humbling playoff losses in as many years.

One common thread has been a flat and sluggish start. The Buckeyes buried the Ducks by taking a 34-0 lead in the second quarter of last January’s Rose Bowl. Indiana led by 28 at the break. While the Ducks flopped out of the gate and never recovered, the Hoosiers resembled an unstoppable, merciless, Terminator-like machine that craves to not just beat their opponent but bury them.

To say the Ducks were simply outmanned by one eventual champion in Ohio State and a potentially historic squad in Indiana is way too tidy an explanation. That excuse works for the have-nots in the Big Ten and elsewhere, teams that expect to be body-slammed by the best of the best in the Power Four.

That’s not Oregon. The Ducks have higher aspirations; in fact, the program rightfully believes it can beat anyone, anywhere, under any conditions, after spending most of this century knocking on the door of the national title.

But it was one thing to reach the title game against Auburn in the Bowl Championship Series era and against Ohio State in the first year of the four-team playoff format. Winning the 12-team reboot requires much more: Teams need to be almost perfectly constructed and mentally unflappable to thrive against this gauntlet.

Again, that’s not Oregon, which is built to reach this point but not to advance. For a program that believes a title is part of its destiny, this loss should trigger a long offseason of soul-searching, with plenty of questions but no obvious answers.

“I think every man can learn from adversity. I just told that whole locker room, right, this is going to be about how you respond in life,” said Lanning.

“This is going to be a life lesson that a lot of people never get. We just got our butt kicked. Right? That’s going to happen in life, right, and not just Dante. Every single person in the locker room, every coach, every person can learn, ‘Hey, how do you respond to that?’”

The national championship game matchup is set. And transfers played a key role in Indiana and Miami reaching the season’s final game.

The college football transfer portal remains open until Jan. 16, with an extra five-day window (Jan. 20-24) for teams playing in the national championship.

Thousands of players remain available. We’ll keep you posted with daily live updates of portal commitments.

∎ Transfers by conference: SEC | Big Ten | ACC | Big 12

HIT REFRESH FOR UPDATES.

Today’s CFB transfer portal commitments

QB

Bryce Baker: North Carolina to Virginia Tech
Braeden Fuller: Angelo State to Arkansas
Max Johnson: North Carolina to Georgia Southern
Grant Jordan: UMass to Oklahoma State
Amari Odom: Kennesaw State to Syracuse
Jaxon Smolik: Penn State to Temple

RB

Solomon Beebe: UAB to Virginia
Tre Page III: Tarleton State to Oklahoma State
Duke Watson: Louisville to UCF
La’Vell Wright: Western Kentucky to Pitt

WR

Tyree Holloway: West Florida to LSU
Naeshaun Montgomery: Florida to Missouri
Zion Steptoe: Tulsa to Minnesota
Nitro Tuggle: Purdue to South Carolina

TE

Steve Amar: Boston College to UCLA
Dawson Johnson: Old Dominion to Tulane
Max Reese: Mississippi State to North Texas
Riley Williams: Oklahoma State to Mississippi State

OL

Arkel Anugwom: Alabama to Northwestern
Like Baklenko: Oklahoma to Arizona State
Greydon Grimes: Kansas to Appalachian State
Manasse Itete: Florida State to Arkansas State
Ashton Lepo: Michigan State to Oklahoma State
Jimothy Lewis: Mississippi State to Cal
Nonso Omezi: Houston Christian to Western Kentucky
Brock Riker: Texas State to Penn State
William Satterwhite: Tennessee to LSU

DL

Ezra Christensen: New Mexico State to Colorado
Chaz Coleman: Penn State to Tennessee
Tomiwa Durojaye: Illinois to South Carolina
Dillan Fontus: Maryland to Syracuse
Adonis Jackson: Mississippi Valley State to Utah State
DJ Jackson: Troy to Oklahoma State
Nate Johnson: Missouri to Auburn
Jeremiah Warren: Illinois to Pitt
Dominic Wiseman: South Alabama to Kentucky

