It was a dominant first half from Indiana in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game, leading Miami 10-0. That makes 31 scoreless quarters from the Indiana defense and eight scoreless halves.
Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza has passed for 116 yards. Miami quarterback Carson Beck has passed for 49 yards. Mendoza is out-performing Beck, even with the Hurricane defense getting pressure on six of 17 (35 percent) of Mendoza’s drop backs.
On the ground, Miami has struggled, too, gaining only 2.5 yards per carry. We’ve seen an overall lack of explosiveness from the Hurricanes in the first half. That’s placed The U behind the sticks more often than not and has contributed to an offense that went 0-6 on third downs.
Yet, Miami is no stranger to scoreless first halves. Let’s not forget that the Hurricanes opened the CFP with a scoreless first half against Texas A&M. The difference in that first-round game and the national title game might be that Miami WILL NOT open the second half with the football, and the Hurricanes trail.
Miami’s defense NEEDS to prevent a touchdown to open the third quarter more than SpongeBob needed water at Sandy’s house. If Indiana’s offense can find the end zone, it’ll be hard for any offense to overcome a three-score deficit against the Hoosiers. That’s without factoring in the pressure of a national championship on the line.
2019-20 LSU is the last team to overcome a 10-point deficit to win a CFP title game. 2013-14 Florida State’s 18-point comeback in the BCS championship is the largest comeback across the BCS and CFP era.
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