We have this week’s best College Football National Championship picks for Monday night’s National Championship Game between the No. 1 Indiana Hoosiers (15-0) and No. 10 Miami Hurricanes (13-2) to finish the 2025-26 CFP. A perfect season is on the line for the Hoosiers while Miami gets to play in its home stadium.Â
Let’s look at the latest college football odds for the big game and make our final picks of the season.Â
Best Bets for Indiana Hoosiers vs. Miami Hurricanes
For our best college football picks, we’re dialed into the National Championship Game between the Indiana Hoosiers and Miami Hurricanes. The turnaround for the Hoosiers under coach Curt Cignetti has been historic. The team was 3-9 two years ago, then 11-2 last year, and now can finish 16-0 with one more impressive win after already dominating Alabama (38-3) and Oregon (56-22) in the CFP.Â
Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza has been almost flawless this postseason, and another factor that many feel has helped the Hoosiers win is experience with many 4-year players and older college students on their roster. They lack the 5-star recruits of the teams they’re beating, but their experience and Cignetti’s coaching have made the difference.
As for the Hurricanes, they’re having their own resurgence under coach Mario Cristobal in his fourth year. Quarterback Carson Beck has transferred over from Georgia and has thrived in this offense with a great offensive line and running game. The scoring defense is also No. 5 in the nation and has been opportunistic all postseason.Â
But the Hurricanes have had some bad losses to Louisville and SMU this year, where Beck got into turnover problems that plagued him at Georgia, too. He’ll have to play a close to perfect game against Indiana’s No. 2 scoring defense that allows just 11.1 points per game.
NCAAF Monday Odds (Indiana -8.5)Â Â
This matchup has seen the Hoosiers favored from 7.5 to 8.5 points, with most sportsbooks settling on 8.5 the closer we get to gametime. Indiana is 10-5 ATS this year but has finished on average +13.6 points above the spread line (best in the nation). But against ranked opponents, Indiana is 5-0 ATS, finishing +25.6 points above the line to lead the nation. However, Miami is also 6-0 ATS against ranked opponents (+10.2 points above the spread). Indiana’s just been more dominant in the big games.
The total for this game is 47 points, which has dropped about a point from the opening line. Both defenses rank in the top 5, and neither team has been a great total bet this year. The over is 8-7 in Indiana games and 6-9 in Miami games.
NCAAF Monday Picks (Indiana -8.5)
We respect the job Miami has done to get here, but Indiana feels like a team of destiny to finish 16-0 for Cignetti. They play outstanding football on both sides of the ball, the offense has been nearly perfect in the CFP, and the defense showed it can cause havoc with a pick-six against Oregon on the first snap of the game.
It is true that Miami has better athletes in the trenches that could keep this interesting, especially if they run the ball with Mark Fletcher Jr. and keep the mistakes limited for Carson Beck. But Indiana has yet to allow more than 24 points all season, and Mendoza has been clutch in the few fourth quarters they were challenged.
Playing in Miami may help the Hurricanes initially, but fan travel should be solid for the Hoosiers in this once-in-a-lifetime kind of season. Upsets haven’t been that common here as the last six favorites have won the National Championship Game. We’re backing Indiana to cover and close the perfect season in style by overwhelming Beck and company.
Expert Pick: Indiana -8.5 (-108) at Heritage Sports
Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza (Over 1.5 Passing Touchdowns)
For this game’s top player props, we like Fernando Mendoza to go over 1.5 passing touchdowns and cap off his Heisman season in style. He’s been incredible in the CFP, completing 31-of-36 passes with 8 touchdowns and no interceptions. For the season, he’s up to 41 touchdowns and 6 interceptions while completing 73.0% of his passes.Â
Miami has a solid secondary and has made life difficult on some quarterbacks like Marcel Reed (Aggies scored 3 points) and Julian Sayin (threw two picks), but Trinidad Chambliss had a solid game against them last week with 277 yards and a touchdown.
Indiana’s offense is operating at a rare level right now, and a big performance here by Mendoza could wrap up his status as the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. Look for him to deliver and possibly throw 3 or more touchdown passes here as Indiana rolls over Miami.Â
Expert Pick: Fernando Mendoza Over 1.5 Passing Touchdowns (-170) at Bovada
Your CFP National Championship Betting Game Plan
For your final college football picks of the 2025-26 season, our final game picks include the Indiana Hoosiers covering the 8.5-point spread against Miami to finish 16-0. We also recommend Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza to throw over 1.5 passing touchdowns in the win.
Timing is everything in sports betting. Keep an eye on the live college football odds to find the best lines available and identify which sportsbooks have the best odds and lines for the National Championship Game.Â
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*The line and/or odds referenced in this article might have changed since the content was published. For the latest information on line movements, visit OddsTrader’s free betting odds tool.
