The Miami Hurricanes made history in a wind-defined College Football Playoffs opener at Kyle Field, upsetting the Texas A&M Aggies in a 10-3 defensive dogfight, where the road team bowed up in the final minutes with a monster offensive drive and an equally as impressive defensive stand.
The victory puts Miami in the ‘elite eight’ of college football this season, while a showdown with second-ranked Ohio State now looms—the Canes and Buckeyes set to tee it off on New Year’s Eve at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas for a spot in the quarterfinals.
Before elaborating any further, one would be remised to not marinate on those two previous sentiments—as there’s not a Miami fan on this planet who should take a minute of this ride for granted; not after the past two decades this program has suffered through.
It’s lazy to nitpick some of the offensive play calling and the fact that the Hurricanes found themselves in a 3-3 ball game late fourth quarter in College Station—because in the end, it was Miami that rose to the challenge while Texas A&M wilted on the main stage.
Miami had been living in post-season mode since a November 1st overtime loss at SMU—win-or-go-home time weekly for the Hurricanes, as another loss would’ve ended any dreams of a CPF berth—so with a revamped offense and lock-down defense, it was take-care-of-business mode and the Canes ultimately nabbed that final, coveted at-large spot over the Fighting Irish.
Another holiday miracle that deserves celebration in itself, as anybody who has watched this sport over the last several decades, could you ever imagine a word where there were two empty chairs at the table—Miami, Alabama and Notre Dame looking for a seat—and the Canes were getting the nod over the Fighting Irish after the Crimson Tide was already in?
Miami has been on the wrong end of this rigged, political game for too long—but this time wound up the beneficiary of logic, reason, stats and public pressure—as head-to-head became everything when the Canes and Irish both wrapped the regular season at 10-2 and Miami had a few more-convincing wins over common opponents.
MIAMI CHANGED EVERYTHING BY WINNING OUT
Selection Sunday punched the Canes’ ticket to the big dance—and nobody had a harder opening challenge than No. 10 Miami rolling into Kyle Field to take on No. 7 Texas A&M in front of 104,122 rabid fans; the Aggies still jaded from losing to rival Texas as the third-ranked team in the land and still 11-0 a few weeks back—feeling slighted they’d fallen so far after looking like a shoo-in for a first round bye and SEC Championship game appearance.
Big, physical and sitting undefeated and near the top of the rankings up through rivalry weekend—this had the potential of a one-and-done for Miami; a loss immediately shifting the narrative to the Hurricanes not belonging and and off-season full of noise from rivals hyping the quick playoffs exit.
Instead, it was Miami who flexed; the Canes bending but not breaking, while making fewer mistakes and fast being able to put any setbacks behind them—hanging tough and finding a way to win in the end.
Mario Cristobal had his team prepared—while the victory itself was such a monkey off the fourth-year head coach’s back.
This staff and these players absolutely believe; but were also painfully aware that they had a mountain to climb walking into a beast of an SEC stadium with a rabid crowd—while the Cotton Bowl and Fiesta Bowl are both neutral sites and indoor tracks that won’t have the same elements as East Texas on a windy Saturday morning in December.
If the Canes could survive College Station and sky would be the limit; but with a face-plant, it’d set up an offseason full of questions about what could’ve happened had Miami endured that monster road challenge.
Corey Hetherman called a masterclass of a game on defense, while Shannon Dawson is taking some guff for his offensive strategizing—which realistically deserves to be treated as a one-off, as Texas A&M in the wind and the weight of that inaugural College Football Playoff game against an SEC power can’t be diminished.
Dawson was last in the crosshairs during that three-game stretch against Louisville, Stanford and SMU—a predictable run game keeping Miami behind the sticks on third downs, putting Carson Beck in obvious passing situations defenses were snuffing out.
Over that final month of ball, Dawson found another gear—working Gerald Pringle into the rushing attack, as well as opening things up for Malachi Toney as a triple-threat; now running reverses and lining up in the wildcat where he started throwing the ball.
The bag plays were on full display, Miami’s offense was having fun out there, points were getting racked up and that four-game win-streak paved the way to the playoffs—but credit to Dawson and Cristobal for understanding the assignment; that the Texas A&M defense was a far cry from what was faced down the stretch against Syracuse, North Carolina State, Virginia Tech or Pittsburgh.
No, the game plan rightfully went back to what Miami brought against Notre Dame in the opener; where trench warfare, solid defense and a strong ground game were the blueprint for success—Dawson’s only mistake being any tendency to go towards the brand of offense football that fans clamored for and finally got in November.
