MIAMI, Fla. — It was seven weeks ago that the 12-team College Football Playoff field was announced. Unbeaten Indiana was the first team in, and the No. 1 seed. Miami, with two losses to unranked teams, slid into the last at-large slot.

No one predicted an Indiana-Miami championship game, but that's what we have on Monday night at Hard Rock Stadium. And we certainly have two deserving teams in the final. Indiana has crushed Alabama by 35 and Oregon by 34.

Miami, twice an underdog, has zipped past Texas A&M on the road, defending champ Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl and Ole Miss last week in the semifinals.

With so much time between games, it's paralysis by analysis in breaking down these two teams. Indiana is the greatest story ever told, an almost unthinkable turnaround in Curt Cignetti's first two years in Bloomington. The critics, though, say they haven't played anybody, say they're just older than everyone, say they've been lucky.

All gibberish, of course.

Most everyone thought Ohio State would beat Indiana in the Big Ten Championship Game, but they didn't. Many were on Alabama over Indiana in the Rose Bowl, because, you know, they're from the mighty SEC. Some still weren't convinced that the Hoosiers could hang with Oregon.

They were all wrong, of course.

And now, when it's for all the marbles, many of those experts — like Josh Pate and Danny Kanell, guys I like and respect — are still picking Miami to win, despite being 8.5-point underdogs. They have their reasons why.

And then there are all the Miami media guys, who are all firmly convinced the Hurricanes will win, too. They remember the last century, when the Canes won five national titles. They remember dominating the sport, and they laugh and scoff at lowly Indiana, which has never won anything. 

And despite it being 24 years since they won a national title — and they've NEVER won an ACC title in 22 years — they are coronating this team already. They are better at every position, they say, they'll show things Indiana hasn't seen all year, they'll say, and they'll walk off their home field as champions on Monday night.

But, of course, we know they're way off base.

Right?

Of course we know.

Miami fans think they'll run all over Indiana's defensive front on Monday night. Many of them have said this is the best running game Indiana will see all year.

Facts, be damned.

Yes, Mark Fletcher Jr. is a very good running back, and they've got some NFL players along the offensive line. The Miami people will tell you Indiana hasn't seen anything like this Hurricanes group up front.

Indiana players, though, will set you straight quickly.

"The best offensive line in the country is the one we play against every day in practice,'' said Indiana sophomore defensive lineman Mario Landino, who's played a big role in the Hoosiers' playoff run after sack leader Stephen Daley went down with a knee injury. "Our offensive line, they're just great together. They work so well together, and they'll push you to be the best. Iron sharpens iron.

"(Indiana left tackle) Carter Smith, me and him, we go at it all the time, and I think he's one of the best offensive linemen in the country. I mean, the dude is an All-American for a reason, and I've watched him for two years now. No one works harder. No one gets better every day like he does. And all those guys, they're the best. It's amazing how well they all work together. Just want the film, man. They don't make mistakes.''

That's a two-way street, too. Indiana's defensive front — including their great set of linebackers — simply doesn't allow teams to run against them. They are No. 2 in the country against the run, allowing just 75 yards per game. 

Miami supporters naively say that Indiana hasn't seen a running game like theirs all year, but that simply isn't true. Miami averages 154.6 yards per game — which ranked No. 72 in the country. Old Dominion (238.3), Oregon twice (198.6), Iowa (176.9), Penn State (174.4) and Kennesaw State (159.4) all averaged more. And Ohio State's average is just 3.6 INCHES less than Miami.  

So, yeah, Indiana has seen good running games. And they're are more than ready for this challenge come Monday night.

"In a game like this, it's just going to be physicality. Both teams are extremely physical. They want to run the ball. We want to stop the run,'' Indiana All-American middle linebacker Aiden Fisher said. "And then, obviously, outside of that, there's going to be a lot of things that just come down to winning your one-on-ones.

"But I think with both of these teams that we have being matched up on both sides of teh ball, it's going to be all about physicality and who is going to continue to deliver the blow, who can throw the most punches while also taking the most punches. At the end of the day, it's just who is more physical.''

Fisher has a lot of respect for Miami running back Mark Fletcher, the junior from Fort Lauderdale who turned down Ohio State to stay home. He's rushed for 1,080 yards this year, and has over 2,200 yards for his career.

"Yeah, he's a great running back. He's a downhill runner, and he's physical,'' Fisher said. "He does a great job not letting one guy tackle him. So when he gets downhill, it's physical, you have to wrap him up, you have to get a lot of hats to the ball. And then he has the breakaway speed when he gets out in the open.

"So it's a huge challenge for us, one that we're excited for. And I know for us linebackers, at least, this is why you want to play in these games. You want to play against the best players in the country, and that's how I would describe him, as one of the best players in the country.''

