And then there were two. The 2026 college football season has led to this: No. 1 Indiana and No. 10 Miami will meet in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game to decide the best team in the country. 

In most years, the Hurricanes would be seen as an overwhelming favorite against Indiana. But Miami has gone on an underdog run of its own after making the playoff as the last at-large team. 

Indiana, meanwhile, has bowled over opposing teams en route to a 15-0 record. The Hoosiers are 2025’s hegemon and it appears as if they aren’t going away anytime soon. 

They handled their semifinal game against Oregon with ease, downing the Ducks 56-22. Miami, meanwhile, triumphed over Ole Miss in a 31-27 thriller that ranks as one of the best postseason games of the CFP era. 

Those semifinal games, of course, provided plenty of material to overreact to as the 2025 season nears its conclusion. 

Indiana is the best team of the CFP era 

Yes, better than 2019 LSU. The Hoosiers may not have as much elite NFL talent — though quarterback Fernando Mendoza is a shoe-in to go first overall in the 2026 draft — and the offense isn’t quite as explosive, but they are a more complete team. 

Indiana’s +473 point differential ranks first among schools in the playoff era (hat tip to my CBS Sports colleague Tom Fornelli). The Hoosiers have bludgeoned opposing teams by an average of 31.5 points per contest. Their last three wins against blue bloods Ohio State and Alabama and new blood Oregon have come by a combined score of 107-35. 

Curt Cignetti’s squad has won all but one of its games against ranked opponents by at least 10 points. And Indiana is doing this in the Big Ten, one of the nation’s premier conferences.  

The Hoosiers are also on the precipice of becoming the first college football program to ever go 16-0. Of course, they have the benefit of playing in the expanded playoff years, but an undefeated season in the modern era of college football, when parity is at an all-time high thanks to NIL, seems like an accomplishment that won’t be easily repeated. 

After all, only four NFL teams have ever completed undefeated seasons and it only happened once after the league went to a 16-game schedule. 

Indiana vs. Miami: Early preview, odds, picks as Hoosiers will meet Hurricanes in CFP National Championship

Chip Patterson

Miami’s discipline issues will doom it against Indiana

Miami was, somehow, able to overcome itself in the Fiesta Bowl against Ole Miss. The Hurricanes committed 10 penalties for a total of 74 yards, including a targeting foul that resulted in the ejection of cornerback Xavier Lucas. They dropped four potential interceptions. 

Those fouls allowed Ole Miss to hang around and even take the lead at certain points. Ultimately, the Rebels made a few crucial mistakes of their own — and were pitiful on third down — which allowed the Hurricanes to outlast Ole Miss. 

That won’t do against the well-oiled Indiana machine. The Hoosiers rank third nationally with just 3.57 penalties per game. They’re smart, they’re disciplined and — as was seen with D’Angelo Ponds’ pick six to open Indiana’s semifinal win over Oregon — they will pounce all over any mistakes the opponent makes. 

Ultimately, discipline will make the difference in a battle between two teams that stack up fairly well otherwise. 

Oregon is in trouble 

You’ve certainly heard of a clutch gene if you’re a fan of sports. Oregon coach Dan Lanning has the opposite. 

In their last three playoff games against Power Four opponents, the Ducks have been outscored 97-66. That includes a 23-0 romp against Big 12 champion Texas Tech this season. 

Talent isn’t the issue with Oregon. The Phil Knight money certainly helps, but the Ducks have always recruited at a high clip. Coach Dan Lanning has done a good job at the high school level and in the portal. 

But there’s plenty of reason to be concerned about the path that Oregon is walking with Lanning, especially given the recent postseason results. This will be a big offseason for him. 

The Ducks are set to lose both of their bright young coordinators. Will Stein is headed to coach Kentucky while Tosh Lupoi will lead former Pac-12 foe California. 

It is a good sign for a program’s health when assistants get head coaching jobs, and it’s a testament to what Lanning has built at the young age of 39. The next few months will be a huge test of his ability to keep the ship steady. 

Ole Miss is bigger than Lane Kiffin

It was time to stop talking about Kiffin’s move to LSU once the playoff began, but the two will always be intrinsically linked given the time that Kiffin had in Oxford and the messy nature in which he departed. While Kiffin deserves his flowers for elevating the standard at Ole Miss, it’s clear that the Rebels have outgrown the need for him. 

His departure didn’t do the program any favors or anything like that. Pete Golding has shown, in short order, that he can at least maintain the level of success that Kiffin established — if not exceed it. Golding, after all, has more playoff wins than Kiffin at this point, and he’s only been a head coach for three games. 

Kiffin was certainly hoping that he’d be able to drag some of Ole Miss’ top stars with him, but his decision instead galvanized the Rebels. Top running back Kewan Lacy, top linebacker Suntarine Perkins and edge rusher Princewill Umanmielen, along with a bevy of other key players, have already committed to returning. 

