Morning Buzz

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- The college football world runs through Bloomington, Ind., as No. 1 Indiana took down No. 10 Miami 27-21 on Monday night at Hard Rock Stadium, completing coach Curt Cignetti’s colossal turnaround of the cellar-dwelling Hoosiers.

Indiana, which had been the losingest program in college football history, has been building the foundation of its efforts for years. It spent $15.5M to buy out former coach Tom Allen in order to hire Cignetti.

The school has also spent more than $90M in upgrades between renovations to the north (2009) and south (2018) end zones. Its football budget, per the Knight Newhouse Database, has also grown by $32M over the last five fiscal years -- topping out at $61.6M in FY 2025.

“We need to make certain that we’re competitive in football -- we have to be,” IU AD Scott Dolson told SBJ on Saturday morning at CFP Media Day. “We owed it to the Big Ten conference. We can’t be at the trough of the Big Ten and enjoying the fruits of all the great work that so many people are doing to make the conference so viable and not be a productive member.”

Indiana began this season as the losingest major program in the history of college football and ended it with the school’s first national championship, “capping a remarkable two-year turnaround” by coach Curt Cignetti. Indiana is the third consecutive Big Ten team to win a national title, following Michigan and Ohio State, “but maybe the most unlikely champion in the history of the sport.” The school has five NCAA basketball championships and “claims Bob Knight as the patron saint of the program." But IU “is a football school now” (THE ATHLETIC, 1/19). Around 70% of the seats Monday night at Hard Rock Stadium -- which normally hosts Miami home games -- were “filled by the traveling Indiana support” (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 1/19).

Indiana became the first 16-0 major college football team since Yale in 1894, a “capper to the greatest two-year turnaround in the history of college football and quite possibly all of sports” (SLATE, 1/20). In two years, Cignetti “turned a doormat into royalty.” This “isn’t so much awakening a giant as it is transforming a zombie into a vibrant king wearing college football’s crown.” In doing so, Cignetti “hatched one of the most unfathomable national champions in college football history” (USA TODAY, 1/19). Fifty years after Knight and Indiana hoops “managed the last undefeated season” in D-I men’s basketball, the school “once again stands alone, unbeaten and undaunted” (Fort Wayne JOURNAL GAZETTE, 1/19).

President Trump “received a mix of cheers and boos” during the CFP National Championship Game as he was shown on screens at Hard Rock Stadium “during the National Anthem” (USA TODAY, 1/19). The president’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, and “at least four of his grandchildren were spotted in the suite with the commander-in-chief.” White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum were “among the Trump administration officials seated near the president.” UFC President & CEO Dana White “visited Trump’s suite during the game.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a Miami native and Hurricanes fan, “was seen on the sidelines of Hard Rock Stadium with his Secret Service detail before the pre-game festivities” (N.Y. POST, 1/19). Longtime Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn was also “among others in the president’s company” (THE HILL, 1/19).

Celebrities were also out for the title game. Among those spotted were Mark Cuban (an Indiana alum); HBSE’s David Blitzer and Josh Harris; Fox Sports’ Eric Shanks, Jordan Bazant and Urban Meyer; CAA’s Mike Levine, Howie Nuchow and Alan Gold; conference commissioners Jim Phillips (ACC), Greg Sankey (SEC), Tony Petitti (Big Ten), Tim Pernetti (American) and Brett Yormark (Big 12); Raiders owner Mark Davis, GM John Spytek and minority owner Tom Brady; Roc Nation’s Michael Yormark; media agent Sandy Montag; WWE’s Nick Khan; ESPN’s Jimmy Pitaro, Burke Magnus and Scott Van Pelt; ABC’s Robin Roberts; Bowl Season’s Nick Carparelli; The CW’s Jason Wormser; Big Ten Network’s Francois McGillicuddy; rappers Fat Joe, DJ Khaled, Lil Uzi Vert; actor Danny Ramirez; Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps; former Miami coach Jimmy Johnson; former Hurricanes Michael Irvin, Bernie Kosar, Ed Reed, Cam Ward and Xavier Restrepo; former Hoosiers QB Trent Green; Jake Paul; and Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union (SBJ).

Members of the White House Task Force on the 2026 World Cup attended the College Football Playoff National Championship Game on Monday night “as part of their preparation for the tournament that is expected to draw millions of tourists” to the U.S., Canada and Mexico this summer. The task force, created by President Trump, is “coordinating the federal government’s security and planning for the tournament, working with agencies that include the departments of Homeland Security, Transportation, Justice and others.” Task Force Exec Dir Andrew Giuliani said, “It’s not a perfect apples-to-apples comparison, but it’s probably one of the closest we’re going [to] get between now and the kickoff to the World Cup” (AP, 1/19).

Streaming set a new record in December with 47.5% of TV usage in the U.S., fueled by Christmas delivering the best day on record for streaming (54% of TV) with an assist from three NFL games across Netflix and Prime Video, according to new data from the Nielsen Gauge. The previous best month for streaming was July of this past year at 47.3%, while the prior best day was Christmas in 2024. Last month was just the second time since the Nielsen Gauge was launched that daily streaming exceeded 50 billion minutes.

Streaming actually exceeded 50% of daily TV usage twice last month, as Dec. 13 saw streaming reach 50.4% of TV (Prime Video had two Emirates NBA Cup semifinals on that day). Overall, streaming was up 3% in December compared to the month prior. Four platforms hit new highs, including Netflix (9.0% of TV) Prime Video (4.3%), Roku Channel (3.0%) and Paramount+/Pluto (2.5%).

Broadcast TV represented 21.4% of total TV watch-time in December, while cable accounted for 20.2%. Cable TV sports in particular saw a 16% audience lift, and made up 9% of total cable TV viewing for the month with the help of “MNF” games, an NFL Network game and Bowl Season.

For the calendar year 2025, YouTube was the easy leader for streaming in the U.S. at 12.5% of TV usage, followed by Netflix at 8.3% and ESPN+/Disney+/Hulu at 4.8%.

A group of Univ. of North Carolina basketball supporters on Monday “launched a public petition urging university leaders to renovate the Dean Dome rather than relocate the arena off campus” -- and they employed Basketball HOFer and former UNC coach Roy Williams “to help spread the word.” Williams “voiced strong opposition to an off-campus move” in a video shared on social media platforms X and Instagram from newly-created accounts titled “Smith Center South.” Williams: “Coach Smith wanted this place on campus. That was his wish. There was no question.” The comments come "amid ongoing discussions within the university about whether to renovate the existing arena or build a new one -- potentially as part of the proposed Carolina North development" (Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER, 1/20).

Nick Saban’s life and career will be the “subject of a six-part ESPN series coming soon” from the network and Words + Pictures. The series is “in production and will feature more than 30 hours of interviews with Saban and more than 80 interviews with the people in his orbit” over the six episodes. Timing and an episode schedule “will be announced later.” Russell Dinallo “will serve as director,” while Gabe Honig “will be co-executive producer and showrunner.” In addition, longtime sports reporter Tom Rinaldi “will be one of the producers” (AL.com, 1/19).

ESPN “premiered the trailer for the series during ‘College GameDay’” ahead of Monday’s CFP title game. Words + Pictures “previously partnered with ESPN” for series such as “The Kingdom,” about the Chiefs’ dynasty, and “Full Court Press,” focusing on college women’s basketball stars (ON3, 1/19).

“Being only 5′5″, photographer Joe Rosenthal had to climb on top of a Japanese sandbag to snap a photo while on this peak.″