Miami wide receiver CJ Daniels heard from Malachi Toney before either player arrived on campus. 

Toney reached out to Daniels soon after he committed to transfer from LSU to Miami. Immediately, he started asking for advice and planning workouts, wanting to learn everything he could from the sixth-year veteran. 

“I’ve never seen this from a young guy who’s still supposed to be a senior in high school, wanting to get better so bad,” Daniels told CBS Sports. “It’s really contagious. He spreads it throughout the whole receiver room and pushes other people to take the extra step just to get where he is.” 

How Malachi Toney’s mature mindset shaped star freshman’s breakout season, Miami’s run to CFP title game

Shehan Jeyarajah

Since the confetti began to rain on the Miami Hurricanes following their Fiesta Bowl semifinal win over Ole Miss, Joshua Herran hasn’t slept much, evidenced by an apologetic 1 a.m. text asking if it was too late to talk. He’s been fielding phone calls from people he’s never met or hasn’t spoken to in years, even estranged family members have found his number. He’s had people in his condo building stop him on the way into his apartment, too. Why? Because the ‘Canes are in the College Football Playoff National Championship, and as a ticket broker, he has access to the hottest event in town. 

‘More expensive than Taylor Swift?!’ Inside the CFP National Championship ticket prices soaring to new heights

Richard Johnson

Miami will be without its top pass defender for the first half of Monday’s College Football Playoff National Championship due to a rule that coach Mario Cristobal said “certainly” needs to be revisited. Xavier Lucas is suspended for two quarters after being flagged for targeting in the second half of the semifinal win over Ole Miss.

At the end of an 11-yard passing play in the fourth quarter of the Fiesta Bowl, Lucas launched himself into Ole Miss wide receiver Cayden Lee and made forceful contact with Lee’s helmet on the tackle. The officials called Lucas for targeting, ejected him from the game and issued a 15-yard penalty on the Hurricanes. The call stood after review.

Miami’s Mario Cristobal laments ‘unjustly administered’ targeting penalty against suspended CB Xavier Lucas

Carter Bahns

Score more points. For years, coaches and media alike have gone through the process of figuring out what a football team must do to win a football game, but despite all that research, the only thing that has worked every time is to … score more points.

So when No. 1 Indiana takes the field at Hard Rock Stadium on Monday night with the plan to hoist the national championship trophy for the first time in program history, the thing it absolutely must do in order to achieve that goal is score more points than No. 10 Miami. I promise you that no matter what happens in the game, if Indiana has a higher point total at the end, it will win.

Five keys for Indiana upending Miami, completing historic run with first national title in school history

Tom Fornelli

The No. 10 Miami Hurricanes started the year ranked No. 10 in the preseason poll, so the idea that the Hurricanes finished the year in the College Football Playoff should not be surprising. Mario Cristobal entered 2025 coming off a 10-win season with one of the best offensive lines in football, so Miami essentially fulfilled expectations as one of the last teams in the field for the 12-team College Football Playoff bracket. 

Five keys for Miami to pull off shocking upset over Indiana, win sixth national title in program history

Chip Patterson

Curt Cignetti’s eye for talent may be his superpower. 

He knows exactly what he wants. He knows how to develop the talent into stars. And he knows how to build a culture to make the stars want to stay even as more money and more traditional powerhouse programs beckon elsewhere.

No, we’re not talking about Cignetti’s ability to find talent such as Fernando Mendoza, though he is clearly elite at doing so. This is about Cignetti’s eye for … coaching talent. 

How does Cignetti turn around programs like Indiana so quickly? He has a traveling squad of like-minded loyalists who have chips on their shoulder and are obsessed with being prepared for any possible scenario. 

Curt Cignetti’s eye for coaching talent built college football’s best staff. Here’s how.

John Talty

Indiana stands one win away from a transformation once reserved for legends and the movies that borrow from them. 

Two years ago, the man who writes those Hollywood scripts sat inside the Hoosiers’ Memorial Stadium with an extra ticket in his pocket and an empty seat beside him, unaware he was witnessing the final stillness of yet another losing season before belief came home to Bloomington.

Indiana is knocking on the door of America’s greatest sports stories — and the legends are watching

Brandon Marcello

A wild and fascinating 2025 college football season all comes down to this. 