LB

Amare Campbell: Penn State to Tennessee
Jahleel Culbreath: Old Dominion to UCF
Robert Edmonson Jr.: Colorado State to Illinois
Bodie Kahoun: Notre Dame to Boston College
Derek McDonald: Syracuse to North Carolina
Anthony Sacca: Notre Dame to UCLA
Joseph Sipp Jr.: Kansas to FAU
Jaden Yates: Ole Miss to Houston

DB

Tayvion Beasley: BYU to South Florida
Koen Entringer: Iowa to Louisville
Malcolm Hartzog: Nebraska to Arizona
Vincent Holmes: Washington to Oklahoma State
Jaylen Jones: Georgia State to Virginia
Edwin Joseph Jr.: Florida State to Ole Miss
Andre Jordan Jr.: UCLA to Auburn
Colby McCalister: Kansas State to Baylor
Carmelo O’Neal: Mercer to Alabama
Elijah Reed: Akron to Utah

K

P

College football 2026 transfer portal dates: When does transfer portal close?

The portal period now runs from Jan. 2-16, with an extra five-day window (Jan. 20-24) for teams playing in the national championship. The spring portal window in April is no longer a part of the schedule, so January is the only open window for teams to add via the portal in 2026.

ASPEN, CO — United States women’s slopestyle snowboarder Jamie Anderson exited the Aspen Grand Prix after a brutal-looking spill on the first rail during Saturday’s finals.Anderson landed on her back and did not take her second run. The 35-year-old’s chances of qualifying for the 2026 Milan Olympics are not necessarily endangered — the team will hold a spot open for her.But Anderson must now recover quickly and compete in Laax, Switzerland next week to earn enough qualifying points. It helps that Anderson had a discretionary world ranking due to injury, which came as a result of her two pregnancies since the 2022 Beijing Olympics. Her eighth-place finish in Aspen, since she made the finals, is another benefit to her situation.Anderson is a two-time gold-medal winner in slopestyle (2014, 2018) and briefly retired following the last Winter Games. She gave birth to two children in the years since and announced in the fall she was coming back in an effort to compete in Italy.This is certainly not the first setback for Anderson during that training process. During her first training camp in New Zealand, she suffered a broken wrist.In an Instagram post from Aspen on Thursday, Anderson also revealed that her bag was lost and that she began experiencing mastitis following a clogged duct.“It’s been a rough week,” she wrote. “But (I’m) so thankful I somehow managed to put a run together (Thursday) for qualifiers.”

Everyone wants to be recognized as the best in their line of work – even football players.

The annual All-Pro teams are a way for the best players of a given season to be honored for what they did over 18 weeks in the National Football League’s regular season. This isn’t just for clicks; All-Pro honors can impact contract payouts every year. Down the line, it will come up as some players have cases to be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

This year saw some remarkable performances by many players on both sides of the ball. Myles Garrett’s dominant hands broke the NFL single-season sack record. For much of the year, it looked like Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Puka Nacua could threaten the single-season receiving yardage record.

For most positions, multiple players are be honored for their accomplishments. Others will only have two players named like quarterback, running back and tight end. Those positions could see some changes from the status quo over recent years due to injuries and young, rising stars.

There’s also a new position: all-purpose. This can be awarded to a running back, fullback, wide receiver or tight end.

The Associated Press 2025 NFL All-Pro balloting are selected by a national panel of 50 media members.

In what could be a preview of the NFL MVP vote, Matthew Stafford got 31 first-place votes to beat out Drake Maye (18) for at the quarterback spot. Josh Allen, last year’s MVP, got the other first place vote.

Garrett, Nacua and Smith-Ngijba were the only unanimous selections who received all 50 first-place votes.

