2025-26 College Football Playoff: What's next for Indiana and Miami? - ESPN

The 2025-26 College Football Playoff brought Miami back into the national conversation for the first time in two decades, and it introduced the country to a new superpower in the sport, as Indiana proved wrong one doubter after another.

As the season ends with the Hoosierscrowned new national champs, this should be a time of celebration.

Of course, for the coaches at Miami and Indiana, it's actually time to get back to work.

Players can still enter the portal. Holes on the depth chart need to be filled. Offseason strength and conditioning programs are just weeks away. And spring ball is around the corner. The grind never stops.

And the truth is, for all their success this season, there's no guarantee the momentum will carry forward. Six of the past eight teams to play for a national championship failed to make the playoff the next year, and in a sport moving increasingly toward some semblance of parity, the job of building Miami and Indiana for another run to the title game begins right now. — David Hale

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Indiana | Miami

2025 record: 16-0

Biggest question moving forward: Coach Curt Cignetti is undoubtedly the catalyst for Indiana's mind-blowing rise over the past two seasons, but the group of players that joined him from James Madison has played a major role too. Several of those players starred for two seasons at IU, and many now depart the program, leaving significant holes on both sides of the ball. Cignetti knew this type of roster turnover was coming, and Indiana has been excellent at identifying and acquiring non-JMU transfers. But players such as wide receiver Elijah Sarratt, linebacker Aiden Fisher, defensive end Mikail Kamara and running back Kaelon Black will be missed (and junior All-Big Ten cornerback