Carson Beck scrambled for a three-yard touchdown with 18 seconds left, and Miami will head back home for a shot at their first national championship since 2001 after beating Mississippi 31-27 in an exhilarating College Football Playoff semi-final at the Fiesta Bowl on Thursday night.
“We never flinched,” said Beck, who threw for 268 yards and two touchdowns with an interception. “In the face of adversity, when we had to respond, we responded.”
The 10th-ranked Hurricanes (13-2) didn’t play in the Atlantic Coast Conference title game and were a somewhat controversial CFP pick – at least outside of South Florida – yet proved they belong. They will face either top-ranked Indiana or No 5 Oregon in the national title game on 19 January.
Miami held Texas A&M and reigning national champion Ohio State to a combined 17 points to reach the CFP semi-finals. Then the Hurricanes shut down the high-scoring Rebels (13-2) for three quarters in the desert before pulling it out in a wild fourth.
Malachi Toney, hero of Miami’s opening CFP win over Texas A&M, turned a screen pass into a 36-yard touchdown that put the Hurricanes up 24-19.
Trinidad Chambliss, a year removed from winning a Division II title at Ferris State, led the Rebels down the field and found Dae’Quan Wright for a 24-yard touchdown with 3:13 left.
Then it was Beck’s turn.
He won a national title as a backup at Georgia before two productive seasons as the Bulldogs’ starter. Beck kept the Hurricanes calm amid the storm, leading them down the field for the winning score – and a shot at a national title on their home field at Hard Rock Stadium. Beck is 37-5 as a starter, including two seasons at Georgia.
“He’s hungry, he’s driven, he’s a great human being, and all he wants to do is to see his teammates have success,” said Mario Cristobal, in his fourth season coaching his alma mater. “And that’s what we witnessed tonight.”
Chambliss completed two passes to get Ole Miss to the Miami 35 with six seconds left, but his heave to the end zone fell incomplete as time expired.
The sixth-seeded Rebels lost their coach before the playoff, but not their cool.
Malachi Toney of the Miami Hurricanes carries the ball after a reception for a touchdown against the Ole Miss Rebels in the fourth quarter of Thursday’s game. Photograph: Christian Petersen/Getty Images
If anything, Lane Kiffin’s decision to bolt for LSU seemed to harden Ole Miss’ resolve, pushing the Rebels to the best season in school history – and within a game of their first national championship game.
Ole Miss took the lead on Lucas Caneiro’s fourth field goal, from 21 yards, and seemed poised to continue its improbable run with Chambliss’ TD pass to Wright.
The Rebels couldn’t hold back the Hurricanes on their final drive, but what a run it was.
With Pete Golding calling the shots after being promoted from defensive coordinator to head coach, and most of the assistants sticking around, the Rebels blew out Tulane to open the playoff and took down mighty Georgia in the CFP quarterfinals.
They faced a different kind of storm in the Hurricanes.
Miami has rekindled memories of its 2001 national championship team behind a defense that went from porous to nearly impenetrable in its first season under coordinator Corey Hetherman.
The Hurricanes walled up early in the Fiesta Bowl, holding Ole Miss to minus-1 yard.
One play revved up the Rebels and their rowdy fans.
Kewan Lacy, the nation’s third-leading rusher, burst through a hole up the middle for a 73-yard touchdown run on the first play of the second quarter – the longest run allowed by Miami’s defense since 2018.
The Hurricanes seemed content to grind away at the Rebels in small chunks offensively, setting up CharMar Brown’s four-yard touchdown run and a field goal.
Miami unlocked the deep game just before halftime, taking advantage of a busted coverage for a 52-yard touchdown pass from Beck to Keelan Marion.