2026 NFL All-Pro teams

Quarterback

First team: Matthew Stafford, Los Angeles Rams
Second team: Drake Maye, New England

Running back

First team: Bijan Robinson, Atlanta
Second team: James Cook, Buffalo

Fullback

First team: Kyle Juszczyk, San Francisco
Second team: Patrick Ricard, Baltimore

Wide receiver

First team: Puka Nacua, Los Angeles Rams; Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Seattle; Ja’Marr Chase, Cincinnati
Second team: George Pickens, Dallas; Amon-Ra St. Brown, Detroit; Chris Olave, New Orleans

Tight end

First team: Trey McBride, Arizona
Second team: Kyle Pitts, Atlanta

All-purpose

First team: Christian McCaffrey, San Francisco
Second team: Bijan Robinson, Atlanta

Offensive tackle

First team: Garrett Bolles, Denver, Penei Sewell, Detroit
Second team: Trent Williams, San Francisco, Darnell Wright, Chicago

Guard

First team: Joe Thuney, Chicago, Quinn Meinerz, Denver
Second team: Quenton Nelson, Indianapolis, Chris Lindstrom, Atlanta

Center

First team: Creed Humphrey, Kansas City
Second team: Aaron Brewer, Miami

Edge rusher

First team: Myles Garrett, Cleveland, Will Anderson Jr., Houston; Micah Parsons, Green Bay
Second team: Brian Burns, New York Giants; Danielle Hunter, Houston; Aidan Hutchinson, Detroit

Interior defensive lineman

First team: Jeffery Simmons, Tennessee; Zach Allen, Denver
Second team: Leonard Williams, Seattle; Cameron Heyward, Pittsburgh

Linebacker

First team: Jack Campbell, Detroit; Jordyn Brooks, Miami
Second team: Devin Lloyd, Jacksonville; Ernest Jones IV, Seattle

Cornerback

First team: Derek Stingley Jr., Houston; Quinyon Mitchell, Philadelphia
Second team: Patrick Surtain II, Denver; Devon Witherspoon, Seattle

Slot cornerback

First team: Cooper DeJean, Philadelphia
Second team: Derwin James, Los Angeles Chargers

Safety

First team: Kyle Hamilton, Baltimore; Kevin Byard, Chicago
Second team: Jessie Bates III, Atlanta; *-Talanoa Hufanga, Denver; *-Xavier McKinney, Green Bay (*tied for second-team sport)

Kicker

First team: Will Reichard, Minnesota
Second team: Brandon Aubrey, Dallas

Punter

First team: Jordan Stout, Baltimore
Second team: Michael Dickson, Seattle

Kick returner

First team: Ray Davis, Buffalo
Second team: Kavontae Turpin, Dallas

Punt returner

First team: Chimera Dike, Tennessee
Second team: Marcus Jones, New England

Special teamer

First team: Devon Key, Denver
Second team: Del’Shawn Phillips, Los Angeles Chargers

Long snapper

First team: Ross Matiscik, Jacksonville
Second team: Andrew DePaola, Minnesota

Lindsey Vonn might surpass Ingemar Stenmark, after all.

Vonn got her 84th career World Cup victory Saturday, Jan. 10 with a win in the downhill at Zauchensee, Austria. It’s her second win of the season, and puts her two behind Stenmark. Vonn has at least three more races before the Winter Olympics, including a super-G race Sunday.

‘I honestly thought with my start number, I had no chance,’ said Vonn, who started sixth. ‘There’s so much snow and there wasn’t really a track at No. 6. I thought I had to risk a lot with my line to stay in the hunt. I think I executed my plan really well.’

Snow has been an issue the last two days, with the second training run having to be canceled Friday because of it. More snow was falling Saturday, and Vonn said she raised the issue of the state of the course before the race. She was told that snow was being cleared.

But it could have been better, she said.

‘It’s tough. When you don’t trust the conditions, it’s safety and it’s also fairness,’ Vonn said. ‘It’s a hard line to walk. I think they could have had more slippers, more course crew. I think they could have done a better job, for sure.’

