Indiana fights off Miami, caps perfect season with national championship...

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Indiana, which spent a century-plus buried so dimly in the American football consciousness that it seemed less an afterthought than not really a thought at all, won the national championship Monday night but exceeded even that delirium. When it bested bruising Miami, 27-21, in the College Football Playoff title game, it elbowed its way into thousands of future conversations about the best teams and stories in American sports lore, given a dizzying ascent to a dazzling precision that seemed to stir up out of the dust.