Mark Fletcher is ready to move forward, but CFP loss to Indiana still weighs heavy on him

You could see the pain in Mark Fletcher's face as the words came out of his mouth. The senior running back knew he was going to have to answer a question about last season's loss to Indiana in the CFP Championship game, and he was ready for it. But that doesn't mean it was any less painful to say.

Fletcher joined quarterback Darian Mensah and linebacker Mo Toure as the player representatives for the Miami Hurricanes during the conference's annual meeting before the start of training camp, and he explained the difficult lessons he learned from that 27-21 loss to the Hoosiers. 

"Definitely that all the little things matter. It takes an entire team to reach that end goal. It can't be just one side, it's got to be everybody," Fletcher said. "Everybody has a role and everybody has to do 110%, they have to give 110% effort in their role."

Mark Fletcher reflects on last year's crushing loss in the CFP Championship

Fletcher had a solid game, rushing for 112 yards on 17 carries with two touchdowns, his third 100-yard rushing game in the playoffs. His 57-yard touchdown run in the third quarter got the Hurricanes on the board and back in the game after a lackluster first half. But Miami was chasing the game and never caught up despite cutting the Indiana lead to three on multiple occasions. The big mistake came midway through the third quarter when the Hoosiers blocked a punt and recovered the ball in the end zone to take a 17-7 lead and erase all the momentum Miami had after Fletcher's first touchdown run. 

"Man, all the things matter. Special teams matter. You got to be locked in on things like that," Fletcher added.

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Up until that point, Miami had made all the right moves in the playoffs. When the game was on the line against Texas A&M, Bryce Fitzgerald made the game-sealing interception. In the Cotton Bowl against Ohio State, Marty Brown came off the bench to score the touchdown to close out the game and in the semifinal at the Fiesta Bowl, Carson Beck scored the game-winning touchdown on a keeper to deny Ole Miss. 

But the magic wasn't there against Indiana. Fletcher and Malachi Toney had big games and kept Miami close, but the Hurricanes couldn't convert third downs (3-of-11) and Beck threw an interception with time running out. Miami did all the little things to get to the championship and couldn't do any of them to win it. 

That's what Fletcher wants to change. As one of the senior leaders, he is taking it upon himself to make sure that every member of the 2026 Hurricanes stays locked in and ready to do the things that will be the difference between winning and losing. 

"We can take a lot of good things to help us. All the bad things, we got to continue to learn from them," he said. "I'm going to continue to emphasize that message: stay where our feet at, let's dominate this team tomorrow, let's dominate fall camp,"

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