Andy & Ari On3 - Indiana WINS the 2025 CFP National Championship | Hoosiers cap off a PERFECT season vs Canes

Episode Date: January 20, 2026

Join Andy & Ari LIVE from Hard Rock Stadium tonight following the conclusion of the CFP National Championship between the Indiana Hoosiers and Miami Hurricanes. As the 2025-2026 season comes to a close, who will be crowned the national champion? Andy & Ari will cover it all from Miami Gardens here. (0:00) INDIANA WINS(9:15) Dell(10:20) What Indiana winning means for the rest of College Football The Dell XPS proves there’s no need to compromise—style, power, and reliability come together in one expertly crafted machine.Check out the all-new Dell XPS at Dell.com/XPS. This show is presented by Modelo! Some things in life are just made for each other. Peanut Butter and jelly. Macaroni and cheese. Modelo and college football. If you’re watching this, it means you live and breathe football. All season long. You know what that makes you? A Full-Time Fan. Which means you deserve a Modelo. Because football wouldn’t be the same without you. Modelo is the official beer sponsor of The College Football Playoff. Drink responsibly. Beer imported by Crown Imports, Chicago, IL Our show is also presented by BetMGM! If you haven’t signed up for BetMGM yet, use bonus code CFB and you will get up to a $1500 First Bet Offer on your first wager with BetMGM! Here’s how it works: 1. Download the BetMGM app and sign-up using bonus code CFB.2. Deposit at least $10 and place your first wager on any game.3. You will receive up to $1500 in bonus bets if your bet loses! Just make sureyou use bonus code CFB when you sign up! Make this college football season one for the history books. Make it legendary. See BetMGM.com for Terms. 21+ only. US promotional offers not available in New York, Nevada, Ontario, or Puerto Rico. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (Available in the US). Call 877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY). Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP (AZ), 1-800-327-5050 (MA), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-800-981-0023 (PR). First Bet Offer for new customers only. Subject to eligibility requirements. Rewards are non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire in 7 days. In partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. Watch our show on YouTube! https://youtube.com/live/Y2YJgj6_f20 Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey Interested in partnering with the show? Email [e-mail] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to an incident reaction edition of Andy and Orion 3, presented by BetMGM, and we are here at Hard Rock Stadium. The confetti is flying. Indiana has won the national championship. The first new national champion since 1996. Say that again. Who's the national champion? Indiana. The Indiana Hoosiers are the national champions of football.

By the way, Indiana, now the last undefeated national basketball championship and the last undefeated football national championship. I mean, this team basically is just the personification of all the things that we thought were impossible, Andy. We thought it was impossible to go undefeated in this new system all the way from wire to wire and win a national title. I thought it was undefeated to not have certain amount of stars on your roster to go undefeated. And of course, we thought it was impossible that Indiana would do it. Indiana! It was an unbelievable game. And I think that Indiana ended up winning the game the way that Indiana has won all these types of games,

which is making fewer mistakes, pounding the rock, being relentless. And, I mean, they're one of the best coach teams I've ever seen. They punished Miami's mistakes, but Miami didn't quit. Miami kept coming and coming and coming. And Indiana answered every single time, every single time. I mean, think about that drive in the fourth quarter. When Miami's got it within three, Indiana faces two fourth downs. and knows it's Becker to convert one of them,

and then pinballs in from 12 yards out on fourth and fourth. I mean, it was incredible. Yeah. I mean, that was that play where he pinballed in and Jove. Yeah. Was literally one of the most iconic moments in college football playoff history, if not college football history. And, you know, the game a lot of people thought would be the result that we got.

Yeah. But what we got in the game was not that. No. Miami, go ahead. I mean, but Miami, like, really was in that. in the game for many of the reasons that we outlined this morning. Yes, and it's so interesting because at 10-0, when Miami trotted the kicker out for a 50-yarder on fourth and two

instead of going for it. Now, I know it was late in the first half, and there wasn't a lot of time, but they had timeouts. I would say against any other opponent, Mario Cristobal would have gone for that fourth down, but they had just had to go for a fourth in inches and barely gotten it. So with Indiana making them fight for every single inch,

I thought this is Mario tapping out, sitting the kicker out, and they missed the field goal, and it turned out to be horrible for them. They're down 10-0 at the app, but to Miami's credit, they never quit. They kept coming back. And they kept doing it their way. They kept running the ball well, that duo play that you wrote about, they scored in a long touchdown run. They were banging it in between the tackles. Their defense, I thought, played an incredible game. Now, I know in a one possession game, they could have come up with a few stops at the end there.

They came up with one final one to keep it to six, drove all the way down. They had every opportunity in the world to win the game. Here's the deal, though. How many catastrophic mistakes did Indiana make in this game? None. A few drop passes. Yeah. A blown defensive coverage on the long flexion run.

There was one false start that I remember. Yeah. No, two false starts. But yeah, very clean game. Miami missed that field goal. Yep. Got a punt blocked. punts.

Got a punt blocked. It's just a game in that off-size that Ruben Bain had in the first and second quarter that kept the line live. So you can't make mistakes against Indiana. And for the most part, Indiana made them pay. So, you know, I am kind of in a whirlwind because I do think that Miami showed today on this field that they're every bit as good as we thought they were. Yeah.

