Lil Uzi Vert has been dubbed “Lil Hoozi Vert” following their appearance at the 2026 College Football Playoff National Championship game on Monday (Jan. 19).
For those unfamiliar with matters of footballery, here’s a quick rundown: the Indiana Hoosiers played the Miami Hurricanes in the latter’s hometown on Monday, with the Hoosiers ultimately coming out on top with a 27-21 win.
In an interview with Lucas Brody for Broadcast Boys in December, Hoosiers quarterback (and Heisman winner) Fernando Mendoza vowed to make sure Uzi was in attendance should his team ultimately make it to the championship.
“Lil Uzi Vert, if we make the national championship in Miami, this is a formal invitation,” Mendoza said at the time. “I don’t have extra tickets because it’s gonna be in Miami, but I will find some way and somehow to invite you.”
Fast forward to January, and Uzi, fresh off rolling out several new singles as part of their new chapter as a Roc Nation Distribution artist, was indeed on hand for the big game.
“It’s like a dream that I didn’t have, and then I had it,” Uzi told Joe Cronin during an on-the-field interview on Monday. “Then it became true. So it was my dream before my dream even happened. Shout out Mendoza.”
Uzi was joined in Miami by JT, with the Eternal Atake artist telling Overtime that while they were pulling for the Hoosiers at Monday’s game, she was rooting for her hometown team.
“What You Saying,” one of several new Uzi tracks to be released in recent months, is currently sitting at No. 14 on the Hot 100 chart. When rolling out the song’s official video in December, Uzi—ranked by Complex as one of the best-dressed rappers of the 21st century—told fans “this is just the beginning.”