The conditions caused Vonn to take a different approach than other skiers. While others went wide through the turns, Vonn kept a tight, straight line. That allowed her to pick up time in the bottom section of the course, and pass previous leader Kajsa Vickhoff Lie of Norway.

Vonn took the lead after the third interval, and extended it in the last section of the course. She glanced at the scoreboard after crossing the finish line, then gave a couple fist pumps as the crowd cheered. Her time of 1:06.24 was 0.37 seconds ahead of Vickhoff Lie.

‘I didn’t feel like I was doing anything crazy, but it definitely was a much different line than everyone else was taking,’ Vonn said. ‘I think that’s why I was able to ski a little bit faster than the rest.’

Fellow American Jackie Wiles was third, 0.48 behind Vonn. It was her first podium in almost two years, and first time since 2018 that the United States had two women on a downhill podium.

Three other U.S. women finished in the top 20, with Breezy Johnson seventh, Allison Mollin in 14th and Keely Cashman tying for 18th.

‘Being on the podium with her again, it’s super special. And Breezy is right there, too,’ Wiles said. ‘It’s a good day.’

The win extended Vonn’s lead in the season downhill standings, and moved her up to sixth in the overall race.

‘Not in downhill,’ Vonn said when asked if she expected this strong of a start. ‘I felt like I was skiing better in super-G this summer. But when I got to the races, everything was working really well right from the start.

‘I’m just trying to keep the confidence going, the good skiing going.’

This is Vonn’s second win in four downhill races this season, making what was already a remarkable comeback story simply stunning.

Vonn, now 41, retired in 2019 because of the toll a series of serious injuries had taken on her body. But a partial knee replacement in the spring of 2024 had Vonn feeling so good she wondered if she could race again. She returned to the World Cup circuit in December of 2024, and her first season was one of mixed results before she finished with a silver medal in the super-G at the World Cup finals in Sun Valley, Idaho.

With an entire off-season to train and fine-tune her equipment, though, Vonn has been dominant. She’s been fourth or better in every race, and been on the podium in each of her four downhill races. She also was third in her most recent super-G, at Val d’Isère, France.

Her early success this season puts Stenmark back in Vonn’s sights. The Swedish great won a then-record 86 races, and Vonn had hoped to beat that. But she was three shy when she retired in 2019.

Mikaela Shiffrin has since broken Stenmark’s record, getting her 87th victory in 2023. She’s put that mark out of reach, probably forever, now at 106 World Cup wins.

It all comes down to this.

A long, thrilling and often chaotic 2025 college football season that began in late August in Ireland now has its national title matchup set, with No. 10 Miami taking on No. 1 Indiana in the College Football Playoff championship game on Monday, Jan. 19 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida (the Hurricanes’ home field).

As strange as it still feels to type this, the Hoosiers are the best and most complete team in the sport. Coach Curt Cignetti’s team is yet to lose this season, having bested any challenge that has been thrust at it over the past five months. Any doubts about Indiana’s championship mettle — most of which come from the name on its jerseys and the logo on its helmet, not the team itself — have been vanquished in the playoff, with a 38-3 throttling of No. 9 Alabama in the Rose Bowl and a 56-22 beatdown of No. 5 Oregon in the Peach Bowl. In both wins, quarterback Fernando Mendoza looked every part of a Heisman Trophy winner and potential No. 1 overall NFL Draft pick, throwing more touchdowns (eight) than incompletions (five).

The final thing standing in its way of a “Hoosiers”-style ending is Miami, the final at-large selection for the playoff’s 12-team field. The Hurricanes have shown they belong among the country’s best teams, with wins against No. 7 Texas A&M, reigning national champion No. 2 Ohio State and, most recently, No. 6 Mississippi. Miami’s defense has been stingy, holding the Aggies and Buckeyes to a combined 17 points and keeping the Rebels’ explosive offense in check for much of the game. Offensively, it has ridden the legs of running back Mark Fletcher Jr. and the dynamic playmaking of freshman wide receiver Malachi Toney.