But Indiana was unequivocally the best team in the country this year. And there's nothing that anybody can ever say about that. Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. And the thing is, now we have to ask ourselves, well, two, questions how the hell did Kurt Sinetti do this which we've tried asking that there's and i think pat kugan gave us the best answer like there's no magic pill no secret book like they just put in

the work but it's also as we talked about Kurt signetti is fantastic at finding the players who fit what he needs for his team and his schemes yeah it's it's an unbelievable coaching it's a clinic And I don't know what the headline on your story is going to be when it goes up on On 3 here later this evening. But I think I've got a good idea of it. And I think it's true. It's just that Indiana answered the bell again and again and again. But there's a line in that story. I call it the most incredible turnaround in the history of American sports.

And I really can't think of another one. Even turnaround might be wrong because there was nothing to turn around from. It's raising a program from the dead and turning it into the best program in the country. Yeah. And I don't know how, I don't think we've seen anything like this. We've seen bad pro franchises that got pretty good. But the rules and the pros are different. The talent gaps aren't the same.

By the way, listen to this crowd. This is Miami's home stadium. Indiana outnumbered Miami fans tonight. Yeah, and you know that Kurt Signetti's about to get on his podium here and drop a few bangers. We're going to cover that here in a little bit. But Andy, the other thing I wanted to make a point of, too, is Indiana's story was remarkable before this game. Yes. It would have been remarkable if they would have lost this game.

But what it means for college football, what it means for their, you know, you played that joke this morning on the show that we did about what would it mean for the program if you win. It would mean they're national champions. But I think that this is a statement for college football. No, it means they're freaking national champions. They're Indiana. But I do think too that like Indiana, if their quest is and certainly is to be one of the best programs sustainably in the country that winning this puts them on the fast track to achieving that. There's no reason why they can't keep doing this. Yes, they brought back a lot of the key pieces from a team that went 11 and 2 last year.

But that also lost their quarterback and went out and got a guy in the portal who wound up winning the Heisman trophy. Yeah. And then they had the most iconic play in the game too. Really good at evaluating. By the way, they kept both coordinators this year. They kept the whole staff together, it seems like. Well, also, Andy, they won the national championship. Every single time they recruit a kid, there's a completely different thought process.

Right, now it's different. Now, those Stars Matter kids that Ari loved so much, they're going to talk to you. They're going to want to play for you. It's no longer do you believe it's, did you see that? Yeah. Yeah, it doesn't have to be, it doesn't have to be, I win, Google me. They don't have to Google you. Google Cigetti anymore.

They already know who he wins. Best college football coach in the country. I think we can cement that now. You know, we'll have a whole... Sure, we'll have a nice off-season filled of discussions like this, but I want to say, as somebody who has been very stubborn in the way that they view the sport and the way that they analyze the sport,

that Kurt Signetti opened up my mind to a whole new world of possibilities. And honestly speaking, our entire summer just changed. This is more fun, by the way, because now we get to figure out who's the next one to do this? Who's the next program to do this? Because it doesn't mean you have to be Oregon. that's kind of built this way for the last 15 years. It doesn't mean you have to be Ohio State who's always there.

It doesn't mean you have to be Michigan, which was a blue blood before it fell on hard times, then came back. It means you could be anybody, anybody. The Minnesota fan messages us in June and says, here are the four things that I believe need to happen for us to win the national chance. It's not funny. Right. Let me name you some schools.

Minnesota. Mississippi State. why not Texas Tech keep going yeah yeah why not Arizona State yeah I mean I don't know Purdue Kurt Signetti would say Purdue sucks but would you say that Purdue was a better program than Indiana for the last 20 years maybe right

this century sure yeah and even in the late 90s too yes absolutely I had a thought too I was watching at the media hotel before we came over here Andy they had I use president on the Pat McAfee show this morning talking about what it's like to go to IU, their alumni base, all those different things that make a university market. I'm like, how is being good at football not the top priority for every university in the country?

In terms of advertising, in terms of what it does for the school. Look at this commercial. Look at this commercial that they're running for Indiana right now. Indiana, whatever they spent on Indiana's team and staff this year, pales in comparison to what you could have done from a marketing standpoint to do the same messaging. And it was fun. It was fun. It was fun. So we got to talk about a little more what this all means because I realize we're very excited about it.

We're being very hyperbolic, but I'm not sure we can even be hyperbolic enough. Is there any such thing as hyperbole anymore and a sport where Indiana football is the national champion? I don't think so. We're going to talk more about what it all means right after these words from Dell. Every great idea deserves the power to bring it. it to life. Meet the all-new Dell XPS laptop the perfect combination of style, power, and performance

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power, and reliability come together in one expertly crafted machine. Check out the all-new DellXPS at Dell.com slash XPS. Okay. Indiana is the national champion, Ari. The Indiana freaking Hoosiers. This is something like, okay, if we go back, even three years, going into Tom Allen's final season, and we grabbed a random Indiana fan and we said, listen, in January, 26, you will be in Miami celebrating a national championship.

