Everything You Need to Know to Watch, Listen to National Championship: First Alert

The craziest day in college football has arrived, with the College Football Playoff National Championship set to be played at Hard Rock Stadium. If you live in South Florida, and are able to move around despite the traffic, we applaud you and/or wish you good luck.

But if you want to catch any of the game and/or coverage, it’ll be pretty much non-stop as ESPN is doing everything from its MegaCast (see below) on numerous different channels, to a full day of Miami vs. Indiana over more than a 24-hour period.

The coverage will begin with Good Morning America on-site coverage from Hard Rock Stadium at 7 a.m., and essentially end up with another segment 24 hours later, although there’s a final press conference from the winning coach and players of the game later in the morning (with none of the people involved having had any sleep).

 Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman will be on College GameDay as guest analyst. Indiana alum Mark Cuban will be a special guest on First Take.

First Alert: Monday, January 19, 2026

• Miami athletic director Dan Radakovich told Yahoo that he believes it’s already time to get rid of the $20.5M cap: “The idea of capping compensation has never worked in this industry. The model we have right now is really difficult to enforce. People who feel like they want to invest should have the ability to invest. … Over time, if we have this kind of open system, economics will bring things back to a more normal circumstance. This model would allow this to be fair to those who want to invest and allow the market to settle. It will settle over time. It always has. … We’ve never been successful to a large extent at legislating competitive equity.”

• ESPN reported that there were more than 6,500 Division I players who entered the transfer portal since January 2 and as of Thursday night there were still 1,200-plus unsigned FBS scholarship players remaining.

• From the College Football Playoff: The White House has confirmed that President Donald Trump will attend the National Championship. Fans attending the game should expect enhanced security measures and additional restrictions at and around Hard Rock Stadium due to a presidential visit. Ticketed attendees are strongly encouraged to arrive significantly earlier than they would for a typical game. Enhanced security screening will be conducted prior to entry by the Secret Service Uniformed Division. Attendees should be aware that pre-entry screening checkpoints will be in place prior to being allowed on Hard Rock Stadium grounds by the College Football Playoff (CFP), and re-entry will not be allowed once your ticket has been scanned at the stadium security gates.

Goodnight, Miami 💤#CFBPlayoff #NationalChampionship pic.twitter.com/3Li8fOcRVd

— College Football Playoff (@CFBPlayoff) January 19, 2026

Miami Hurricanes Quote of the Day

“People who have regrets cheated it somewhere in there. In workouts, in not studying film the way they should. That’s not me. That never was me. I gave it everything I had.”

Reggie Wayne

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We’ll Leave You With This …

Championship threads 👊#GoCanes | #NationalChampionship pic.twitter.com/f61w52kWcp

— Miami Hurricanes Football (@CanesFootball) January 15, 2026