One game to not only determine college football’s best, but to possibly prove any program with the right plan and right amount of money can win big in this current era. 

No. 1 Indiana has crushed everyone on its path to Hard Rock Stadium. First, it was a 38-3 shellacking of No. 9 Alabama in the Rose Bowl. Then came a dominant 56-22 win over No. 5 Oregon in the Peach Bowl. Led by Curt Cignetti, Indiana is so good that you sometimes forget just how incomprehensible it would have been just two years ago to imagine the Hoosiers winning a national championship in football. 

No. 10 Miami squeaked into the field as the last at-large team but has proven it belongs. The Hurricanes upset No. 7 Texas A&M, No. 2 Ohio State and No. 6 Ole Miss to get a home national championship date. Miami is one win away from Mario Cristobal finally declaring, “The U is back.” Miami is an 8.5-point underdog to Indiana. 

Who wins Monday night? Here’s the blueprint for each to do so …

Will Indiana cap dominant CFP run or does Miami add to its storied history in national championship game?

John Talty

The Hoosiers are in the midst of one of the most unlikely turnarounds in college football history. The Hoosiers could become the lowest-ranked team (No. 20) in the AP preseason poll to win the national championship since Auburn, who began the season at No. 22, did it in 2010.

The Big Ten (Michigan and Ohio State) has won the last two national titles. If Indiana wins, it would be the first time since the 1940s that the conference has won three consecutive national titles. It would also become the third time (SEC twice) a conference had won three consecutive national titles with three different schools.

Indiana star quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Fernado Mendoza will be returning to South Florida for the national title game. Mendoza grew up near the Miami campus, and his father, Fernando Mendoza Sr., was teammates with Cristobal at Christopher Columbus High School in Miami.

Security lines are longer than usual outside Hard Rock Stadium as the national championship game prepares for the arrival of President Donald Trump. 

Secret Service and TSA agents, along with stadium security, are here providing enhanced security and screenings before fans are allowed to enter the stadium.

I can tell you that traffic in Miami is also congested, as expected, four hours before kickoff. Media received a police escort to the stadium shortly after 2 p.m., and traffic was still an Issue. If you’re heading to the game, allow yourself plenty of time to get to your seat.

There will also be street closures when the President arrives this evening. Here’s more from the CFP’s media relations:

“Traffic closures and temporary roadway restrictions will be implemented in areas surrounding Hard Rock Stadium in support of security operations and the arrival of the Presidential Motorcade. While specific times cannot be provided, attendees should plan to arrive several hours prior to the scheduled kickoff to account for traffic impacts, screening, and potential access restrictions. Planning ahead will increase the likelihood of entering the venue prior to roadway and ticket gate closures.”

Miami is seeking its sixth national championship in program history and first since 2001. Miami coach Mario Cristobal could become the first coach in the AP poll era (since 1936) to win a national title as a player and the coach of his alma mater. Cristobal played at Miami (1989-92) as an offensive tackle.

With a win, Miami can become the third two-loss national champion in FBS history. The Hurricanes would join LSU (2007) and Ohio State (2024). It would also mark the second consecutive season that the 12-team CFP format produced a two-loss champion. Ohio State lost to Oregon and Michigan before winning four games in a row en route to a title.

Miami’s path to the CFP title game was difficult with three games away from home, but now the Hurricanes will do something that no team in the BCS or CFP era has done: play for a title at their home stadium. Miami has played at Hard Rock Stadium since 2008 and lost the Orange Bowl in 2017 to Wisconsin.

We’re more than three hours away from kickoff at the national championship game, and ticket prices are rising again after a brief fall earlier this morning.

The cheapest single ticket on Ticketmaster, the official reseller for the game, Is $3,967.50 as of 4:10 p.m. ET. Prices have fluctuated between $3,000 and $4,000 most of the week.

The 2025 college football season is approaching its conclusion as the final game is scheduled for Monday night in Miami when No. 10 Miami faces No. 1 Indiana in the 2026 College Football Playoff National Championship. The Hoosiers are seeking their first title in program history, while Miami is looking to claim its first championship since 2001.

CFP National Championship 2026: Where to watch Miami vs. Indiana as ‘Canes, Hoosiers meet for ultimate prize

Cameron Salerno