ARLINGTON, Texas — When Miami left Texas after an overtime loss to SMU at the start of November, the Hurricanes were at their lowest point of the season. There was a very dim forecast for getting into the College Football Playoff.
By New Year’s Day, after a Texas two-step in the playoff, the 10th-ranked Hurricanes (12-2, CFP No. 10 seed) were a win away from a chance to play for a national championship in their home stadium.
“It means everything to this team,” quarterback Carson Beck said. “This team has constantly battled through adversity, constantly fought. ... We’ve banded together as one. We’ve shown unity. We’ve shown connection. We’ve shown that we’re a family.”
They also have proven to be well-deserving of that at-large CFP berth they got without an Atlantic Coast Conference title. Miami made its playoff debut with a first-round win at No. 7 Texas A&M, then was back in the Lone Star State 11 days later to beat defending national champion Ohio State 24-14 with a penalty in the Cotton Bowl quarterfinal on New Year's Eve.
The Hurricanes play a CFP semifinal at the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 8 against Georgia or Ole Miss, the SEC teams in the Sugar Bowl quarterfinal Thursday night. Beck was part of back-to-back national titles with the Bulldogs in 2021 and '22 before he was a starter. The national championship game is Jan. 19 at Hard Rock Stadium.
Miami has won six games in a row since that 26-20 setback at SMU on Nov. 1, which was its second loss in three games after a 5-0 start propelled it to a No. 2 AP ranking that was its highest since 2017.
“It was a low point. And we quickly, we got together because we have really good people, and we work really, really, really hard. And we weren’t achieving the results that we set out to have, and that’s difficult. That’s a punch in the gut,” Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal said. “Y'all saw the 5% chance we had to make the CFP. (Players) saw it."
A convoluted tiebreaker left Miami out of the ACC championship game while five-loss Duke became the league champion and then was left out of the 12-team playoff field when higher-ranked Group of Five champions Tulane and James Madison got automatic berths.
Keionte Scott, a transfer from Auburn, returned an interception 72 yards for a touchdown to give Miami a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter of the Cotton Bowl.
“I could just tell, when I first got here, the program was just very serious about what they were trying to get done. You could tell everybody in the room had their eyes on one goal,” Scott said. “I feel like Coach Cristobal does a good job of keeping us focused and keeping us on task. ... We’re never satisfied.”
Past champions
The last national title for “The U” was in 2001, which was their fifth; Cristobal was a standout offensive tackle for the Hurricanes in their 1989 and 1991 championship seasons. The Hurricanes were denied a repeat championship in 2002 with a double-overtime loss to Ohio State in their last Fiesta Bowl appearance.
Before receiver Michael Irvin and coach Jimmy Johnson were Super Bowl champions with the Dallas Cowboys, the Pro Football Hall of Famers won the 1987 national title with Miami. Irvin also played a role in getting Cristobal to become a Hurricane nearly 40 years ago; he was one of the recruiting hosts on Cristobal’s official visit.
Irvin was on the sideline during the Cotton Bowl and Johnson was nearby when Cristobal acknowledged the coach during the on-field trophy presentation.
“He changed our lives, my brother and I. We were still kind of a nobody. ... He offered my brother and I scholarships. My parents, may they rest in peace, they didn’t even know what a scholarship was. They’re Cuban-Americans that came over and found a way and tried to make a living," Cristobal said. “Fast forward, almost 40 years later, and he’s out there on the sidelines supporting us. He set such a high standard. ... Really proud that this team is making him proud.”
Beck against the Bulldogs?
Georgia went undefeated in the 2023 regular season after Beck became the starter but was left out of the final four-team playoff after losing to Alabama in the SEC championship game. The Bulldogs were SEC champs last season, but Beck suffered an elbow injury in the title game that required surgery and missed their playoff game before he transferred to Miami.
He was certainly aware of the possibility of facing Georgia when the playoff bracket came out last month.
“It’s hard not to think of hypotheticals, right? You look at the bracket and how it’s panned out, and you say, oh, we might play them,” said Beck, who is 36-5 as an FBS starter.
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