Indiana Breaks Streak that Dates Back to '96 Florida Gators with CFP National Title

The Florida Gators are approaching the 30th anniversary of its first national championship.

The Florida Gators are approaching the 30th anniversary of its first national championship. | Palm Beach Post-USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images

Indiana's win over Miami in the College Football Playoff National Championship marked the program's first football national title and the first 16-0 team in the modern era. It also broke a streak that dated back to the Florida Gators' first national title during the 1996-97 season.

With the 27-21 win over the Hurricanes, Indiana is now the first first-time national champion since the Gators' title 29 years ago, which was clinched with a 52-20 win over Florida State in the Sugar Bowl.

The Indiana Hoosiers are first-time National Championship winners since the 1996 Florida Gators three decades ago. 🔥🏆 pic.twitter.com/FX2Rgzl4wJ

— Jesse Simmons (@ItsJesseSimmons) January 20, 2026

Since Florida's first of three national titles, college football has had 15 different programs with national championships, all of which had previously won a title before the Gators. Nine of those teams, including Florida in 2006 and 2008, have won multiple titles during that stretch, headlined by Alabama's six titles with Nick Saban as the head coach.

Meanwhile, three potential first-time champions (Virginia Tech: 1999; Oregon: 2010, 2014) have lost either the Bowl Alliance, BCS or CFP National Championship Game before the Hoosiers snapped the streak on Monday.

The Crimson Tide's 2009 title, ironically, came with now-Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti as the wide receivers coach. It would also be his last stop before becoming one of the winningest head coaches in college football history.

Across stints at Division 2 IUP, FCS Elon, Group of Five James Madison and now Power Four Indiana, Cignetti is 147-36 as a head coach. Now two seasons into his stint with the Hoosiers, he has turned one of college football's worst programs into a consistent winner with a 27-2 record.

That consistency and instant impact at a program is something new head coach Jon Sumrall hopes to accomplish with the Gators, which has not won a title since the 2008 season, has not won an SEC title since 2008 and is in the midst of one of its worst stretches in program history with four losing seasons in five years.

Asked by Florida Gators on SI about the fanbase's concern about the program hiring another Group of Five head coach fresh off the Billy Napier era, Sumrall specifically pointed to Cignetti's success at Indiana as a reason to not prematurely judge him.

"No two people are the same," he said during his introductory press conference on Dec. 1. "Coach (Urban) Meyer, you coached G5 football, right? Curt Cignetti coached G5. I actually coached against Curt some. No two people are the same... Judge me for who I am. I'm a winner. We're going to win. Just give me a shot. Believe in me."

Jon Sumrall is hoping to join Urban Meyer and Steve Spurrier as head football coaches to win a national title with the Florida Gators. | Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images

Sumrall did not lie when he said he was a winner. In his four years as a head coach, a pair of two-year stints at Troy and Tulane, Sumrall is 43-12 with two Sun Belt Conference titles, one American Conference title and one appearance in the College Football Playoff.

Taking over a struggling Gators program, the fanbase is hoping that Sumrall can finally be the coach to get the program back to national relevance after four-straight fired head coaches.

"I respect the Florida fan base is not patient. They want to win right now, too," he said. "You've got the right coach. I'm wired that way. I'm not comfortable having a plan to win in eight years. I want to win tomorrow."

Florida, now in the beginning stages of its offseason workout program, opens spring camp on March 3 with the spring game to be held on April 11. The 2026 season opens on Sept. 5 at home against Florida Atlantic.