Indiana vs. Miami College Football Playoff National Championship Betting Pick

It doesn’t take a genius to know that the NCAA has always been incompetent; however, the way they have handled their scheduling in the expanded playoff era has been a new level of ineptitude.

In no universe should the national championship be held with only three NFL games left in the season. A game between an old powerhouse in Miami and a new dynasty on the rise in Indiana shouldn’t be completely overshadowed by the NFL Playoffs.

They need to find a way to have the season end around the first of the year and also avoid these massive breaks after each round. Lastly, I know it’s tradition for the national championship to be played on a Monday, but it’s the dumbest thing ever. Play the pinnacle of the college football season on a Saturday.

Enough with the complaints, we still have one last college football game, and we’re going to find a way to come out a winner.

Indiana are 7.5 point favorites, and for good reason. They’ve dominated the first two rounds of the playoffs in a 2019 LSU fashion.

Unfortunately for Cignetti and company, Miami is a much worse matchup than their first two opponents. Mario Cristobal has to find a way to slow this game down. Similar to his game plan against Ohio State, the fewer possessions there are in this game, the more opportunities Miami has to finish its miracle run.

Can Carson Beck continue to play mostly mistake-free football? Beck has only turned the ball over once in his first three playoff games, but he’ll be up against an Indiana defense that’s generated five in their last three outings.

More important than Miami’s offense playing a clean game, can their defense continue their great postseason showing and find a way to beat Heisman trophy winner, Fernando Mendoza?

I don’t think they can do either of those things.

Cignetti has Indiana playing at a level we haven’t seen many times in college football. For two straight games, the Hoosiers have been the better team on the field at all three levels.

However, Mendozza and the offense haven’t had to prove much. Miami’s edge rushers, Reuben Bain Jr. and Akheem Mesidor, have applied more pressure to opposing quarterbacks than just about anyone else in the playoffs. If they can create havoc and get Indiana off schedule, that’s the only way I think Miami can keep it close.

Both teams are going to continue their slow, methodical offensive gameplans they’ve used all postseason, but I don’t think Miami will be able to do enough on offense to keep them in this one.

For the final college football play of the season, I love Indiana and the under.

Pick: Indiana -7.5 and u47.5