If the Indiana Hoosiers defeat the Miami Hurricanes to win the 2025 national championship on Monday night, it will complete one of the most shocking turnarounds for a college football program in history.
ESPN and SEC Network host Paul Finebaum doesn’t think many people will care.
While Finebaum eventually gave Indiana and head coach Curt Cignetti their due for their undefeated season and dominant run through the CFP (though not without caveats), he thinks the timing of their title victory, coupled with the impending Super Bowl storylines, will dampen appreciation for their accomplishments.
“I’m searching to go back in time. BYU won it in, I believe, ‘84 — but remember, it wasn’t a national championship game. They won it in, I think, the Holiday Bowl, four or five days before the other bowl games happened. Yeah, so nobody really said, ‘Oh, wow. BYU just won the national championship.’ It was — the Jan. 1 games happened. On January 2, the polls came out, and everybody yawned. Since then, there’s been unusual winners, but nothing quite like this,” Finebaum said via The Matt Barrie Show.
“It will be a cute story, and it will get some attention on Tuesday morning, Matt, but it really won’t get that much. It’s all about what’s next in the NFC, AFC Championship games.”
There may be something to be said for the NFL’s monolithic nature, especially on the day after we find out which teams will play in the Super Bowl. However, using Finebaum’s own logic, any college football champion would be overshadowed. It’s less a dig at Indiana and more a concern for college football’s scheduling.
Finebaum probably didn’t mean this, but it’s also a bit of an indictment of ESPN and its competitors to say he fully expects them to move on from the college football champion within hours of the champion being crowned.
Regardless of whether or not Indiana’s title leads the ESPN morning shows on Tuesday, folks in Bloomington won’t be able to talk about anything else that day, and that’s really all that matters.
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.