{"id":690317,"date":"2026-01-20T04:08:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T04:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/690317\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T04:08:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T04:08:13","slug":"miami-indianas-frustrating-national-championship-lowlight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/690317\/","title":{"rendered":"Miami, Indiana&#8217;s frustrating national championship lowlight"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-path-to-node=\"0\">If you <a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/ncaa-football\/ncaa-football-news-pat-mcafee-live-indiana-miami-national-championship-game\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">tuned in for an offensive fireworks show<\/a> in Monday night\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/tag\/college-football-playoff\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">College Football Playoff<\/a> National Championship, you probably spent most of the first half checking your Wi-Fi connection.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"1\">In what quickly became <a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/ncaa-football\/miami-football-news-rueben-bain-jr-boosts-draft-stock-insane-early-production-vs-indiana\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">a defensive masterclass<\/a> (or an offensive nightmare, depending on who you ask), the No. 1 Indiana Hoosiers and No. 10 Miami Hurricanes managed to <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ESPNInsights\/status\/2013442356997931192?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">make history<\/a> for all the wrong reasons.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"1\">The teams combined for just 10 points in the first 30 minutes, with Indiana holding a 10-0 lead at the break. According to ESPN Insights, this performance officially ranks as the third-lowest scoring first half in the history of BCS and CFP championship games.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"2\">The only \u201clowlights\u201d that beat this one out? The 2001 clash, where Oklahoma led Florida State 3-0 at the half, and the infamous 2012 all-SEC rematch, where Alabama held a 9-0 lead over LSU.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"3\">The struggle was particularly real for the Miami Hurricanes. Despite playing in their own backyard at Hard Rock Stadium, Carson Beck and the Miami offense were held to a staggering 69 total yards and zero third-down conversions (0-for-6) in the first half. Beck, who entered with over 3,500 passing yards on the season, managed only 49 yards through the air before the intermission.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"4\">Indiana didn&#8217;t exactly set the world on fire either, but Heisman winner <a href=\"https:\/\/clutchpoints.com\/ncaa-football\/indiana-football-news-curt-cignetti-rips-refs-obvious-missed-calls-vs-miami\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Fernando Mendoza was efficient enough<\/a> to keep the chains moving. Mendoza completed 12-of-20 passes for 116 yards, while a 20-yard burst from Kaelon Black set up a one-yard touchdown plunge by tight end Riley Nowakowski to provide the only trip to the end zone.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"5\">With 10 points on the board and the \u201cDoink\u201d of a missed 50-yard field goal from Miami\u2019s Carter Davis echoing through the stadium, fans are left wondering if the second half will bring the points or just more historic defensive grit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you tuned in for an offensive fireworks show in Monday night\u2019s College Football Playoff National Championship, you&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":690318,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[332,7,26781,60060,49,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-690317","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-college-football-playoff","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-indiana-football","11":"tag-miami-fl-football","12":"tag-ncaa","13":"tag-ncaa-football"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115925464091483003","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690317","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=690317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690317\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/690318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=690317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=690317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=690317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}