MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — There will be a new starting quarterback at Miami next season, new starters on the offensive and defensive lines, a new kicker and probably a slew of other depth chart changes between now and September.
Mark Fletcher Jr. says he'll be back, though. And Malachi Toney should be there as well.
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Miami wide receiver Malachi Toney scores against Indiana during the second half of the College Football Playoff national championship game, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Miami wide receiver Malachi Toney scores against Indiana during the second half of the College Football Playoff national championship game, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Miami running back Mark Fletcher Jr. celebrates after scoring with quarterback Carson Beck during the second half of the College Football Playoff national championship game against Indiana, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Miami running back Mark Fletcher Jr. scores against Indiana during the second half of the College Football Playoff national championship game, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
No matter who is at quarterback next fall, meet the leaders of the Miami offense for 2026. They did all they could Monday night, combining to score three touchdowns — two on the ground by the workhorse running back in Fletcher, the other a catch-and-run by the electrifying wide receiver in Toney — for the Hurricanes in what became their 27-21 loss to Indiana in the College Football Playoff championship game at Hard Rock Stadium.
“It's not the result we wanted," Miami coach Mario Cristobal said. "Credit to Indiana. They're a great football team. ... It's a tough one. A tough one to have to eat, but we will."
Fletcher finished the season with 1,192 yards rushing — 507 of them in the four playoff games, the most that any player had in any season in CFP contests. Toney finished the season with 109 catches, the most in the country. They were among the many bright spots in a 13-3 season for Miami, one where the Hurricanes were all but written off in November and wound up playing for a title.
“I can't understate what these guys have done,” Cristobal said.
Fletcher and Toney had a ton of help this season: Carson Beck was stellar in his lone season as Miami's quarterback, Rueben Bain and Akheem Mesidor were among the best defensive linemen in the country and offensive lineman Francis Mauigoa is universally considered a first-round draft lock.
“A lot of moments are going to be cherished,” Bain said.
They'll be gone next fall. Fletcher and Toney won't just be stars next season. They'll have to lead, too.
They're both South Florida kids, went to the same high school in American Heritage, both have the sort of stories that endear themselves to Hurricane fans and even non-Hurricane fans. Fletcher lost his father last season and his mother has become a bit of a celebrity because she drives to every game, regardless of where it is. Toney should still be in high school, a kid who reclassified to get to Miami early. They came to Miami to win a national championship.
They barely missed.
Miami was down 10-0 at the half and had almost nothing going on the offensive side of the ball — that is, until Fletcher breathed life into the building with a 57-yard touchdown run that got the Hurricanes within three early in the third quarter.
That became a trend for Miami. An unfortunate trend, as it turned out. The Hurricanes would score, but only getting within a field goal every time.
Fletcher's first TD of the night cut the Indiana lead to 10-7. He rumbled in again on the first play of the fourth quarter, cutting the Indiana lead to 17-14. Toney scored with 6:37 left, cutting the Indiana lead to 24-21.
“We had an opportunity, all the way to the end,” Cristobal said.
The Hurricanes got the ball back for one more chance with 1:42 left, down 27-21. They were driving, but Indiana intercepted Beck's final pass as a Hurricane with 44 seconds left. And with that, Miami's hope of a national title were officially gone.
Fletcher stayed in the end zone long after the final horn. Even in that moment, he had one more thing to do: he was waiting to see his family.
“They were the first ones I wanted to hug,” Fletcher said.
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Miami wide receiver Malachi Toney scores against Indiana during the second half of the College Football Playoff national championship game, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Miami wide receiver Malachi Toney scores against Indiana during the second half of the College Football Playoff national championship game, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Miami running back Mark Fletcher Jr. celebrates after scoring with quarterback Carson Beck during the second half of the College Football Playoff national championship game against Indiana, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Miami running back Mark Fletcher Jr. scores against Indiana during the second half of the College Football Playoff national championship game, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
WASHINGTON (AP) — If President Donald Trump is coming to the game, bet on the visiting team.
You'll usually be in the money — at least if recent history holds.
The New York Knicks, after two straight wins in the finals against the San Antonio Spurs, lost at home 115-111 on Monday night with Trump, a longtime fan of the Big Apple's NBA team, in a luxury suite at Madison Square Garden.
He similarly may have had a jinxing role for MLB's Washington Nationals during his first term, when the home team lost Game 5 of the World Series to the Houston Astros 7-1.