Over the next week, the matchup will be broken down from every angle, with the analysis boiling down to a simple-yet-all-important question: who’s going to win this thing?

With kickoff still nine days away, here’s an early look at predictions for the College Football Playoff championship game from the USA TODAY Sports college sports staff:

College Football Playoff national championship predictions

Austin Curtright: Indiana 24, Miami 23

It’s wild to think Indiana was coming off a 3-9 finish in 2023 when it hired Curt Cignetti, who led James Madison from FCS to FBS during his tenure. The Hoosiers, one of the worst Power Four college football programs historically, have accomplished one of the greatest turnarounds of the modern era, regardless of if they defeat Miami in the national championship.

It won’t be easy for Indiana. Miami is playing its best football at the right time and has the most ferocious pass rush in the sport, holding Ole Miss’ high-powered offense to two touchdowns in the Fiesta Bowl. 

Ultimately, I trust Indiana’s veteran roster, along with Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza, who has the edge over opposing quarterback Carson Beck. Rueben Bain Jr. and Akheem Mesidor will make things tough for the projected No. 1 overall pick, though.

Give me the Hoosiers on a last-second score, resulting in an unprecedented title for the former Big Ten doormat-turned college football power of the future.

John Leuzzi: Indiana 27, Miami 21

Here’s a mind-blowing sentence to get started: It is Indiana’s national championship trophy to lose.

Shocker, I know. But with a roster that features not a single five-star recruit, the Hoosiers have looked like the most all-around complete team this postseason, and it would take a complete clean game (including no self-inflicted penalties) from Miami to pull off the upset.

That is not to say the Hurricanes will cause the Hoosiers some trouble, because I think they will. Where I can see this happening is with what got them to the championship game, and that is dominating the line of scrimmage on both ends of the ball.

Fernando Mendoza will deliver a late fourth-quarter, game-winning drive to ride off into the sunset (i.e., the NFL) with his storybook ending in front of the hometown crowd in Miami. Build that Curt Cignetti statue in Bloomington as well…if it isn’t underway already.

Ehsan Kassim: Indiana 34, Miami 14

Miami’s defense will have no answers for Fernando Mendoza and Indiana’s offense. The Hoosiers are a machine on both sides of the ball, and don’t make mistakes for opponents to capitalize on.

While the Hurricanes have made a miracle run as the first double-digit seed to the CFP championship game, the Hoosiers are clearly the team of destiny. Indiana will move to 16 straight wins with the win over Miami, coming just two years following a 3-9 season in 2023. 

Miami is a team that made a lot of mistakes against Ole Miss with penalties and turnovers. That’s not something Indiana does, but rather capitalizes on its opponents’ mistakes. 

Behind a strong opening drive from Mendoza, Indiana jumps out to an early lead and never relents the pressure on Miami, much as it did to Oregon in the CFP semifinal.

With Curt Cignetti leading the charge, Indiana wins its first national championship and is going to be a force for college football to deal with for years to come.

Kevin Skiver: Indiana 24, Miami 10

When an unstoppable force meets an immovable object, we find out which one of those things is actually true. In this case, the staunch Hurricanes finally budge and Indiana — yes, Indiana — stands atop the college football world when the dust settles.

Picking against Miami hasn’t done anyone any favors to this point, but Indiana has carved out a war path. It has met every stumbling block head-on. A long layover before the Rose Bowl? Not a problem, 38-3 over Alabama. A difficult rematch against Oregon? Try 56-22 in a game that saw Oregon score a garbage time touchdown to even make it that ‘close.’ Fernando Mendoza has been all but perfect, and his offensive line has neutralized everything in front of it.

