The Indiana Daily Student will bring you live updates, scenes and news from Bloomington as the city reacts to Indiana football's victory over University of Miami in the College Football Playoff National Championship on Monday. Check out live photo updates here.
An extinguished furniture fire smolders in the middle of an intersection around 2:40 a.m. Jan. 20, 2026, at the intersection of South Dunn Street and East Smith Avenue in Bloomington. Bloomington police and fire departments blocked off the intersection and extinguished the fire.
2:30 a.m. at Dunn Street and Smith Avenue
Another piece of furniture is now a victim of the night. Its charred remains sit in the middle of the intersection. Police, firefighters and college-aged travelers watch what may have been a once-loved piece of furniture, witnessing its smoking carcass simmer.
Kirkwood Avenue is calm, with bottles and clothes strewn on the ground. Workers inspect what appears to be a torn-down street sign. A street sweeper vehicle turns onto Kirkwood. It all points to the conclusion of a lively night.
- Andrew Miller
12:42 a.m. on Kirkwood Avenue
A fire, about five yards across, burns on Kirkwood Avenue near Z & C Teriyaki and Sushi. It’s unclear what the burning object is. A crowd of people surrounds it completely. One person lights a stick on fire and holds it in the air.
The blaze dies down and a cloud of smoke descends over Kirkwood, sending many people walking away.
The line for the Upstairs Pub is robust; Insomnia Cookies is shoulder to shoulder.
A group plays musical instruments, including a tuba, in Peoples Park. A crowd jumps to the beat of the music.
The street’s chaos is dying down, but traces of prior activity remain. One man kicks some of those remnants, various broken bottles, beer cans and more, across the street.
-Jack Forrest and Andrew Miller
12:15 a.m. on Kirkwood Avenue
People are climbing onto awnings and roofs on Kirkwood Avenue. Legs dangle over the Greetings and Goodfellas signs. The street is packed to the brim with people, chanting, yelling, celebrating. A couch is on fire on Dunn Street between Kirkwood Avenue and Sixth Street.
At least one drone and a helicopter watch the streets. At least four Indiana State Police officers with riot gear and batons exit their cars on Sixth and Indiana to assist with fire department first responders.
Fans climb onto a City of Bloomington Sanitation truck blocking an entrance to Kirkwood Avenue.
“Flip the truck!” one fan yells from the nearby stairs leading up to BTown Smoke Time.
But before the fans got the chance, five Bloomington Police Department officers ordered people to get off, shining flashlights on anyone who tried to climb back up.
One fan approached an officer with a question.
“Can you shoot me in the leg?” he asks, pointing to the officer’s taser.
-Mia Hilkowitz, Alayna Wilkening, Andrew Miller and Mateo Fuentes-Rohwer
11:35 p.m. on Kirkwood Avenue
All down the street Hoosier fans chant and scream. A few of the most daring take their chances climbing the telephone poles and street signs lining Kirkwood Avenue. But one student, wearing candy-striped pants takes it a step further, hoisting himself on to the awning over Jimmy John’s. Shaking the sign above the sandwich shop, he led the crowd in chants below.
But what comes up, must come down. And realizing he had no ladder or stairs to descend, he trusted the people below him and jumped into a sea of open arms.
-Mia Hilkowitz
An IU fan jumps from the Jimmy John's awning after Indiana’s College Football Playoff National Championship win at 11:46 p.m. Jan. 19, 2026, on Kirkwood Avenue in Bloomington. The man was hoisted up and caught by a group on the ground below.
11:32 p.m. on Kirkwood Avenue
Kirkwood Avenue is full with hundreds. It’s shoulder to shoulder at the intersection with Dunn Street. A steady stream of people emptying out from nearby bars and watch parties run into the mass of people. Someone just took down a Dunn Street sign.
- Jack Forrest
11:15 p.m. inside Assembly Hall
When it seemed like nothing would go wrong for Miami, the Hoosiers needed a turnover to halt the momentum. And just like that, as Carson Beck dropped back to pass, it fell into the hands of redshirt junior defensive back Jamari Sharpe to seal the game. Mendoza kneeled two times until the clock hit zero.
Andrew Bailey, sweat dripping from under his Bison helmet, raises both arms in triumph. He’s speechless now and slowly turns to look at the fans.
“When you were a freshmen, did you ever think this was going to happen?” Bailey asks, looking at the screaming crowd above him.
Towels fly, tears drop and the Hoosiers are champions.
- Jack Davis and Ian Collier
Around 11:10 p.m. on Kirkwood Avenue
There’s under two minutes left in the College Football Playoff National Championship. A chunk of fans stand on south Kirkwood Avenue just outside the Upstairs Pub.
