{"id":666427,"date":"2026-01-10T15:29:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T15:29:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/666427\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T15:29:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T15:29:13","slug":"indiana-earns-a-mark-oregon-gets-f-on-cfp-semifinal-report-card","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/666427\/","title":{"rendered":"Indiana earns ‘A+’ mark, Oregon gets ‘F’ on CFP semifinal report card"},"content":{"rendered":"

No. 1 seed Indiana<\/a> is emerging from the College Football Playoff semifinals looking like one of the most dominant teams of the modern era and a potentially inevitable national champion. However, No. 10 seed Miami<\/a> will have something to say about it on Jan. 19 inside Hard Rock Stadium, when the teams collide with a national championship on the line.<\/p>\n

The Hurricanes rattled off their third straight CFP win over a higher-seeded opponent on Thursday night with a 31-27 Fiesta Bowl win over No. 6 seed Ole Miss<\/a>. It wasn’t a perfect performance from the ‘Canes, but it brought out the best in sixth-year senior quarterback Carson Beck<\/a> and the Miami offense.<\/p>\n

It will take a complete effort from all units for Miami to contend with the Hoosiers, who obliterated No. 5 seed Oregon<\/a> 56-22 in Friday night’s Peach Bowl. The Hoosiers have now won 10 of their 15 games by 24 or more points, including 30+ point victories over Alabama<\/a> and the Ducks in the CFP.\u00a0<\/p>\n

IU refuses to beat itself and then punishes opponents for miscues. That was the story against the Ducks, who committed three costly turnovers while turning in a dud of a performance.<\/p>\n

Against that backdrop, here are the grades for the four CFP semifinal competitors.<\/p>\n

\"team<\/p>\n

No. 1 seed Indiana<\/p>\n

Grade:\u00a0A+
Result:\u00a056-22 win vs. No. 5 seed Oregon
What Indiana did to Alabama and Oregon in back-to-back games — beginning its CFP run with an average victory margin of 34.5 points — would be stunning even if it was a program with the brand cache of Georgia<\/a> or Ohio State<\/a>. In just two years, Curt Cignetti has developed the Hoosiers from a doormat to become as overpowering as any recent title-winning team. A 3-0 edge in the turnover battle along with 10 tackles for loss helped tell the story against the Ducks. So did a 17-for-20 passing performance from Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza<\/a>, who tossed five touchdowns to bring his season tally to 41.<\/p>\n

\"team<\/p>\n

No. 5 seed Oregon<\/p>\n

Grade:\u00a0F
Result: 56-22 loss vs. No. 1 seed Indiana
Oregon collapsed under the weight of three devastating first-half turnovers that left it in a 35-7 halftime hole. The Ducks’ misery began with a pick-6 on the first play from scrimmage to start a nightmare showing for quarterback Dante Moore<\/a>. The redshirt sophomore also fumbled deep in Oregon territory twice in the second quarter to essentially hand the Hoosiers a pair of touchdowns. It was an absolute nightmare for a Ducks team that failed miserably in its quest to redeem a regular season loss against Indiana. The defense sacked IU quarterback Fernando Mendoza just once and struggled mightily in the red zone.<\/p>\n

\"team<\/p>\n

No. 6 seed Ole Miss<\/p>\n

Grade:\u00a0A-
Result:\u00a031-27 loss vs. No. 10 seed Miami
Ole Miss struggled out of the gate offensively with a pair of three-and-outs and didn’t convert on a third down until the fourth quarter. The result was five drives ending in field goal attempts and a lackluster time of possession. Defensively, the Rebels did an admirable job of bending without breaking until the final seven minutes. That’s when Miami finally broke the dam with a pair of long touchdowns rives against a fatiguing Ole Miss group. It was still a gutsy effort from the Rebels, who stayed in it until the end and represented themselves well in concluding a wild and historic season with a heartbreaking defeat.<\/p>\n

\"team<\/p>\n

No. 10 seed Miami<\/p>\n

Grade:\u00a0A-
Result:\u00a031-27 win vs. No. 6 seed Ole Miss
Miami’s offense is somewhat surprisingly the unit carrying this grade after the Hurricanes dominated time of possession and then broke Ole Miss with two late 75-yard touchdown drives. Quarterback Carson Beck rewrote his collegiate legacy by capping those possessions with a touchdown pass and then a decisive 3-yard touchdown run with 18 seconds left. He also got tons of help from receivers Malachi Toney<\/a> and Keelan Marion<\/a>, running back Mark Fletcher Jr<\/a>. and a strong offensive line. The grade isn’t a clean “A” because Miami committed 10 costly penalties and was less disruptive than usual on defense. Even after a big win, there were plenty of coaching points for Mario Cristobal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"No. 1 seed Indiana is emerging from the College Football Playoff semifinals looking like one of the most…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":666428,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[2037,331,34093,96866,332,91428,6446,3619,7,96867,78670,4725,96868,61371,67316,26726,49,48,7207,575],"class_list":["post-666427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-football","tag-carson-beck","tag-college-football","tag-college-football-grades","tag-college-football-grades-cfp","tag-college-football-playoff","tag-college-football-playoff-grades","tag-dante-moore","tag-fernando-mendoza","tag-football","tag-grades-cfp-semifinals","tag-grades-college-football","tag-indiana-hoosiers","tag-keelan-marion","tag-malachi-toney","tag-mark-fletcher-jr","tag-miami-fla-hurricanes","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-football","tag-ole-miss-rebels","tag-oregon-ducks"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115871519014686622","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=666427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/666428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=666427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=666427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=666427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}