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00:00Looked like for the first half yesterday in the national championship game between Indiana and Miami that maybe there's going to be a runaway Hoosiers.
00:0610-0 at the break. Indiana got the football. Things weren't going Miami's way.
00:10And that changed quickly. Mark Fletcher struck like a lightning bolt on a 57-yard touchdown run.
00:14And we had a game, which you might be thinking to yourself,
00:17how did we even get Indiana and Miami lined up in this football game for the national championship, Joe?
00:22And this is what we want to go back to.
00:24Kurt Signetti was a very good hire for Indiana, but not a lot of people knew who Kurt Signetti was.
00:29Here's him from Signing Day back in 23.
00:31Hey, Kurt. Todd Golan with CNHI Indiana.
00:35When it comes to that culture, you were just talking about meshing the recruits you're getting and some of the guys you kept.
00:43Where does that process start?
00:44I mean, what do you mean? I don't get the question.
00:48Well, when you recruit them, how do you sell your vision of your culture?
00:52Who are you talking about? The high school guys that transfers? Who?
00:56All of the above. I mean, how do you?
00:58It's pretty, yeah, it's pretty simple. I win.
01:03Google me.
01:06This is so good for college football.
01:09And usually, Joe, it's the young 29, 31-year-old head coach that thinks he's the next, you know, coming of Jesus.
01:16And now you take a look at a guy who's in his 60s basically telling you, I win.
01:20Maybe I'm not the brightest head coach right now, the brightest bulb, which is saying, like, you are a rock star, which he is now.
01:25But he laid down the law when he went to Indiana with the press, with his team, and on the football field.
01:31Listen, Donnie, the guy is just the greatest thing to happen at college football since Nick Saban.
01:37I mean, he is a walking meme.
01:41The guy is, the clips are just endless.
01:44The facial expressions are over the top good.
01:47And listen, in an era of NIL and players chasing the bag, the fact that he's done it his way is, and now runs the table, goes 16-0, wins a national championship.
02:02I mean, it's one of the greatest, rags-to-riches story we have ever seen in any college sport, for that matter.
02:09I mean, truly unbelievable how you go from a program that is the losingest college football program in the history of college football to national champion and back-to-back playoff appearances.
02:22And you know what?
02:23It's a copycat league.
02:25But, you know, coaching matters, Donnie, in football, doesn't it?
02:29And that guy played to win, not to just, you know, not to not lose.
02:34He played to win, and he trusted his players to get it done, and that's exactly what they did.
02:40And also, it's not one of those stepping stone programs here for Cignetti.
02:43He's basically told you, I'm not an NFL guy.
02:46And yes, like, you're kidding me.
02:47At the end of this season, I win a national championship.
02:49Like, I kind of picked up the phone and called Florida and said, I want $30 million a year, and they would have gave it to you here.
02:54Now, he got a nice raise in Indiana, but he's comfortable here.
02:56You know what?
02:57I did it my way.
02:57I will be a legend in this state for the next 300 years if I just stay here two or three more years before I even retire if I want to do that.
03:06And Joe is right about something.
03:08We're not talking about, you know, let's just say the Pitt Panthers.
03:11Well, they get a national championship.
03:12Well, yeah, they were really good in the 70s and 80s, and maybe you recruit and you sort of take over Pennsylvania instead of Penn State at this point,
03:18or you take a look at other programs like, oh, I led USC back because we used to win in the early 2000s or even the Miami Hurricanes.
03:24These are places that you expect that once you get a good head coach, eventually get back to that mountaintop.
03:29The Indiana Hoosiers, as Joe points out, just the bottom of the barrel worst.
03:33The teams that we talk about, like Vanderbilt used to be in the SEC starting to make a comeback now in the NIL era.
03:38Everybody used to pace them.
03:40That was your homecoming game.
03:41Indiana was your homecoming game, and now they're coming to ruin your homecoming, Joe.
03:46Yeah, well, you know, they go from the hunter to the hunted now, Donnie.
03:52There is no more.
03:53You won't be sleeping on Indiana and Signetti if you were to begin with here, because I think he's proven this wasn't just a flash in the pan.
04:02He's got a system.
04:03He's got coaches that have been with him for a while.
04:06That's the next wave, right?
04:08How many can he keep?
04:09Yeah.
04:10Because these guys now, you know what's going to happen.
04:12Blue blood programs are going to try to pluck the guys from him there, and then he's got to retool.
04:18So, Saban had to go through it.
04:20Signetti, he's going to have to go through it.
04:23You know what's funny about that, too?
04:24You take a look.
04:24Like Nick Saban basically said, I'm the best coach in college football.
04:27The way we used to do things where I just had to recruit you, and yeah, maybe my boosters would drop off a backpack here and there or a charger to get you to go to my school.
04:35But now it is pay to play.
04:37The thing that you love is, again, this isn't a 32-year-old head coach.
04:40Like, I came up with this new game.
