Carson Beck was able to avoid the question as well as he was able to sidestep any Ohio State pass rush when he was asked on ESPN which team he would prefer to play in the College Football Playoff semifinals, Ole Miss or Georgia.
The obvious answer is Georgia, where Beck was the starting quarterback in the 2023 and ’24 seasons.
Beck isn’t there anymore, and on Wednesday in Arlington, Texas, he led No. 10 seed Miami to a 24-14 upset of No. 2 Ohio State in a CFP semifinal game at the Cotton Bowl.
“When you look at the College Football Playoff bracket when it came out, it’s hard not to look forward to the games,” he said. “You see the two teams that we could end up playing, and I’m super excited for this team and the opportunity to play in the semifinals, and whichever team is able to win that game (on Thursday between Ole Miss and Georgia), we’ll go on and prepare and we’ll make the most of it.”
A perfect non-bulletin board answer, much like the near-perfect first half that staked the Hurricanes to a 14-0 halftime lead against the defending national champion Buckeyes.
“We still have a long ways to go, but certainly a lot of progress in the last couple of I’d say, the last five, six games or so, and looking forward to getting better and having an opportunity here in about a week,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal said.
The Hurricanes (12-2) overcame a home loss to Louisville and an overtime defeat at SMU to be selected to the CFP for the first time despite criticism they didn’t belong.
Now, they’ll get an opportunity to improve on their 6-0 record against ranked opponents this season. They will learn the identity of their next foe when the No. 3 Bulldogs and No. 6 Rebels meet on New Year’s Day in the Sugar Bowl at New Orleans.
“I’m so grateful and so thankful for this team, my teammates, the coaches,” Beck said. “The way that we’ve persevered and fought through adversity this entire year, nothing has been easy about this year. You know, we’ve been doubted, we’ve been counted out countless times and time again. We come back and we fight and we push and we work and we just get it done when it matters.”
The Hurricanes took the two-touchdown lead on the strength of a 9-yard scoring catch by Mark Fletcher Jr. and a 72-yard pick-6 by Keionte Scott. Fletcher also ran for 90 yards in the game.
Beck finished 19 of 26 for 138 yards and a TD.
In the two years of the CFP 12-team playoff, all five teams to receive first-round byes have lost. Miami defeated Texas A&M 10-3 in College Station, Texas, in a first-round game on Dec. 20. The Buckeyes had last played Dec. 6, when they fell 13-10 to Indiana in the Big Ten championship game.
“I felt like it took us awhile to get into the rhythm of the game,” Ohio State coach Ryn Day said. “I thought we did (that) coming out of the second half, and by then it was going to take a very, very efficient second half to win the game, being down 14-nothing.
“And when you have a start the way that we did, you put yourself at risk of having to be, really, darn near perfect in the second half to go win the game. So, we put ourselves behind the eight ball.”
The Buckeyes (12-2) cut the deficit to 14-7 midway through the third quarter on a 1-yard run by Bo Jackson to cap an 11-play, 82-yard drive, but Carter Davis nailed a 49-yard field goal to make it 17-7 with 3:01 to go in the third.
A Jeremiah Smith 14-yard TD catch on a pass from Julian Sayin made it 17-14 with 13:28 to go. However, the Hurricanes marched 70 yards to wrap it up when CharMar Brown ran in from the 5 with 55 seconds left.
Sayin completed 22 of 35 passes for 287 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions while Smith made seven catches for 157 yards.
“We just started executing better the second half,” Sayin said. “But ultimately, it wasn’t good enough. Didn’t put enough up enough points, and it starts with me.”
–Field Level Media