On top of that, Ole Miss is off to an incredible start in the transfer portal. The Rebels currently sit seventh in 247Sports’ Team Transfer Rankings. They’re one of just two schools in the top 10 with less than 10 commits thus far and their average prospect grade of 89.22 is first among top-15 transfer classes. 

Four of Ole Miss’ nine transfer additions hold at least a four-star ranking. That includes LSU transfer Carius Curne, the No. 1 offensive tackle in the transfer portal, who spurned Kiffin for the Rebels. 

The National Championship Game is set! Andy Staples, Ross Dellenger and Steven Godfrey look ahead to the final matchup of the season by reacting to both semifinal matchups. They first talk about Indiana’s dominating performance over Oregon. Will the Hoosiers’ execution and talent win them a national title? How does Indiana stack up with the historically dominant national champions of the past? Then, they discuss the much more exciting semifinal matchup that saw Miami come out on top. How can Miami upset Indiana? What kind of advantage will playing in their home stadium create for the Hurricanes? Plus, will Oregon ever win a national championship?

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Then, the guys look at some things happening off of the field in the college football world. After their loss to Miami, Ole Miss found out that Trinidad Chambliss’ request for another year of eligibility has been denied by the NCAA. However, this is not the end of the story as Chambliss will now sue the NCAA for damages spawning from the money he would make in NIL with that additional season. The guys discuss if Chambliss’ has a chance in this case, or if there is another motive behind the lawsuit.

Finally, the guys look at the madness of the transfer portal. First, they discuss the Demond Williams drama. After trying to enter the transfer portal, and Washington refusing to enter his name due his signed contract, Williams has now returned to the Huskies. Andy, Ross and Godfrey discuss what all happened in Seattle. Then, they look at the College Sports Commission’s investigation into how schools are writing NIL contracts. How will these contracts continue to evolve over time?

Get ready for the Natty with College Football Enquirer.

0:00:00 – Indiana dominates Oregon

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14:37 – Miami advances over Ole Miss

24:51 – Will Oregon ever win a Natty?

29:46 – Trinidad Chambliss’ fight for a 6th year

40:49 – Demond Williams drama

52:12 – College Sports Commission investigation

Check out all the episodes of the College Football Enquirer and the rest of the Yahoo Sports podcast family at https://apple.co/3zEuTQj or at yahoosports.tv

Missouri finished the 2025 campaign as an interesting mix of promise and turnover under sixth-year head coach Eli Drinkwitz.

The Tigers posted an 8–4 regular-season record, going 4–4 in SEC play, and leaned heavily on a dominant run game led by sophomore running back Ahmad Hardy, who finished with 1,649 rushing yards (second most in college football) and 16 touchdowns on 256 carries (6.4 yards per carry).

However, the quarterback position quickly became a central offseason storyline when starter Beau Pribula re-entered the transfer portal.

On3’s Pete Nakos has tracked Pribula’s early January visit cycle, which included stops at Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech, followed by a visit to Washington as the Huskies navigated uncertainty surrounding Demond Williams.

On Friday, Nakos also reported that Pribula is expected to visit Tennessee, adding another SEC program to his growing list of suitors.

Pribula began his college career at Penn State, where he redshirted and served as a backup from 2022–24 before transferring to Missouri for the 2025 season.

In 2025, he completed 182 of 270 passes (67.4%) for 1,941 yards, 11 passing touchdowns, and nine interceptions across 10 games, while adding 297 rushing yards and six rushing scores on 95 carries, making him one of the more intriguing dual-threat quarterbacks available with both Big Ten and SEC experience.

That experience, paired with his production, has also made Pribula one of the more marketable players in the portal, with an NIL valuation reported in the neighborhood of $1.8 million as he navigates a crowded quarterback market this offseason.

A Central York (PA) product, Pribula was a three-star high school prospect and the No. 27 quarterback in the 2022 class per 247Sports, signing with Penn State over more than a dozen offers, including Nebraska, Northwestern, Rutgers, and Syracuse.

All four programs Pribula has been linked to make sense for different reasons.

Virginia Tech stands out as a logical reunion target, as James Franklin’s staff has been actively pursuing quarterbacks and has prior Penn State ties to Pribula, while Georgia Tech is looking to replace the expiring Haynes King era after losing depth when backup Aaron Philo transferred to Florida.

Washington, meanwhile, has hosted multiple quarterback visitors amid uncertainty surrounding Williams, as the Huskies look to stabilize the position within a program that offers Power-4 exposure and strong NIL opportunities.