That brings us to Miami. Rueben Bain Jr. and Akheem Mesidor are the best pass rushing duo Indiana has seen this year. But Indiana’s Joe Moore finalist line has given Mendoza all of the time he needs and then some to find Elijah Sarratt and Omar Cooper Jr., not even to mention Kaelon Black and Roman Hemby in the running game. It’s pretty simple: Indiana has simply been better than everyone it has played this year. Why should that change in the final game of the season?

Matt Glenesk: Indiana 35, Miami 24

Miami’s swagger and physicality will test Indiana’s seeming invincibility. The Hurricanes’ pass rush will be the key because Fernando Mendoza has been absolutely surgical in two CFP games: eight touchdowns, five incompletions. Read that again. Eight touchdowns. Five incompletions. Miami’s run game should be able to keep the Hoosiers’ offense off the field, but Indiana’s efficiency doesn’t really rely on them needing the ball too much. As part of the nation’s largest alumni base, I can’t pick against Indiana. Having endured years of ineptitude, the layers of scar tissue are starting to heal as belief has turned into expectation. I expect Indiana to win every game now. And yes, that includes a national championship. Is this real life?

Craig Meyer: Miami 23, Indiana 20

Listen, I’m not about to have this be one of those clean sweeps that can get shoved in our face on social media if the massive underdog pulls off the stunner.

In all seriousness, though, Miami faces a massive challenge, but not an insurmountable one. The Hoosiers are the best team in the country and have looked like it throughout the season, particularly in two playoff games they’ve won by a combined score of 94-25. Still, there’s a path for a Hurricanes victory, narrow as it might be.

Miami is one of the few teams in the sport that can match Indiana’s excellence on both lines of scrimmage. Though it didn’t always look the part on a slippery field at the Fiesta Bowl against Ole Miss, it’s got the nation’s most ferocious pass rush with Rueben Bain Jr. and Akheem Mesidor, a duo that could cause some issues for Fernando Mendoza and the Hoosiers’ prolific passing attack. As they’ve done in the past two wins, the Hurricanes’ offense has the potential to mount long, sustained drives that keep Mendoza off the field.

There are countless other factors, matchups and scenarios that could lead to the Hoosiers completing their improbable journey to a national title. An Indiana run defense that’s allowing fewer than three yards per carry this season may very well bottle up Mark Fletcher Jr. Carson Beck could revert to the worst version of himself and turn the ball over at will, especially against a Hoosiers defense that made life hell for Oregon’s Dante Moore. For all of Miami’s pass-rushing prowess, Mendoza is as well-equipped as anyone to handle it.

But, hey, it’s the last game of the year. Can’t hold anything back now — especially when there’s the chance to pick an upset.

Macclesfield has pulled off one of the biggest upsets in FA Cup history, knocking out defending champion Crystal Palace with a 2-1 win on Saturday.

In terms of league places, Macclesfield’s win is the biggest upset in FA Cup history. The home side plays in the sixth-tier National League North, 117 league places below Premier League side Palace.

The home side scored on either side of halftime, with Paul Dawson grabbing the opener just before the break and Isaac Buckley-Ricketts adding a second in the 61st minute.

Yeremy Pino pulled a goal back for Palace with a 90th-minute free kick, but the home side held on to secure an upset for the ages.

It’s the first time since 1909 the holders have been knocked out by a non-league side.

Crystal Palace fielded a team with international players like Marc Guéhi, Chris Richards and Adam Wharton — all of whom would likely be worth more than Macclesfield’s entire team combined.

But Macclesfield, the lowest-ranked team left in the competition, was good value for its win at Leasing.com Stadium. 

Dawson opened the scoring with a header off a free kick, as the Silkmen captain gave his side a 43rd-minute lead.

Buckley-Ricketts doubled his side’s advantage after a massive scramble in the box, scoring with an improvised finish that trickled past goalkeeper Walter Benítez.

Palace defeated Manchester City in the 2024-25 final, securing the club’s first major trophy.

But Oliver Glasner’s side had its run ended in the third round this time around, seeing its winless streak extended to nine games across all competitions.