Paul Finebaum reveals ‘biggest headline’ from 2025 college football season

Indiana captured the hearts of many in America in the 2025 college football season with its run to the first national championship in program history. Even though Paul Finebaum didn’t believe in the Hoosiers the whole way, he had to concede that they were the story of the year.

The ESPN analyst joined The Matt Barrie Show on Tuesday to recap the year of college football after the Hoosiers’ 27-21 win against Miami in the title game. He called Indiana’s triump the biggest headline of the season.

“Undoubtedly, it was Indiana completely upsetting everying,” he said. “Because even in the middle, some may have believed, but I didn’t. I look back on all the preseason predictions. Nobody had Indiana this far. Nobody had Miami this far. So it’s so obvious.”

Indiana was coming off of a 3-9 season when it hired Cignetti to take over in 2024, and the speed in which he turned around the program is unprecedented. It also happened at a school that is typically more known for its success on the basketball court as opposed to the football field.

The Hoosiers are 27-2 in the two seasons since Cignetti took over, including 16-0 this season. But even as the wins continued to pile up, not everyone was ready to believe Indiana could contend with the big names in college football.

One by one, the Hoosiers knocked them out, beginning with defending national champion Ohio State to win the Big Ten Championship. Then they took down perennial powerhouses Alabama and Oregon on their path through the playoff before beating Miami in the title game.

Along with Indiana winning it all, Paul Finebaum also mentioned he was equally as shocked by Ohio State not at least making the championship game. The Buckeyes were No. 1 for most of the season after taking down preseason No. 1 Texas in the season opener. But they proved no match for the Hoosiers and lost in the CFP quarterfinals against Miami, eliminating the chance for the rematch.

“I think you bookend a season with the crash and burn of Texas in that opening game and then the rush to judgment,” Finebaum said. “When we did the first podcast on the final day of August, it was inconceivable for me to believe. All we heard was Matt Patricia and the defense, how bad Arch was, how this Ohio State team could not be stopped. In some ways, Ohio State not winning remains as big a mystery to me as Indiana pulling it off.”