One City of Bloomington transit bus blocks the entrance to Indiana Avenue from Fourth Street. Another sits across the two lanes on Kirkwood and Grant Street. A sanitation truck blocks Dunn Street outside Bloomington Bagel Company.
It’s a preparation for a national championship celebration, but one minute and 56 seconds still remain to decide whether it’s excitement or disappointment across Bloomington.
Cheers erupt as redshirt sophomore kicker Nico Radicic kicks his field goal through.
27-21, IU.
Fans huddle in groups to stay warm, breath creeping from their mouths in the 12-degree cold. There’s small commotion as Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit’s muffled voices emerge from Upstairs.
Cigarette smoke spreads across the crowd, breaking through the air. It’s an apt scent given the circumstances — head coach Curt Cignetti is only one minute and 42 seconds from leading Indiana football to its first national championship.
Each play moves Indiana closer to that reality, but it also moves the University of Miami closer to the endzone. Three successive chunk passes bring the Hurricanes into Hoosiers territory.
Cigarettes still chop through the cold air, but so does nervous energy from the fans. Small groups huddle around phones presenting the contest. Some look down in a tight circle; others lift the phone over their heads for all to see. More fans sprinkle in from the north and south sides of Kirkwood, hoping to celebrate a national championship.
Cignetti calls a timeout. The fans take a second to collectively breathe, still visible through the air.
Less than a minute passes. Out of nowhere, a group of five men burst into cheers. Their broadcast is ahead. The crowd hears but doesn’t respond. It’s too good to be true.
A couple seconds pass. Then the celebration spreads to the rest of the crowd.
It’s an interception by Indiana redshirt junior Jamari Sharpe.
Pandemonium ensues. Fans hug each other on the street. Others flood the open deck at Upstairs, shouting to the ones below. The flashlights of phones illuminate Kirkwood, a considerable group of the Hoosier faithful that quickly expands as more fans flood in.
Fireworks burst in the distance. Fans sprint through the street. Some climb on street signs and light posts. Screams and laughter ring across Kirkwood.
It’s an Indiana national championship.
-Mateo Fuentes-Rohwer
10:38 p.m. inside Assembly Hall
Assembly Hall watches in anticipation as the Hoosiers drive in the middle of the fourth quarter. Cignetti goes for it on fourth down, Mendoza throwing a fade route to wide receiver Charlie Becker who came down with the ball for a first down.
Suspense builds as Curt Cignetti calls a timeout to consider going for it on fourth down, and as the offense trots back onto the field, the crowd cheers.
Mendoza drops back, plants a foot in the ground, and decides to run. The crowd at Assembly Hall urges him on as he ducks through the line and weaves defenders, and the volume pops when he breaks a tackle and tumbles into the endzone with a leap.
It’s the loudest the crowd has been so far.
The Hoosiers went two for two on fourth downs on the same drive after not going for it all playoffs.
- Jack Davis and Ian Collier
10:11 p.m. inside Assembly Hall
The Hoosiers have a knack for blocking punts, and when IU needed it most they delivered. Redshirt senior defensive lineman Mikail Kamara blocked the punt and redshirt junior linebacker Isaiah Jones picked it up in the end zone for the touchdown, allowing Assembly Hall to breathe for the first time in five minutes.
After a couple empty offensive possessions, it was the spark IU needed. The crowd erupts as the Hoosiers go up two scores.
-Jack Davis and Ian Collier
9:59 p.m. inside Assembly Hall
The crowd, which temporarily quieted after the early third-quarter Miami touchdown run, rises and waves white towels, the sign for a rally.
The volume multiplies. Right before it seems to reach its peak, Miami senior quarterback Carson Beck drops back to pass on third down. The crowd, on its feet, quiets intently.
Miami’s pass is incomplete and as soon as it hits the ground, the crowd erupts again.
It settles, pleased, and waits for another chance to roar.
-Jack Davis and Ian Collier
9:18 p.m. at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater
Don Pratt had a simple reason for choosing to watch the College Football Playoff National Championship game from the Buskirk-Chumley Theater instead of more popular bars or restaurants across Bloomington.
“I can’t drink long enough to sit in a bar,” he says.
He and his wife, Michelle, were among the roughly 100 people scattered across the theater during the final minutes of the game’s second quarter. While some sat in groups, quietly whispering to each other, a few sat alone, eating complimentary popcorn and treating the game like any other movie viewing. The theater is dark, except for the light illuminating from the 16-by-9 foot screen.