It's the same thing on the other side. Indiana may have a Heisman Trophy winner in quarterback Fernando Mendoza, but the Hoosiers are great at running the ball themselves. They averaged 218.3 yards per game on the road, good for 12th in the nation.

Indiana running backs Roman Hemby and Kaelon Black get a lot of the attention, but it's the offensive line that leads the way in opening holes. Indiana wins those battles up front, consistently. Hemby has rushed for 1,060 yards already, and Black could join him as a 1,000-yard back in the title game, since he's just 39 yards away.

"Oh, yeah, when you look at our stats, I really just give a lot of credit to our offensive line,'' Hemby said. "I really feel like we wouldn't be in that situation without them, and our receivers blocking down field. You've got great tight ends like Riley (Nowakowski) who does a great job for us to kind of make it easy for us.

"We know that these games are a little more meaningful when we're playing a one-game season. So we do the best that we can to make sure that we're at our best for game day. So whether that's the offensive line doing a little bit more in the run game to kind of open things up for us or if that's Kaelon or myself really trying to lower our shoulder to get those extra hitting yards in a game. We're just trying to do everything we can to be successful. And I feel like we've been grinding all year to have the success that we're having now, and we definitely have some more work to do, but we're definitely happy with the spot that we're in currently.''

Smith and center Pat Koogan, a transfer from Notre Dame who played in the title game a year ago, both have earned All-American honors. Drew Evans, Bray Lynch and Khalil Benson have had big years, too. So have the bench guys who have filled in admirably.

I told Smith what Landino had said, that these two Indiana fronts have benefited from banging heads with each other since the spring.

"Yeah, there's a lot of truth to that. We've got a lot of great players on that side of the ball, too,'' Smith said. "They come after you all the time in practice, but we love that. We like going 'good on good' all the time, the ones vs. the ones. It makes us better. Heck, we were just going 'good on good' the other day.

"Iron sharpens iron.''

Pat Kuntz coaches defensive tackles at Indiana, and he has a unique connection with this coaching staff.  He spent two years with Cignetti at James Madison before they all made the move to Bloomington, but he's also an Indianapolis native who played high school ball at Roncalli, played college football at Notre Dame and was a graduate assistant coach at Indiana in 2016-17.

So as a native Hoosier, this run has special meaning to him, because he's seen the best and worst of Indiana football. And he's a big part of their success, with the run defense ranked No. 1 in the country a year ago and No. 2 this year.

He knows the Cignetti way of doing things, and he also fully embraces the process. That's included ''stacking one great day after another'' since the spring, and improving every day. He knows all the good work that's gone on all year when these two lines fight their way — in a good way — through practice and workouts since this team first got together a year ago.

I told him about my conversations with Landino and Smith, and how their answers were so similar to every one of my questions.

"Let me guess. 'Iron sharpens iron' came up, right?'' Kuntz said with a laugh. "We do hear that one quite a bit.

"But I tell you what.  There's a lot of truth to that. This team, everyone, has bought in from the beginning and I can tell you for a fact that this is a team of workers. They bust their butts every day, in the weight room, at practice, watching film, prep, everything.

"They want each other to get better every day. They call each other out. They never want to miss an opportunity for some good action, which is a testament to the way these guys compete. They want it. Crave it. And they root for each other, of course. When you have that kind of balance on offense and defense, good things are going to happen.''

Football games are singular dances. That's why you hear coaches talk all the time about going 1-0 every week. What happened last week or last month or last year doesn't really matter.

And that's very true for Indiana and Miami on Monday night. The Hurricanes lost two games earlier this year, one at home to a Louisville team that lost four games and the great Carson Beck threw four interceptions while the even-greater Mark Fletcher ran for 18 yards on eight carries. They also lost at four-loss SMU in overtime when Beck had two more interceptions and the Miami defense gave up 365 passing yards.

Miami fans will tell you those two losses don't matter come Monday night. That's not surprising, but what's also not surprising is that Indiana coaches feel the same way. They know how good Miami can be. They know they were ranked No. 2 in the country for a reason after opening the season with five straight wins, including three over teams — Notre Dame, South Florida and Florida State — that were ranked at the time.

Indiana, while confident, is also very respectful.

"I think they are a very talented football team, and they're well coached. They have a physical, imposing presence every time they step on the field,'' Kuntz said. "I'll speak more on their offense, of course, but they are very talented up front, have great size and just like every other game — whether we're playing Miami, the Chicago Bears or the Little Sisters of the Poor — it's going to be decided at the line of scrimmage offensively and defensively.

"You just have to be more detailed and more technically sound when you go against bigger and better offensive linemen. It's starts and ends there. Their running backs play with a lot of effort, so it's a challenge.''

Indiana will be up for that challenge. They've been up for it all year, and they've proven it over and over.

Now they just need to prove it one more time.