Carson Beck passed for 138 yards and a touchdown as No. 10 seed Miami beat No. 2 seed and defending champion Ohio State 24-14 in a College Football Playoff quarterfinal at the Cotton Bowl in Arlington, Texas, on Wednesday.
Miami (12-2) will face either No. 3 Georgia (12-1) or No. 6 Ole Miss (12-1) in the semifinals at the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 8 in Glendale, Arizona. The Bulldogs and Rebels will meet Thursday at the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans.
In both years of the 12-team CFP playoffs, all five teams that received a first-round bye lost.
The Hurricanes stunned the Buckeyes (12-2) with a 14-0 halftime lead thanks to a 9-yard touchdown run by Mark Fletcher Jr. and a 72-yard pick-6 by Keionte Scott. Fletcher also ran for 90 yards in the game.
It was a dominant first quarter for the Hurricanes, even though neither team scored. Miami totaled 110 yards (56 rushing, 54 passing) compared to 9 yards for Ohio State, including minus-1 yard on the ground.
The Hurricanes finally broke through with an 83-yard drive that used 13 plays and consumed 8:04 to make the score 7-0 less than two minutes into the second quarter on Fletcher’s catch.
Scott then read a screen pass perfectly and went the distance to double the margin.
The Buckeyes cut the deficit to 14-7 midway through the third quarter on a 1-yard run by Bo Jackson after an 11-play, 82-yard drive, but Carter Davis made a 49-yard field goal to make it 17-7 with 3:01 left in the third.
A 14-yard touchdown run by Jeremiah Smith off a pass from Julian Sayin made it 17-14 with 13:28 to play. However, the Hurricanes drove 70 yards to close it out when CharMar Brown came in from the 5 with 55 seconds left.
Sayin completed 22 of 35 passes for 287 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions while Smith had seven catches for 157 yards.
–Field level media
