The Indiana Hoosiers completed the first 16-0 season of the modern college football era by knocking off the Miami Hurricanes (13-3) 27-21 on Monday, January 19th in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game. IU head coach Curt Cignetti’s squad played their style of game and came away with the program’s first ever National Championship.
The Canyonero Keys to Victory for Miami main theme was smack deers, don’t have unexplained fires. There’s no more of an unexplained fire than a blocked
punt for a touchdown.
1- Stop the run. Kaelon Black and Roman Hembry averaged 4.6 and 3.2 yards per carry on 139 yards but were held without a score. That’s a solid outing but nothing that popped off the page.
2- Give Beck time. Carson Beck had time, he was only sacked once. IU had zero pass rush and chose instead to drop into coverage and force him to throw into tight windows which was hit or miss.
3- Win the sideline. I thought this was some of Mario Crisotbal’s better clock management, especially at the end of the game. He had three timeouts where in the past he would’ve been held to one. The delay was messy on the final drive, and the penalties and kicking game blunders came back stronger than ever.
The Doppler
On money downs, Miami was 4-of-12 while Indiana finished 8-of-18 and specifically 2-of-2 on 4th down. Miami lost the penalty yard games as well with 60 yards in flags compared to 38 for IU.
The Hurricanes had only one turnover, the final Beck INT to seal the game, but the blocked punt recovered for a touchdown is the disaster that changes games, clearly.
While Indiana finished 2-of-2 on FG’s, Miami’s Carter Davis missed his lone attempt on a doink’er from 50-yards out. Both teams kickers made their three PAT attempts. Dylan Joyce also shanked a punt, Malachi Toney backed up to fair catch a punt inside the 5-yard line and there was a holding on a kick return. Miami lost the kicking game.
The Miami Offense
Beck finished with 7.3 yards per pass attempt with one touchdown and one INT. He was sacked once for a seven yard loss and didn’t attempt a true rush or scramble.
Mark Fletcher Jr. had a hell of a day and hats off to him for his performance. Fletcher scored two rushing TD’s on 6.6 yards per carry as well as one catch. He did miss a key block in pass pro but an otherwise flawless night. IU had only one TFL against the ‘Canes run game.
Beck found seven different UM receivers with four hitting the double-digit yards per catch mark. Toney led the way with 122 yards and a touchdown. IU DB’s were blanketing Miami WR’s all night and came up with seven PBU’s.
Above– The IU DL are a bunch of nasty little spark plugs of humans. Fletcher cuts back and Toney sets a great stalemate block to bounce a 9-yard opener.
Above- Tyler Van Dyke did the same thing against teams dropping 8, he tried to force the ball. Immobile QB’s allow for drop 8 because Beck wasn’t a threat to run vs. Indiana’s defensive speed. I think they would’ve welcomed Beck on the move and giving himself up for a shot downfield.
Above– Fletcher has to move his feet not turn his shoulders. Same thing happens to Bauman on the blocked punt. Back to the basics in the spring.
Above– Instead of just diving in with a shoulder, IU double legs him with clamps on the back of the knees with a nice gator roll twist.
Above– Okunlola does a good job kicking out on the G Series run here. Head to the correct side. no. 83 doesn’t dominate his block or even stalemate it and this is MUCH closer than it needs to be.
Above– Bauman gets buried a lot by me for his lack of ball awareness and the punt block but here he does a great job on OZ for the TD. Moves his feet so he’s not holding.
Above– And now the Hoosiers finally have a missed tackle with bad angle on the Fletcher TD.
Above– Indiana played a tenacious game in the back end agains the Miami WR’s. Every single pass was contested and they broke up seven passes that all had hands on the football.
Above– I have no idea why Miami doesn’t tag more slide or swing type routes on RPO’s in the run game. Here Beck freezes the DE on a potential pull and run, and the ILB is his read. The LB freezes so Beck pulls and throws to Toney in the flat. The flats are typically safe throws, and big TD plays in the red zone.
Above– Toney doing anything is an OODA Loop disruptor. He actually takes two defenders with him making Bauman’s block easier as Fletcher runs in untouched. Also an old Wing-T play to fake a rocket toss and come back inside.
Above– Toney has an elite ability to find space. For much of the game he couldn’t extend plays after the catch because IU is so solid at closing and finishing.