04:41We're paying to play, and I'll sit in your living room and tell you how much money I'll pay you.
04:44Like, Signetti's in his 60s here, and he's the architect of, I'm going to take your good players here.
04:49We'll pay him some money in Indiana, but I'm going to coach them up so well that we're going to be an absolute machine on the field.
04:54Like, you saw last night, take what they give you.
04:57Was Indiana spectacular?
04:58Did they have the greatest wide receivers, the fastest running back, or an unbelievable presence on defense?
05:02No, but they were the perfect team concept that we saw yesterday.
05:05I was so impressed all year long just the way they operated and never got outside of their comfort zone.
05:11No, no, no, and impressive all the way around.
05:17Absolutely it is, and we're going to continue talking about this game and where we go from here with Indiana and Miami.
05:22Coming up next, right here on the Early Line.
05:24Making big plays in the biggest moments of the biggest games.
05:27That's what Indiana did last night.
05:29Now, look, Miami countered every time Indiana did something.
05:32But as Joe pointed out when we talked before the show, you can't get blocked punts for a touchdown in a game.
05:37Like, it's a seven-and-a-half point line, which means you can't have any margin for error if you're Miami.
05:42You get a blocked punt touchdown here, down double digits in the second half.
05:44They could have folded up, but they didn't.
05:46But you know what to give credit to?
05:48Trusting your quarterback, who's the Heisman Trophy winner that's going to be the number one overall pick,
05:51possibly going to the Las Vegas Raiders.
05:54Fourth and five, and another fourth and five.
05:56You put that football in that kid's hands, and he delivered twice.
05:59And how about late on that final drive where you weren't even really in field goal position?
06:03A third and seven jump ball down the sideline that was completed with a great throw and a great back shoulder catch
06:08that gave them another first down.
06:10Say what you want about Fernando Mendoza.
06:11Nice kid, but nice kids sometimes fail.
06:14This kid has the heart of a champion on the football field, and he proved that last night.
06:19And Signetti, he was telling you, I trust this kid, Joe.
06:23And listen, every decision that he made from a coaching perspective in that game, he was coaching to win.
06:31He was never playing it safe.
06:33He trusted his players.
06:35His players trusted him.
06:37You know, there were a number of different, you know, situations in that game where, I mean, my goodness,
06:44Miami's going to play the what-if game all offseason.
06:47You know, what if Reuben Bain doesn't jump offside on a third and 13 in the second quarter, right?
06:52Well, they probably punt at that point, right?
06:55And they don't score that touchdown seven plays later.
06:57What if the guy makes the block instead of actually letting them actually block the kick and score?
07:04So a lot of what-ifs here.
07:06But the one thing we know for sure is that you take away that extra, that special teams situation
07:12and that touchdown, and you look at the stats offensively, I mean, it was a tale of two halves.
07:17It was Indiana owned the first half.
07:20Miami owned them the second half.
07:21To a point where, more so than any other team this postseason has done that to Indiana,
07:29they just made a couple of more plays and took the risks that they needed to take
07:34because they knew, Dottie, playing it safe against Miami in that second half
07:37was not going to win them a national championship.
07:40Let's hear from the champions here.
07:42We'll start with a clip here from Kurt Signetti after last night's game.
07:44Okay, hard-fought game.
07:46Give a lot of credit to Miami.
07:47It was a real gut check.
07:49We found a way, it's credit to our guys' resiliency, to find a way to get that done.
07:56It's a great thing.
07:58Indiana won the national championship two years into our tenure.
08:03You do it with people and a plan.
08:05Can't say enough about our senior leadership and the people we have in the locker room
08:10and the people we have on our staff and our strength and conditioning staff, support staff,
08:15and the commitment we received from President Witt and Scott Dolson.
08:18I would like to say our NIL is nowhere near what people think it is, so you can throw that out.
08:27And the team really overcame a lot on the road in a lot of tight games
08:35and found a way to get it done, and we're 16-0, and I guess we're 27-2 since Indiana,
08:42but we're 16-0, national champions at Indiana University, which I know a lot of people thought was never possible.
08:52It probably is one of the greatest sports stories of all time, but it's all because of these guys and the staff.
08:58So proud of them, and it's a great night.
09:03By the way, it is amazing what Indiana's done, Joe, and also I want to point this out.
09:07Like, this isn't like the back in the day.
09:09Hey, I hid behind an easy schedule, got to the championship game.
09:13The other team's quarterback was hurt, and we went away with a win.
09:15There's no cheapies anymore, Joe.
09:17Like, when you make it through March Madness, you got to win, what, seven, eight games to get there?
09:20That is a tough grind no matter what your team is.
09:23Now that you have an expanded playoff, you are getting heavyweights every single week that you have to beat,
09:29and Indiana answered the bell every time, Joe.
09:31No, they did, and again, that's why they're champions.
09:35This was the first real test that, you know, they've had in a while.
