ATLANTA — Home sweet home.
It’s a phrase that you’ll hear a lot from now until the College Football Playoff National Championship Game on January 19. The Miami Hurricanes will face the Indiana Hoosiers for a national title, played at Hard Rock Stadium — the home stadium of the Hurricanes since 2008.
That’s five presidential elections, three different playoff formats and nine different college football national champions.
The stadium has even gone through four name changes since the Hurricanes left the Orange Bowl and began calling the Miami Gardens venue their home. Miami star freshman wide receiver Malachi Toney wasn’t even a year old.
THE FRESHMAN 🔥
— ESPN (@espn)
Malachi Toney turned on the jets!
Yet, through it all, we’ve never seen a national championship game featuring a team playing in its home stadium in the BCS or CFP era, dating back to 1998.
Home sweet home. Miami hopes that rings true at Hard Rock on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
HOW IT HAPPENED: Miami escapes Ole Miss in the College Football Playoff semifinals at the Fiesta Bowl
Yet, the Hurricanes aren’t the only ones with a dream in front of a home crowd. It’s a homecoming for Indiana's Heisman-winning quarterback, Fernando Mendoza, too.
Mendoza, a Miami native, grew up in the Sunshine State. He attended the same high school as Miami Hurricanes head coach Mario Cristobal and his dad was Cristobal's high school football teammate. Mendoza will be back in Miami Monday night, playing in front of his hometown crowd for the first time.
"It's a very full-circle moment for myself. If you open Google Maps and put my address, the University of Miami campus, it's under a mile away," said Mendoza. "It means a lot to me, however, I think the National Championship means a lot to everybody. So I wouldn't want it any other way."
But it won’t be Mendoza’s first time facing the Hurricanes. He lost to Miami while at Cal in 2024’s Hurricane comeback for the ages, outdueled by eventual No. 1 pick Cam Ward.
"That game came down to the wire. I remember getting knocked out," said Mendoza. "We lost by one point. It was heartbreaking."
That game was in Berkley. This national championship is in Miami Gardens.
The closest Mendoza has played to home was a 2024 game against Florida State. Another loss. He’s still searching for that first win in his home state.
CFP BRACKET CHALLENGE: See how many perfect brackets remain entering the national title game
Based on the CFP semifinals at the Peach Bowl, Mendoza's home state might turn into a home field for the quarterback and his Hoosiers. The Indiana crowd was deafening in Atlanta, making the trip to what Mendoza called “one of the greatest cities in America.”
The Indiana faithful packed the stadium in what felt like a 90-10 ratio, overshadowing any presence of Oregon Ducks fans in attendance. It had an impact from the very first play, a pick-six thrown by potential top NFL draft prospect Dante Moore with his back against the Indiana student section.
🚨INDIANA PICK SIX ON THE FIRST PLAY OF THE GAME!!🚨
— 🜲 🜲 🜲 (@fsh733)
If Hoosier fans are even half as much committed to making the trip to Miami — another one of America’s destination cities — they could balance out the crowd at their opponent’s home stadium.
THE INDIANA CROWD IS ROARING IN ATLANTA!
— Stan Becton (@stan_becton)
PICK SIX FIRST PLAY OF THE GAME!
BLOOMINGTON SHOWED UP
HOW IT HAPPENED: Indiana rolls over Oregon in the CFP semifinals at the Peach Bowl
As a Cuban-American quarterback, Mendoza will also potentially get to play in front of the largest crowd of Cuban-American football fans of his collegiate career. Miami is home to the highest concentration of Cuban-Americans in the country after all.
It could be a historic opportunity for Mendoza, the winner of the inaugural 2025 Hispanic Football Hall of Fame College Player of the Year award.
“My hope is that any success that I achieved can inspire the next wave of Hispanic athletes,” Mendoza said after winning the award.
A win in Miami, knocking off the hometown Hurricanes that didn’t offer him as a prospect coming out of high school could be the inspirational moment he’s looking for.
Or... the Miami Hurricanes could ruin Mendoza’s homecoming with a tenacious defense that has had a chip on its shoulder since being the last at-large team into the playoff field.
Home sweet home. You’ll hear the phrase from one locker room after the national championship.
We’ll just have to wait and see which one.
"WE NEED YOU ALL THERE!"
— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB)
Fernando Mendoza shouting out Indiana Hoosier fans ❤️
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