For as chaotic as the 2025 NFL Playoffs have been, football fans will be setting it to the side for just one more night as the nation begins to celebrate the penultimate match up of the 2025 College Football Playoffs.
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Heisman trophy winner Fernando Mendoza and the Indiana Hoosiers are traveling into enemy territory at Hard Rock Stadium to take on the former Georgia Bulldog, Carson Beck, and the Miami Hurricanes in one of the most anticipated match ups of the year.
Rather than focus on the quarterbacks and their respective career arcs, however, the NFL Hall of Famer, Brett Favre, is more preoccupied with Indiana’s head coach, Curt Cignetti, and the Hurricane’s standout wide receiver, Malachi Toney.
“This guy that’s coaching at Indiana has certainly added to their level of discipline,” Favre noted during the latest installment of his self-titled podcast. “The guys seem to love to play for him, and that’s so important as well.”
Even though he has just four years of D1 experience, the 64-year-old play caller has managed to take the nation by storm thanks to his top-notch efforts in the transfer portal. He transformed the Hoosiers from an afterthought into a national spectacle by scoring nearly 100 total points against some of the sports biggest names in Oregon and Alabama, but according to Favre, you can never doubt the Hurricanes so long as they have their 18-year-old phenom in Toney.
“That young kid they’ve got at receiver is dynamite,” the former Packer noted. “He should actually be a junior in high school, but he expedited everything. He’s just a dynamite player.”
Throughout his debut season with Miami, Toney was able to record 1,089 receiving yards and nine touchdowns on 99 total receptions. Throw in the fact that he even carried the ball 23 times for a total of 113 rushing yards and another touchdown, and it’s clear that Miami is dealing with one of the most dynamic 18 year olds in the entire country.
NFL scouts and recruiters alike have already begun to lick their chops, and while the final result of the contest will likely have some impact on Toney’s plans for next season, it’s safe to say that the Hurricanes have already gotten their money’s worth. Although, it was still Cignetti’s Hoosiers who came into Miami Gardens as the favorites.
Thanks to their recent track record, Indiana was able to close as a -7.5 point betting favorite while the comeback on Miami’s money line sat at a robust +260. The favorite has managed to cover the spread in each of the last six national championships, so unless Toney has one last bit of dynamite stashed away somewhere, fans can expect to see plenty of pictures of Mendoza and Cignetti on Tuesday morning.