09:40It's certainly, you know, Alabama, that game was over in the first half.
09:43So was the Oregon game, but, you know, this was a situation where they got punched in the mouth,
09:49and that was the whole plan for Miami.
09:51Punch them back and see what kind of reaction you got,
09:54and you put them into situations where, yeah, they had to go.
09:58They had to roll the dice.
09:59They had to go for broke, Donnie, because had that game gone any further,
10:04they likely don't win it.
10:05So they had to make and make decisions to take chances that they had not had to do
10:10the previous couple of games in the playoffs.
10:13Let's flip it over to Miami, because also, again, finishing the season with 13 wins here.
10:17It's been a long time since Miami's been back in that national championship picture
10:20with a legitimate chance to win, which they did last night,
10:22had the football down six over the 50-yard line through that late interception for Carson Beck.
10:27Mario Cristobal came back and basically said,
10:29it's up to me to get this program back where it's supposed to be,
10:32and it looks like they are landing in that spot.
10:34Here's Mario Cristobal after the game talking about this one.
10:37First and foremost, thank God for the opportunity to be here today,
10:40and really, I would like to recognize these three young men and their teammates for the best thing
10:50that's happened to Miami and the University of Miami in over two decades,
10:54and it's not the result we wanted.
10:57Credit to Indiana.
10:58They're a great football team, but to these guys right here,
11:01I couldn't be more proud to be associated with them.
11:04I love them.
11:05They're absolutely incredible human beings, competitors, resilient,
11:10and I want to thank them and the rest of their teammates,
11:14and it's a tough one, tough one to have to eat, but we will, and that's it.
11:22Just looking forward to the future, what Miami is now.
11:24Looks like they're going to get a pretty good quarterback stolen away from the Duke Blue Devils at this point,
11:28but that's the NIL era, but it looks like the foundation has been laid,
11:31and also, credit Mario Cristobal, back-to-back losses in the regular season,
11:36looked like they were out of it, rallied the troops,
11:37and if they were to be in Indiana, Joe,
11:39seeing like the path that Miami took to get to this championship game,
11:43beating heavyweight after heavyweight, some in their own building, like Texas A&M,
11:47what a phenomenal run with a legitimate chance to win a championship on the final drive,
11:51just came up a little bit short.
11:54Yeah, I mean, listen, they were a 10 seed.
11:56They were the final at-large team to make the college football playoff,
12:00and they fell a couple of plays short of a 16-0 team.
12:04So there's no shame in losing to Indiana, who was extremely well-coached
12:08and had the Heisman Trophy winner as their quarterback.
12:11But, I mean, what Miami has done the last two years here
12:15and what Cristobal has done since getting here,
12:18I mean, people forget how awful this program was for the better part of two decades.
12:23I mean, Miami's 23-6 over the last two seasons.
12:26They haven't lost a game by more than a touchdown since 2023,
12:30and they still haven't.
12:32They didn't last night either.
12:33So this is a team that is absolutely back on track in the public spotlight
12:39and is a contender because you know why, Donnie?
12:42They're investing in football again at the University of Miami,
12:45and it shows, doesn't it?
12:48Exactly.
12:49And the number one overall pick in the draft is probably going to be Fernando Mendoza.
12:52Great in front of the cameras.
12:53We've got a clip from him last night that we can go to right now.
12:55No, look at that.
13:01He's too kind at this point right now to put on the air at this point.
13:04It was very articulate and well thought out, though.
13:07Like everything else comes out of that kid's mouth.
13:09It's unbelievable.
13:11Absolutely unbelievable.
13:13He does.
13:14He reads the script right down to the wire, man.
13:16Good kid.
13:16On to the NFL he goes.
13:17But also means, Joe, at the end of a season,
13:20it's never too early to look at what's going to take place next season
13:23in college football, and oh, yeah, the Blue Bloods are going to be right back there, Joe.
13:27It's Ohio State.
13:28It's Notre Dame.
13:29It's Indiana.
13:30It's Texas.
13:30But you know what?
13:32You know what I don't see on that screen here?
13:34University of Miami Hurricanes.
13:36Disrespected right off the bat once again, but it's fun.
13:39Like football season is done in college football.
13:41And by the way, Joe, did you know next year the season's going to be an extra week longer
13:45because of when the actual games would be on January 1st?
13:49Which I also want to ask you this question, too.
13:51Is it time to just get rid of January 1st?
13:53We have to have playoff games on that day?
13:54Because it seems like it's really messing up the flow.
13:57And next year, basically playing almost into February in college football.
14:02That's wild.
14:03Yeah.
14:04Yeah.
14:04It's they're going to keep tweaking this thing, Donnie,
14:07every year until there is some sort of consensus as to what is right and what is not right.
14:13But I promise you this.
14:14The minute they announce that Darian Menza is now signing with Miami, now leaving Duke,
14:20I can assure you that they will show up on that list of top favorites for next year.
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