Jeanie Cox met Michelle and Don for the first time tonight at the watch party. Cox is used to watching Indiana football games from Memorial Stadium; she plays in the Southern Indiana Pipes and Drums band, which goes around the tailgate fields to perform on game days. However, she said Monday’s viewing was a fun way to celebrate and meet new people.
"And besides, it’s so damn cold outside,” Cox says.
Despite the hushed environment, the group still cheered and clapped after a missed University of Miami field goal with 33 seconds left in the second quarter. They laughed and murmured in agreement as head coach Curt Cignetti criticized the referees for failing to call fouls.
“What’s not to love?” Michelle says. “It’s a great story. It’s a great school.”
-Mia Hilkowitz
8:59 pm inside Assembly Hall
Sophomore Charlie Becker powered his way into the endzone but he stepped out of bounds by the five-yard line. Officials called it back upon review.
“If we score here, I’m going to go insane,” Andrew Bailey says.
The next play, they do, and he does.
As redshirt senior tight end Riley Nowakowski plunges into the endzone, Bailey screams and slaps his towel against the rail in front of him.
He turns to the crowd behind him and shakes hands in triumph as others feed off his energy.
“It’s beautiful! It’s amazing! It’s magic,” he yells.
He turns his head upward and howls like an animal, his Bison helmet still intact.
How many people have stopped to talk to him about the helmet? Over 50, he says.
“Why do you think I got here so early?” he said.
He hasn’t sat down yet.
-Jack Davis and Ian Collier
8:48 p.m. outside the Upstairs Pub
Kirkwood Avenue itself is quieter now that the action is fully underway. Besides the occasional clutch of fans making late appearances to bars, police cars are parked throughout the Kirkwood Avenue and Dunn Street intersection.
Still, stragglers attempt to make their way into the Upstairs Pub. The line no longer wraps around Jimmy John’s, but there is still a sizeable group of fans standing out in the cold as the game enters the second quarter.
Upstairs, the floor is packed. Many areas are completely shoulder to shoulder, requiring bar-goers to squeeze past others to navigate the gaggle of patrons. Only in select areas is there breathing space available.
The volume has been turned up several notches, projecting ESPN commentator Kirk Herbstreit’s voice for blocks around. Even louder is the raucous cheer emanating from the crowd as Indiana scores the first touchdown of the game, with the 1-yard touchdown plunge from sixth-year senior tight end Riley Nowakowski resulting in a tidal wave of “Hoo-Hoo-Hoo Hoosiers!” chants.
-Max Schneider
8:20 p.m. on Kirkwood Avenue
Cheers from Kilroy’s on Kirkwood escape the closed windows, followed shortly after by a quick “Hoo-Hoo-Hoo Hoosiers” chant, in response to Indiana redshirt sophomore kicker Nico Radicic’s made field goal. Across the street, claps emanate from the few seated in the outdoor deck at Upstairs Pub.
Kirkwood is mostly empty, barring a few still waiting to enter Upstairs and the couple of cop cars situated on the street.
One fan leaves Kilroy’s with red and white paint spread across his face and a pair of candy-striped overalls. The bars remain packed to the brim.
-Mateo Fuentes-Rohwer
8:19 p.m. inside Assembly Hall
The Hoosiers score first, and the crowd is into it early. Hundreds of white rally towels twirl at every slight turn of the game. The crowd screams to the referees as if their pleading will be heard in Miami.
Only security remains in the halls, apart from a few fans rushing to a quick bathroom break.
Redshirt sophomore kicker Nico Radicic trots onto the field and nails the 34-kick, calming the Indiana faithful for a couple minutes. They yearn for more points, and it’s clear through their yells.
-Jack Davis and Ian Collier
8:08 p.m. inside Indiana Memorial Union
Around 100 fans watch the first quarter inside the Indiana Memorial Union’s Whittenberger Auditorium. Outside the auditorium are free Indiana shirts, popcorn and Hoosier football-themed word searches.
The fans inside cheer after a Hoosier defense third-down stop. They gasp after an Indiana offense near completion. They chant, “Hoo, hoo, hoo, Hoosiers!” after a first down from redshirt junior receiver Omar Cooper Jr.
The drive culminates in an Indiana field goal with just under three minutes left in the quarter, the first points of the contest.
Freshman media student Abram Drlich said seeing the game in this environment is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
“Everyone in the room is very, like, on edge,” Drlich said. “Everyone’s going to go crazy even when Cignetti’s just walking around.”
-Jack Forrest
6:46 pm inside Assembly Hall
Andrew Bailey sits in the first row of the general admission section at Assembly Hall, the closest spot he could get. He has on his bison helmet, which he made himself, equipped with real bison horns. It’s identical to the one Mike Katic, former offensive linemen under Curt Cignetti and current Barstool Sports personality wore on Fox Sports show Wake Up Barstool on Jan.9.
