Column: New College Football Playoff Champ is solid as a block of granite
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Hoisting the championship trophy, Monday, the Indiana Hoosiers were the undisputed kings of College Football.
These football warriors had risen to the task 16 times this year to claim the prize no one, save coach Curt Cignetti could have envisioned them winning when he arrived at the Bloomington campus two years ago.
These Hoosiers bear little resemblance to the basketball Hoosiers who won the state title in the Gene Hackman film. These guys are just good. Good and tough. Good and tough and determined.
They took the championship from a strong, talent laden Miami team in their own back yard.
That was quite a load to lift. In the game’s final minute, with the Hoosiers leading the Hurricanes 27-21 I couldn’t help but feel Miami might find their way back into the throne room.
All week, we’d been seeing clips of Miami in their glory days. Led by a brash, young coach named Jimmy Johnson, they were whipping all comers in the late 80s. They were loved by their legion of fans, but equally hated by just about everyone else. Johnson didn’t care if they were hated. He relished it.
His team was built for speed and they could run laps around the mere mortals of the sport.
I have not so fond memories of Miami coming to the Cotton Bowl after the 1990 season and branding the Texas Longhorns with a 46-3 score.
The win gave Miami a four year record of 44-4.
Johnson got another job, but the Cane reign was not over. The 91 model went 12-0 and blew the doors off the Nebraska Cornhuskers 22-0 in the Orange Bowl. That would be their last national title to date.
The following year, Miami was unbeaten before Coach Gene Stallings’ Alabama team killed the Canes dynasty 34-13 in the Sugar Bowl.
Young folks don’t remember the 90s, because they weren’t around then. Older folks kept watching for Hurricane warnings each season, but Miami teams huffed and puffed and wore themselves out without doing much damage on the national stage.
This year’s team was different. They were speedy and strong, stout in the lines, rising up to No. 2 in the ratings before a pair of midseason losses, including one in Dallas, to SMU, left them in danger of missing the playoffs altogether.
Then they hitched up their trousers, gripped the club a little tighter and proceeded to take down Texas A&M, Ohio State and Ole Miss in succession.
A lot of folks thought they would put a stop to the Hoosiers story book, worst to first, run.
In the fourth quarter, up by three, QB Fernando Mendoza, kept the ball on a fourth and five and finally landed in the end zone after a demolition derby of a run. That’s the one run that will be most remembered about this game and this Indiana season.
It’s as if Mendoza was saying “Just try and stop us.”
John Wayne wasn’t the only one with “True Grit.”
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