It was noted in a group chat that I am a part of that, “it’s hard to care about college football after the first bowl game was almost two months ago.”
And while the reality is a bit less ridiculous (it has only been a little over a month since the first bowl game of the current season), the frustration is valid and the sentiment is shared.
College football, just two seasons into the 12-team Playoff format, needs to seriously reconsider its postseason schedule.
From my perspective, two things need to be considered a priority. One is to tighten up the postseason package, echoing my group chat’s statement. The other is to make the national title game the center of attention in the football world – something that is incredibly difficult to do when the contest is played a day after NFL postseason games, on what is generally speaking the worst day of the week.
Watching one of the semifinal contests played on Friday evening, I can’t think of a good reason why the national championship game shouldn’t be scheduled on the same day of the week.
But alas, it’s a discussion that will continue long after the celebration in Miami has dulled. And I’m not attempting to take away from what’s about to happen at Hard Rock Stadium.
Let’s take a quick look at the final game of the 2025-2026 college football season.
CFP National Championship
#10 Miami (FL) vs. #1 Indiana (Monday, 7:30 PM ET – ESPN)
The Hurricanes could become the first team in the modern era to win an FBS national championship “at home” when they play at Hard Rock Stadium on Monday night. To do so, Mario Cristobal’s team will need to continue a streak of getting off to a hot start. Against both Ohio State and Mississippi, the Hurricanes rode a first half lead to victory in games where their opponent began to figure things out against Miami’s aggressive defense in the second half. To lift the trophy, the Hurricanes will need to contain an Indiana squad that most recently put together one of the most impressive first halves in CFP history, building a four-touchdown lead through two quarters against Oregon en route to a 34-point victory in the Peach Bowl.
Miami managed to rattle an inexperienced quarterback in Julian Sayin. The Hurricanes followed up that performance by shocking Mississippi’s offensive line in the early going, though Trinidad Chambliss and the rest of the offense figured things out and nearly knocked off Miami in the desert. Now, Corey Hetherman has to find a way to contain the Heisman Trophy winner, who has become a household name in college football as much for his quick decision making as for his quirky postgame interviews. Whereas Miami was able to gain an early advantage against its previous two opponents thanks to aggressive pressure defensively, chances seem good that Fernando Mendoza will almost immediately make Miami’s defense pay for leaving certain areas of the field wide open. Outside of one uncharacteristic instance in the Oregon game, Mendoza has been as lethal as anyone in the Playoff. Miami’s offense has been effective during this Playoff run thanks to Carson Beck’s clean play, but there also hasn’t been a need for the Hurricanes to hurry things up offensively and produce points quickly. Mario Cristobal may have met his match against Curt Cignetti, who will unapologetically operate his game plan and likely be more successful in doing so in the early parts of this game compared to Miami’s previous opponents. Unless that doesn’t happen and Beck plays a near perfect game, I have a hard time imagining a situation where the Hurricanes are celebrating with a pro-Miami crowd at the end of this one. Cignetti and the Hoosiers will cap off one of the more dominant runs in college football’s history and in two seasons have completely uprooted common belief about what is possible in terms of building a winning culture at a particular program.
My Pick: 31-20 Indiana
Bowl Mania Confidence: 30 points