Bailey, brother of former IU offensive linemen Jacob Bailey, has “only really cared about IU football” ever since his brother started playing on the team in 2012, so he was excited to connect with Katic and send him a helmet.
“I was giddy,” Bailey said, “I had the biggest smile on my face.”
Bailey went to the Rose Bowl and the Peach Bowl, but now he sits alone.
“This is the best place to be,” Bailey said. “Other than Miami.”
-Ian Collier
6:33 p.m. inside Assembly Hall
Most fans are in their seats, but work doesn’t stop for the ushers. Guest services representative Kari Nowlin is still guiding stragglers to their sections. She tells the IDS she has never seen Bloomington like this, that it feels like new life has been injected into the town.
Inside the seating bowl, that energy is palpable. Every time Miami quarterback Carson Beck appears on the video board, boos rain down from both sides. When IU redshirt junior quarterback Fernando Mendoza appears, the reaction flips; the crowd screams in excitement.
The game hasn’t started yet, but the building already feels alive, like the fourth quarter is about to begin.
-Jack Davis
Bridget O'Brien paints Kilroy's on Kirkwood on Jan. 19, 2026, in Bloomington. O'Brien, a Master of Fine Arts student, started the impromptu project after she couldn’t get into the bars.
6:31 p.m. on Kirkwood Avenue
At the corner of Kirkwood Avenue and Dunn Street, 28-year-old Bridget O’Brien studies the line forming around Kilroy’s. The master’s of fine arts student paints the scene of the packed bar and bundled-up crowd in front of her, using purples and blues to fill in the now-dark Bloomington sky.
O’Brien and her husband, Jared Busch, 39, started the impromptu project a few hours ago after they couldn’t get into the bars.
“Really, I just wanted to capture the energy of tonight,” O’Brien, whose hands were blue from paint and perhaps the cold, said. “It’s a historic event, and we wanted to participate somehow.”
She wants to finish the painting before kickoff in just under an hour so she can get home to watch the game.
“I’m sure that there will be lots of interesting things happening later tonight,” she said.
- Mia Hilkowitz
6:30 p.m. outside the Upstairs Pub
The air surrounding the Upstairs Pub is fraught with anticipation. From the base of the wooden stairs that lead up to the swathes of red, the line to get inside wraps around Jimmy John’s and continues down Dunn Street.
The Upstairs Pub holds one of many snaking lines for bars on Kirkwood Avenue. Compared to the constant stream of patrons entering line, the rate of those leaving the bar is no faster than the last drops of water that come out of a recently shut faucet.
Still, people remain smiling in line, huddled closely together with hands stuffed into coat pockets to keep the cold out. The chatter floating around is drowned out by the base of the music beats upstairs.
In between songs, the DJ asks the crowd if they think the Hoosiers will win tonight. A loud roar erupts from the upper floor of the sports bar, wearing the confidence of their team on their sleeve and shouting it with the top of their lungs.
-Max Schneider
5:51 p.m. outside the South Lobby of Assembly Hall
Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall opens its doors to the national championship watch party, leading to applause from about a thousand people. As people funnel into Assembly Hall, chants of “Hoo Hoo Hoo Hoosiers!” echo throughout the lobby.
IU alumna Ariana Adams said she and her mom, Rhonda Adams, had been waiting in their car for an hour for the doors to open. They drove to Bloomington from Indianapolis. They’ve been football season ticket holders since 2012.
It’s a sense of optimism mixed with shock. IU fans aren’t used to being in this position with Indiana football, and the feeling is hard to explain for longtime fans like Ariana and Rhonda.
- Jack Davis
5:38 p.m. outside The Upstairs Pub
Senior game design major Malique Blythe is last in line for The Upstairs Pub. For a few minutes anyway.
He got to Kilroy’s on Kirkwood with friends around 6:30 a.m. this morning and spent around four hours there, snagging a few plates of biscuits and gravy and a Kilroy's championship shirt.
Then, he went home for a power nap. He arrived outside Upstairs only a few minutes ago. His friend is DJing at the pub, he said.
Blythe said the line is moving much better than it had that morning. He plans to stay around the area for the game. He might go to Brother’s Bar & Grill, where he said another friend is DJing. He has a deck of cards to play with friends during halftime or timeouts.
He eats a honey bun as he waits in the line wrapped around the corner of Kirkwood Avenue and Dunn Street. By 5:43 p.m., there are at least 15 people waiting behind him. He expects the city to only get wilder as the game starts.