Above– I talked in the film forecast about needing more wrinkles to the Toney run game, even simple ones. A little toss to Toney and a fake handoff to Fletcher springs this one for an explosive, and then Toney’s spin move turns it into 6.
Above– Beck hadn’t looked a safety off all season and chose the last throw to stay status quo. The read immediately bails to the side of the throw to make it 2-over-1 and he lets it rip. It’s easily picked on the trail technique and the game was over.
The Miami Defense
The Hurricanes defense held on for dear life while the offense sputtered for the entire first half. Fernando Mendoza was held to 6.9 yards per pass attempt and without a passing TD. He did score on that amazing 4th and 5 draw play that had John Elway Super Bowl moment written all over it. Miami sacked him three times, holding him to negative rushing yards.
Like I said in the keys, Black and Hembry had good games but nothing eye popping. Neither scored, their TD was taken by the FB/TE Riley Nowakowski. Miami picked up six TFL’s against IU and Rueben Bain Jr. had 2.5 on his own.
Mendoza only found five different targets with only two hitting double-digit numbers. But, Charlie Becker caught a pair of huge catches against Miami to average 16.3 yards per catch. The ‘Canes had four PBU’s.
Above– Eventually the missed tackles were going to catch up to Miami. O’Connor’s confidence and technique were shook, Bissainthe was just flailing his arms around, Toure looked solid as did Moten and Bain, but Poyser and Thomas were hardly even obstacles for IU ball carriers.
Missed tackles can’t become a common place thing in your program. What saved IU on many plays was the finish– either PBU’s or making stops at the 2nd level.
Above– Toure had a solid game and here while he’s high he uses the sideline as his friend. That’s smart. Vice tackle a guy with the best tackler on the field.
Above- Mendoza reads Toure on the RPO. Nothing Toure can do about it. You’re getting a glance behind him and as he bites down on the run he’s opened this window that the S doesn’t fill.
Above– Miami ILB’s have been poor in covering space all season. IU was just sitting in space left by Miami whether on those back shoulder deep shots or finding grass over the middle.
Above– Again, Toure motors down and comes to balance to annihilate Mendoza. A lot of players over-run these because they can’t buzz but Toure was really good against IU.
Above– I thought OJ Frederique had a solid game. IU has three NFL WR’s in Surratt, Cooper Jr. and Becker. I thought he played a great game matching hands for hands. Great job getting his head turned to avoid the flag.
Above– Bain was violent with his hands late in the year. Here he rips off the OT before a TFL.
Above– Dips under the puller and scrapes to make the play.
Above– I’m not sure what these guys were told to do in the 1st half but that’s quite the cushion.
Above– Very similar to what Miami did with Toney on the Fletcher TD run later. That ‘toss’ look guy holds one player on UM’s defense and it’s enough to open a hole for a score.
Above– Bain had one of those games. Here he slaps the OT’s hands, dips under him and comes away with a sack. He’s got an NFL move repertoire which is a major upgrade over just a year ago.
Above– Not a lot to say here, the DB is there… Becker is just really damn good at the comeback balls.
Above– A wing-t mentality here to use the WR to come inside and crack a LB or S and put the RB 1-on-1 with a CB. Simple but effective when O’Connor has been shaky against the run.
The Miami Kicking Game
Above– If you have to run backwards like this just throw up a fair catch call, pretend you caught it and fool the gunners. You’re likely to lose the ball in the lights, trip, have a weird shot off a shoulder pad… little good can come of this.
Above– Miami’s missed a FG, had the weird PR decision from Toney and later will have a holding on a KR. But in the meantime Bauman decides to let a punt rush guy go for no reason and Miami can’t protect vs. 2 with 3.5 players.
The Wrap
Since I took this writing job here at SOTU I’ve been preaching money downs, penalty yards, tackling and the kicking game. Some metrics have come and gone but those four will always remain. Miami lost the battle on all four aspects and it showed on the final scoreboard.
What’s amazing is that after missing a FG and a blocked punt for a TD- the final score still beat the spread. There are clear things Miami needs to clean up to be a playoff team again in 2026 but I enjoyed the ride and had hopes that The U could win until that final throw. That shows a ton of progress from even 2023.
Thanks everyone for another great season of SOTU and ‘Canes football!
