On August 15, 2022, the College Football Playoff (CFP) awarded the rights to host the 2026 championship to Hard Rock Stadium.[1] As Hard Rock Stadium hosted the 2021 CFP National Championship, the 2026 game will make Miami Gardens the second city to host the CFP national championship twice,[2] after Atlanta, which hosted the championship game in 2018 and 2025.[3][4]
The stadium is the regular host of the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League (NFL),[5] the Miami Hurricanes football team,[6] and the Orange Bowl.[7] As a result of sharing a stadium that is a yearly host of a college football bowl game, the Miami Hurricanes will be the first team to play for the modern college football national championship at their own stadium.
Although Miami is playing in its home stadium, the Hurricanes are the designated visiting team for the game. This is the first national championship game to feature a team playing in its home stadium since the 1995 Orange Bowl, played at the Miami Orange Bowl—it was the designated Bowl Coalition national championship game of the 1994 season, in which Nebraska defeated the Hurricanes (who then played their home games at that stadium).
Hurricanes head coach Mario Cristobal and Hoosier quarterbacks Fernando and Alberto Mendoza along with the Mendozas' father Fernando Sr. all played at Christopher Columbus High School in the Westchester neighborhood of Miami-Dade County.
This season marked the 100th anniversary of Miami Hurricanes football. Led by former Georgia quarterback Carson Beck, the team started 5–0 for the second consecutive year and were ranked No. 2 in the polls before being upset by Louisville. After a 26–20 overtime loss to SMU, which dropped the Hurricanes down to No. 18 in the polls, they closed the regular season with four consecutive wins. The team finished with a 10–2 regular season record, 6–2 in ACC play, finishing second in a five-way tie for second place in the ACC, only behind the eventual ACC champion Duke. The Hurricanes earned the last at-large spot in the College Football Playoff as the 10th seed after leapfrogging Notre Dame, who they had beaten at home in their opening game.
Miami started their playoff run by defeating No. 7 Texas A&M, 10–3, in windy conditions at Kyle Field, aided with a game-ending interception from Bryce Fitzgerald.[11] In the quarterfinal round, the Hurricanes upset defending national champion Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl Classic at AT&T Stadium as a 9.5-point underdog, winning by a 24–14 score.[12] This was Miami’s first victory in a major bowl game since the 2004 Orange Bowl. Miami advanced to the Fiesta Bowl semifinal against Ole Miss at State Farm Stadium, where the Hurricanes won, 31–27, thanks to Carson Beck's three-yard touchdown scramble in the waning moments of the game.[13]
This is Miami's ninth championship appearance and first since the 2002 season, with the Hurricanes seeking their sixth national championship (the Hurricanes claim national championships for the 1983, 1987, 1989, 1991, and 2001 football seasons).[14]
The 2025 season included numerous firsts for the Hoosier football program, which entered the season with the most all-time losses by a Football Bowl Division (previously Division I-A) school. The Hoosiers defeated a top-five ranked opponent on the road for the first time (Week 7 at Oregon); earned their highest AP poll, Coaches Poll, and College Football Playoff rankings in program history (all at No. 1); had a road victory at Penn State in Week 11, marking their first ever win in Happy Valley; finished the regular season with an unblemished 12–0 record for the first time (exceeding their program record of 11 wins from the previous year); and made their first Big Ten Championship Game in program history. In the Big Ten title game, they defeated Ohio State for the first time since 1988 and won the Big Ten title for the first time since 1967. Indiana also won the conference outright for the first time since 1945, which was the most recent time that Indiana finished a season undefeated (9–0–1). The 2025 Hoosiers team became the first team in program history to finished the regular season both undefeated and untied. Quarterback Fernando Mendoza became the first Hoosier to win the Heisman Trophy.
Indiana's appearance in the Big Ten Championship against Ohio State reached a record-breaking 18.3 million television viewers, making it the most-watched conference championship in college football history.[15]
In the playoffs, the Hoosiers received a first-round bye, they defeated Alabama in the 2026 Rose Bowl quarterfinal, 38–3, which marked Indiana's first bowl win since the 1991 Copper Bowl against Baylor. The Hoosiers subsequently defeated Oregon in the 2026 Peach Bowl semifinal at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, 56–22, leading the Hoosiers to their first-ever national championship appearance.[16] The Hoosiers do not claim any prior national championships in college football.
Broadcasting
The game is planned to be televised in the United States on ESPN for the twelfth consecutive year, with Megacast coverage across numerous other channels in the ESPN family. In addition to the main national broadcast on ESPN, the Megacast coverage will feature Field Pass hosted by The Pat McAfee Show on ESPN2, the Command Center feed with multiple angles and live statistics on ESPNU, the Skycast on ESPNews, and a Spanish-language broadcast on ESPN Deportes. In Canada, the game will be televised on TSN. ESPN Radio will carry the national radio broadcast of the game and the WatchESPN website and mobile application will feature "Hometown Radio" feeds featuring each team's regular radio commentators.
Game summary
Scoring summary
2026 College Football Playoff National Championship
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