What do you think their reaction would have been? you're an idiot like call the cops like it's insane yeah I mean like here's the deal about it and not to be offensive but I use fans

were probably majorly checked out for most of the last 20 years sure you can't keep a fan base engaged with the product they had on the field for that long of a time I mean as we look at all of these Indiana fans they wanted this they dreamed of this but I am not sure they ever thought it was possible and I thought what Kurt Signat

he said was interesting so he got asked the other day about the i win google me and he said i had to see if the fan base was dead or on life support and the implication being that it was just on life support that it hadn't died yet but to activate this took winning in a way that none of these people ever dreamed possible yeah and they know the other thing too is now what do they do now what is it this a wonderful story in the chapters of college football or do they become one of the most consistent winners in the sport for the next. There is no reason that they can't win consistently every year, not the national title every year, but there's no reason that they can't put together a team that is very competitive in the Big Ten that competes for college football playoff,

that makes a college football playoff. There's no reason they can't keep doing that as long as Kurt Signetti is their head coach. I agree with you completely. And also, we did a way too early 2026 poll you know on on three yes guess who was in the top 10 yeah we didn't make that mistake it last year we made the mistake of leaving him out and it was stupid i mean let's go back to this time last year how we didn't see maybe not this but how we didn't see another good season out of indiana coming is sheer stupidity and and probably stubbornness on our part they brought back most of the best parts of last year's team they got a quarterback who we knew was coveted in the portal. We knew Georgia wanted him. We knew Miami wanted him. So we should have known they were

going to be a very good team this year. I don't think anybody was predicting this, but from now on, I think we will. You know, when we talk about college football, Andy, so much of the time is spent talking about roster building, philosophy, how did this happen? The one thing I don't want to get lost in the equation is that was one of the best coached fucking teams I've ever seen in my entire. Absolutely. And I'm sorry to curse. Well, Kurt, like, you're saying it as Kurt Signetti's being introduced. Kurt Signetti's out there talking on stage now. So go ahead, keep talking.

The best coach team, Andy, that I've ever seen. Yes. I mean, on. I think some of those Alabama teams, like 2011 Alabama, 2012 Alabama, that just suffocated opponents. It didn't make mistakes. But it's also, this team was every bit like those teams. The difference is it did not enjoy.

a prohibitive advantage in talent accumulation. I was going to say it's easier to yeah listen Nick Sabin is a godlike figure in this sport right no one's gonna ever say a bad word about him but it's easier to take coaching for granted when you've got better players right also Kurtzignetti helped recruit some of the players on those teams by the way Indiana had better players so we got to stop talking about it right they did I mean they had great I mean Charlie Becker man have backups so they could go win the 10 and they're not built like two up two thousand eleven Alabama

Yes, players like Charlie Becker. I'm glad you mentioned Charlie Becker, who is critically important in this game. Two huge catches on the back shoulder. He's awesome. And this is a guy that Kurt Signetti recruited out of high school. He's from Nashville, Tennessee. They IDed him. They knew he could be good.

He's in his second year there. He is making him a huge impact on this team. I mean, think about two most iconic plays in the game outside of Mendoza's touchdown run. And go back in the season. He had to catch before the Omar Cooper catch in the Penn State game, which was almost as impossible of a catch. He had that great catch over the middle in the Rose Bowl that basically put the game to sleep.

And that's the thing. It's not just the guys that they brought from James Madison. It's guys like Carter Smith, who were at Indiana all along that they inherited. It's guys like Pat Coogan, who came this year after getting, basically being the odd man out on Notre Dame's offensive line, where he started at the end of last year. They had everybody coming back healthy, and they said, sorry, Pat, we don't have a starting spot for you, and he had to go somewhere else. It was an accumulation of all the things, and you talked about being able to spot people in the portal and being a great character judge in a short amount of time.

But when you think about the most important players on the team, you have JMU guys, you have transfers from other places, and you have holdovers. It's a combination of all three, and they all fit together. They're all puzzle pieces, and the puzzle piece was that trophy up there. Yeah, and the fact that they all made it work together, that everybody, and this is what Pat Coogan talked to us about. If you saw the show on Saturday, you saw Pat Coogan talking about this, where he said, we just all understand what it takes. We all understand the amount of work you have to put in,

and we're all willing to push each other to work harder. And a lot of teams say they have that, but these guys actually do. And you've seen it worn out on the field over and over. I just kind of feel like every wonderful story that you could ever write about a team, this team exhibited. It was great coaching. It was a character of a coach. Yeah.

It was not losing. It was winning tough games. It was blowing out people. It was the iconic quarterback. It was the Heism. This is one of the most fun teams I've ever watched March to a national time. They had everything. Great line play.

Everything. So, and congratulations to Indiana fans. I mean, like, savor it. And take pride in the fact that you can. gave hope to every other power team in the country. Yes. There isn't a thing. We used to play a game in the off season.

Who can win a championship and who can't? The answer now is everybody can win one. That's exactly right. That's the gift. If you're in Startville, if you're in Lubbock, if you're in West Lafayette even. If you're in Tucson. You can win a national championship too. You hear him singing, they're the champions now.

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