“Win, lose or draw, like, people are going to go crazy,” Blythe said.
-Jack Forrest
1:50 p.m. inside Soma Coffeehouse and Juice Bar
It’s about five and a half hours until the game, but it’s hard to tell inside Soma Coffeehouse and Juice Bar. Instead of bundled-up fans with tents and posters, most of the customers sitting inside have laptops out and are deep in work, taking advantage of the day off from classes for some extra study time.
Though a few fans dressed in cream and crimson straggle in for a hot drink to warm up, it appears to be just another Monday inside the coffee shop. Still, the anticipation of a national championship title has creeped in, as the baristas behind the bar talk about passing the lines of people outside Upstairs Pub on their way to work this morning or how their families keep asking them if they’re excited for the game.
As customers walk up to the bar to pick up their drinks, some stop to look at the “community notebook” propped open in front of the espresso machine. Over the last several hours, customers have taken time to leave kind messages or funny drawings for others to look at. But in the center of the page, written in capital letters, is another reminder of the day’s excitement: “CIG-NATTY.”
-Mia Hilkowitz
11:20 a.m. outside Brothers Bar & Grill on Walnut Avenue
Five bouncers walk outside to check IDs and wave a metal-detector wand. One yells for everyone to step behind the Brothers-branded barriers around the door. Two lines have formed — one to the left, filled with people who waited overnight, and one to the right filled with people using LineSkip, a feature on the LineLeap app that allows people to pay a higher price for faster entry.
As the bouncer motions for people to move behind the barrier, the left line begins to shout “fuck LineSkip.” Though those on the left side will get to go in first, the bouncer says the bar will let in 25 people from each line at a time, alternating between those who paid and those who waited.
Past noon, LineSkip passes are selling for $100, and the cover has jumped from $10 to $50. At 12:35 a.m., LineLeap users are notified their passes will be invalid after 1 p.m. and are encouraged to purchase an afternoon pass for entry into the bar. The line is still wrapped around the block on West Sixth Street.
-Alayna Wilkening
9:18 a.m. on Kirkwood Avenue
The Weeknd’s “Can’t Feel My Face” blasts from speakers outside Kilroy’s on Kirkwood. It’s 12 degrees outside and windy. Kirkwood Avenue and Dunn Street are lined with people bundled under multiple layers of clothes and blankets, several of which have been outside for 12 hours or more.
Lawn chairs, futons, tents and tables line the sidewalks. Groups sip coffee and chat as they wait for doors to open to the Upstairs Pub at 11 a.m. Some worked in shifts the night before, organizing times to go home and rest while others took their spots in line. Others stuck it out the whole night, even forgoing food and drinks to avoid having to use the bathroom.
Around 1 a.m. this morning, a group of seniors and alumni held a sign that read, “U HONK We DRINK,” encouraging passing cars to hit the horn so they could take a sip of coffee or beer. Now, the group sits quietly, the sign out of sight.
IU seniors and alumni urge cars to honk at 12:48 a.m. Jan. 19, 2026, on Dunn Street in Bloomington. The group sipped drinks every time a car honked, and even counted a firetruck’s siren as a honk when it drove near them down Fourth Street.
Last night was cold, but this morning is colder. Most of the chatter throughout the line often circles back into talking about how cold it is.
“I imagine this is how the people felt when they were in the water when the Titanic sank,” IU senior William Holtgreive told the Indiana Daily Student.
Holtgreive and his friends were some of the first in line to Upstairs. They planned to arrive around 3 a.m. but rushed to get there by 9 p.m. Sunday night when they heard people were already lining up. Equipped with a small black futon, they set up camp outside Jimmy John’s, located underneath Upstairs, and hunkered down for the night. They’ll drop off the couch at home right before the doors open.
Outside Nick’s English Hut, spilled drinks lie in frozen slush on the sidewalk. People jump or dance in line, trying to stay warm. Though most are dressed in about three layers, hands and feet are incurably cold. A group toward the front of the line left to grab more socks at around 1 a.m. that morning but said it still wasn’t enough to beat the wind this morning.
“I stood up and forgot I had legs,” senior Josh Zvi said.
At Brothers on Walnut Avenue, the line wraps around to reach halfway down West Sixth Street. The line was shorter early this morning, but now crowds have grown as it creeps closer to 11 a.m. It’s more of the same along Walnut: empty cans and cups, blankets, tents, card games and cold people, visible only through small gaps between scarves and hats.
The sun is out, but it doesn’t feel like it. Still, spirits are high as people enter the final few hours before the bars open. It’ll be eight and a half more hours until kickoff, but it’s a welcomed change after 12 hours outside.
-Alayna Wilkening