In November, the president was on hand when the NFL's Washington Commanders hosted the Detroit Lions, and the visitors romped 44-22. And he was front and center at Bethpage Black when Europe topped the U.S. golf team in last fall's Ryder Cup.
It’s a glaring irony for a president fanatical about sports but also especially obsessed with winning.
Trump frequently mentions his own election victories, even boasting of a 2020 win over Joe Biden that never happened, and touts his record of endorsing winning Republican primary candidates. His love of sports also sometimes leads him into hostile territory, including heavily Democratic Manhattan, where his very presence led to sustained booing before Game 3's tipoff.
The White House called the suggestion that Trump's attendance might not bode well for home teams “foolish” and called him “the people's president.”
“President Trump is the greatest champion for sports of any president in American history, and he loves them," spokesperson Olivia Wales said in a statement.
To be fair, Trump's attendance doesn't guarantee the home team will lose.
Last September, the New York Yankees beat the visiting Detroit Tigers 9-3 as the president marked the 24th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Trump was also there when Navy beat Army 17-16 in Baltimore last fall, when the Midshipmen were technically the home team — though Navy wasn't playing in its home stadium in Annapolis, Maryland.
He's also been to plenty of sporting events where home field advantage isn't a factor.
That was true for his attending the U.S. Open in September and the 2025 Super Bowl in New Orleans, where the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Kansas City Chiefs, as well as that year's Daytona 500. Ditto for 2025s NCAA wrestling championships in Philadelphia and the FIFA Club World Cup final in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
It also won't be an issue Sunday, when the White House's South Lawn will host a UFC show to mark Trump's 80th birthday.
If the trend holds, however, it may not be great news for the U.S. national team in the World Cup, which opens Thursday.
The Americans have never made it past the semifinal stage in the tournament's modern history anyway — and they'll have to contend this time with Trump playing an outsize role in organizing the event. He has pledged to attend the final and award the trophy to the winning team.
Some Knicks fans have faulted the president for the Game 3 defeat, even though their team still leads the series. Game 4 will also be played in New York on Wednesday, though this time Trump isn't expected to attend.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a likely 2028 Democratic presidential candidate and frequent foil for the president, playfully picked up on the theme of Trump as a jinx, reposting a past White House post on X declaring “Call it the Trump effect” alongside discussion about the Knicks' loss.
ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith — himself mentioned as a possible future presidential hopeful — suggested before Game 3 that it'd be Trump's fault if the Knicks didn't win. Afterward, he said, “What I feared would happen ended up happening.”
“The president disrupted our mojo,” said Smith, a longtime Knicks fan, before adding, “The man messed things up.”
Asked after the game about Smith potentially blaming him for a Knicks loss, Trump dismissed the commentator's political aspirations and questioned his intelligence.
“I think he’s a nice guy. But you need a certain aptitude to run for president,” Trump told reporters before boarding Air Force One for his flight back to Washington early Tuesday
“You need a high IQ. I’m not sure that Stephen has that,” he said. “I don’t think he does, actually.”
Before he was a politician, Trump, a native of the New York City borough of Queens, frequently attended Knicks games, sometimes sitting courtside. His return to the Garden nonetheless drew long and loud boos when his face was shown on the jumbotron during the national anthem.
In fact, he's been roundly booed repeatedly, though it has more to do with his politics than any role he might have in jinxing the home team. Trump drew boos at the Nationals' World Series game and during the Commanders game and the U.S. Open. At some events he's cheered and the crowd reaction can also be mixed — though Trump just as likely to simply claim a more friendly reception than he actually gets.
After the Knicks game, the president tried to suggest that the boos were “I think, mostly cheers.” The White House similarly attempted to spin the incident into a political show of strength, posting a photo of Trump at the game with the caption “King of New York.”
Offering a different assessment was New York's Daily News tabloid. It featured a cartoon of an exaggeratedly rotund Trump wearing a No. 38 Knicks jersey — with a bubble emerging from his mouth saying “approval rating.”
President Donald Trump attends an NBA Finals playoff basketball game between the New York Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs at Madison Square Garden in New York, Monday, June 8, 2026, with Kai Trump. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
A New York Knicks fan cheers at a watch party during Game 3 of the NBA Finals basketball series between the Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs, Monday, June 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)
