00:00Let's hear from the champions here.
00:01We'll start with a clip here from Kurt Cignetti after last night's game.
00:04Okay, hard-fought game.
00:05Give a lot of credit to Miami.
00:06It was a real gut check.
00:08We found a way.
00:10It's credit to our guys' resiliency to find a way to get that done.
00:15It's a great thing.
00:17Indiana won the national championship two years into our tenure.
00:22You do it with people and a plan.
00:25Can't say enough about our senior leadership
00:27and the people we have in the locker room.
00:30And the people we have on our staff and our strength and conditioning staff,
00:33support staff, and the commitment we've received from President Witt and Scott Dolson.
00:37I would like to say our NIL is nowhere near what people think it is.
00:42So you can throw that out.
00:47And the team really overcame a lot on the road in a lot of tight games
00:54and found a way to get it done.
00:55And we're 16-0 and we're, I guess we're 27-2 since Indiana.
01:01But we're 16-0.
01:0216-0.
01:03National champions at Indiana University,
01:07which I know a lot of people thought was never possible.
01:11It probably is one of the greatest sports stories of all time.
01:15But it's all because of these guys and the staff.
01:19So proud of them.
01:20And it's a great night.
01:21By the way, it is amazing what Indiana's done, Joe.
01:25And also, I want to point this out.
01:26Like, this isn't like the back of the day.
01:28Hey, I hid behind an easy schedule, got to the championship game.
01:32The other team's quarterback was hurt, and we went away with a win.
01:34There's no cheapies anymore, Joe.
01:36Like, when you make it through March Madness,
01:38you got to win, what, seven, eight games to get there?
01:39That is a tough grind no matter what your team is.
01:42Now that you have an expanded playoff,
01:44you are getting heavyweights every single week that you have to beat.
01:48And Indiana answered the bell every time, Joe.
01:51No, they did.
01:52And again, that's why they're champions.
01:54This was the first real test that, you know, they've had in a while.
01:59It's certainly, you know, Alabama, that game was over in the first half.
02:02So was the Oregon game.
02:04But, you know, this was a situation where they got punched in the mouth.
02:08And that was the whole plan for Miami.
02:11Punch them back and see what kind of reaction you got.
02:14And you put them into situations where, yeah, they had to go.
02:18They had to roll the dice.
02:19They had to go for broke, Donnie, because had that game gone any further,
02:23they likely don't win it.
02:24So they had to make and make decisions to take chances
02:28that they had not had to do the previous couple of games in the playoffs.
02:32Let's flip it over to Miami, because also, again,
02:35finishing the season with 13 wins here.
02:37It's been a long time since Miami's been back in that national championship picture
02:39with a legitimate chance to win, which they did last night,
02:41had the football down six over the 50-yard line through that late interception
02:45for Carson Beck.
02:46Mario Cristobal came back and basically said,
02:48it's up to me to get this program back where it's supposed to be.
02:51And it looks like they are landing in that spot.
02:53Here's Mario Cristobal after the game talking about this one.
02:56First and foremost, thank God for the opportunity to be here today.
03:00And really, I would like to recognize these three young men
03:05and their teammates for the best thing that's happened to Miami
03:11and the University of Miami in over two decades.
03:14And it's not the result we wanted.
03:16Credit to Indiana.
03:17They're a great football team.
03:19But to these guys right here,
03:21I couldn't be more proud to be associated with them.
03:24I love them.
03:25They're absolutely incredible human beings, competitors, resilient.
03:29And I want to thank them and the rest of their teammates.
03:33And it's a tough one.
03:35Tough one to have to eat, but we will.
03:38And that's it.
03:41Just looking forward to the future, what Miami is now.
03:44Looks like they're going to get a pretty good quarterback
03:45stolen away from the Duke Blue Devils at this point.
03:47But that's the NIL era.
03:48But it looks like the foundation has been laid.
03:51And also, credit Mario Cristobal.
03:53Back-to-back losses in the regular season.
03:55Looked like they were out of it.
03:56Rallied the troops.
03:56And if they would have beaten Indiana, Joe,
03:59seeing like the path that Miami took to get to this championship game,
04:02beating heavyweight after heavyweight,
04:04some in their own building, like Texas A&M,
04:06what a phenomenal run with a legitimate chance
04:08to win a championship on the final drive.
04:11Just came up a little bit short.
04:13Yeah, I mean, listen, they were a 10 seed.
04:15They were the final at-large team to make the college football playoff.
04:19And they fell a couple of plays short of a 16-0 team.
04:23So there's no shame in losing to Indiana,
04:26who was extremely well-coached and had the Heisman Trophy winner
04:29as their quarterback.
04:31But, I mean, what Miami has done the last two years here
04:34and what Cristobal has done since getting here,
04:37I mean, people forget how awful this program was
04:41for the better part of two decades.
04:43I mean, Miami's 23-6 over the last two seasons.
04:46They haven't lost a game by more than a touchdown since 2023.
04:49And they still haven't.
04:51They didn't last night either.
04:52So this is a team that is absolutely back on track
04:57in the public spotlight and is a contender
05:00because you know why, Donnie?
05:01They're investing in football again at the University of Miami.
05:05And it shows, doesn't it?
05:06But then, do you think people get up?
05:29They're investing in football.