At Tennessee, Josh Heupel’s offense has historically prioritized mobile playmakers, and ongoing quarterback turnover makes a veteran option like Pribula appealing, particularly with senior starter Joey Aguilar expected to move on.

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Over the past few years, the SEC’s reputation has not matched its on-field results. The conference’s reign atop college football has now officially come to an end. The debate over whether the SEC is still the most dominant conference in college football is over. The SEC’s failure to place a team in the national championship game for a third consecutive year has settled it.

For nearly two decades, the SEC ruled the sport under the conference mantra “It Just Means More.” The mantra was built by the conference’s superior talent and its unmatched level of passion. Their dominance was largely driven by the perceived recruiting advantage resulting from their geographical location. Proximity to recruiting hotspots in the South has enabled programs to consistently accumulate elite talent year after year.

That advantage led to an SEC team being crowned the national champion 13 of the last 19 years. However, the SEC’s dominance has slipped away over recent years. Why? July 1, 2021. The date the back door closed and the front door opened.

The SEC’s biggest advantage was never geographical location or its mantra of just meaning more. It was the SEC acceptance of if you’re not cheating you’re not trying. The understanding within the SEC that bending and sometimes breaking the rules was acceptable allowed the SEC to thrive for two decades. What most programs in other conferences frowned upon was overlooked in the SEC.

The instituting of Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) took away the SEC’s biggest advantage. Every school could now use monetary resources to get top talent to commit to their programs. And with it, the SEC’s ability to stockpile talent evaporated.

Recruiting Edge Lost With NIL

How does the SEC dominate for two decades with no end in sight, then tumble back to reality in just three years? Simply, they lost the paid-to-play advantage. There was a belief that  the SEC was using NIL before NIL was something you could use. But no one could say for sure, that is, until former LSU coach Ed Orgeron let the cat out of the bag.  

In the first nine years of the CFP, the SEC failed to have at least one team in the final. This year’s national championship will be the third straight year the SEC has failed to have a team advance to the final. The Big Ten, on the other hand, has had and will have a team playing in all three. The Big Ten has also won the last two national championships.  

The SEC plays semantics in its effort to stay atop of college football. But the “best” means producing elite national championship contenders capable of winning it all and actually doing it. Something the Big Ten has accomplished each of the last two years, Michigan two years ago, Ohio State last season, and now Indiana has a chance to make it three straight for the Big Ten. The SEC is the deepest conference, considering five teams reached the College Football Playoff. What the SEC failed to do was to create a truly elite team that made it.

College football’s transfer portal season has taken some odd twists and turns this year. Now it’s entering … tax season?

In one of the latest oddities, schools in certain states began trading “no state income tax” social media posts as a way to entice players in the portal. Currently, nine states don’t levy income taxes: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wyoming.

The Houston Cougars, UNLV Rebels and UCF Knights — all universities within one of those nine states — posted about their lack of state income taxes on X on Saturday, featuring an image of either a mascot or cheerleader lifting a comically large bag of cash above their heads.

UCF started the movement with a post on Saturday morning featuring its mascot, Knightro. Houston and UNLV soon followed suit, as did the UTEP Miners, FIU Panthers and North Texas Mean Green.

🤝 https://t.co/rqQdM0cpCQ pic.twitter.com/OgtMjGVhdx

— Houston Football (@UHCougarFB) January 10, 2026

How effective will that pitch be? UCF, Houston and UNLV were all outside the top 40 of 247Sports’ portal rankings as of Saturday night, so any little bit helps. Central Florida was the highest at No. 47 in the 247Sports rankings, followed by Houston at No. 49 and UNLV at No. 86. Texas Tech, Texas A&M and Houston were all in the top 10 of On3’s portal rankings.

College athletes are not only taxed on their NIL earnings, but also on anything they receive of value. If an athlete receives a new car, for example, they have to pay taxes on it in accordance with its value.

Arkansas has tweaked its tax code so that NIL income is tax-exempt as an incentive to induce athletes to sign at the University of Arkansas or other in-state schools.

There was no indication that income taxes were the reason behind another buzzy portal storyline earlier this week: Quarterback Demond Williams changing his mind about entering the portal and deciding to stay with the Washington Huskies. On Tuesday, Williams announced he was entering the portal — four days after signing with the Huskies, a Washington source close to the negotiations told The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman. On Thursday, he said he was “excited to announce that I will continue my football journey at the University of Washington.”

The Huskies were prepared to pursue legal action against Williams to enforce the contract, a source briefed on the situation told Feldman. Williams could have owed the school up to $4 million for transferring, according to Big Ten rules that state that if a player intends to transfer before the end of a payment period, he owes the remaining amount on his contract, unless the school agrees to accept a buyout from the player or the player’s next school.

Williams and his team ultimately decided to stay in Seattle — where he won’t have to pay state income taxes.