RAISING CANE IN COLLEGE STATION
Miami looked ready to commit to the run in a 3-3 ball game halfway through the fourth quarter; Mark Fletcher ready to take over—tearing off a 16-yard run getting the Canes close to midfield—when Beck went to Toney for what looked to be another quick first down, before the freshman got tag-teamed on a tackle and had the ball stripped.
Texas A&M had already seen Marcel Reed stripped of the day, while the quarterback had already sent an interception into the bread-basket of Bryce Fitzgerald early third quarter—neither turnover netting points for Miami, but this cough-up by Toney felt like a dangerous momentum-shifter with 7:11 on the clock and the Aggies just outside of field goal distance.
One can imagine the inner monologue of Dawson at that moment; a promise that if the defense held once again, he would go back to basic on offense, riding Fletcher to victory—all parties understanding the assignment; Rueben Bain with two sacks on the five-play, 12-yard possession—Miami taking over on their own 14-yard line with 3:50 left on the clock.
Dawson saw something he liked running of the pistol and trusting receivers and linemen to get their blocks, the ball back in Fletcher’s hands on first down—where the veteran back tore off a career-high 56-yard run to flip the entire offensive performance on its ear—carrying the next five plays for total of 29 yards, bleeding Texas A&M of their remaining timeouts.
A pivotal 3rd-and-5 from the Aggies’ 11-yard line and 1:50 on the clock, Dawson put the ball back on Toney’s hands on a sweep that for a touchdown, giving Miami a 10-3 lead and Texas A&M one final crack at forcing overtime—a logical exclamation point on a day Carter Davis missed three of four field goal attempts; the firmly in his head and Canes’ coaches trusting a defensive stand more than they did a last-second kick to escape 6-3.
Gritty and magical as Miami’s final offensive possession played out, a defensive stand for the ages capped after Texas A&M marched 70 yards on seven plays—a bonus 15 yards on a bogus late hit on Reed was called—the Aggies with three shots from the five-yard line after a big 14-yard gain by KC Conception set up a first down with :39 left on the lock.
One has to believe both team’s lives were flashing before their eyes—replaying all the near misses and mistakes the previous 59 minutes rendered meaningless—Miami able to close-put with a stop, just as easily as Texas A&M had three shots to get five yards to force overtime.
Reed to Mario Craver in the back of the end zone on first down; the receiver defended well be Keionte Scott—the ball caught with one foot out of bounds.
Next up; Reed tried to thread it to Rueben Owens at the goal line—Mohamed Toure the living example of sacrificing one’s body on a play as the linebacker steamrolled the running back and popped the ball loose with a car-crash of a hit—play stopped momentarily as Toure was down, not moving and wrecked on that game-saving play.
Third try not the charm; Reed looking for Theo Melin Öhrström in the back of the end zone—a little late on the throw to his tight end—allowing the perfectly-positioned ball-hawk Fitzgerald to pull it down to shut the door on any comeback.
For any who didn’t understand or appreciate the magnitude of the moment; look no further than the usually buttoned-up demeanor of Cristobal in his post-game on-field interview; the weight of the world seemingly off the fourth-year head coach’s shoulders momentarily—fully realizing the magnitude of the moment as Miami survived and advanced.
Looking ahead and dreaming big both go against the one-at-a-time mentality this program has lived on all season—but there was sort of this unspoken sense that if Miami could find a way to endure Kyle Field and an SEC powerhouse program on the road—that it’d be a different ballgame in the next round for a neutral site, indoor bowl game.
There was also big temptation in looking ahead to Ohio State when seeing the Buckeyes as the two-seed on this side of the bracket, as there truly is no other team in this College Football Playoffs that Miami had circled and wanted to face.
‘THE U’ : BUILDING BACK TO THIS MOMENT FOR YEARS
Fans and critics can downplay the fact that the 2003 Fiesta Bowl is over two decades in the rearview and that damn-near every player on this roster wasn’t alive when the Hurricanes lost a controversial title game to the Buckeyes in overtime; the end of a 34-game win-streak and Miami’s bid for back-to-back BCS national championships.
Ancient history aside, fact remains this game is still alive away in Hurricanes’ folklore—and if Ohio State is taking credit for ending Miami’s dynasty that night—neither the Buckeyes, or average college football fans should be surprised at what this match-up means to ‘The U’.
Yes, Ohio State has been in the mix often since that ill-fated night for Miami at Sun Devil Stadium—winning national championships in 2014 and 2024—while the Hurricanes’ backslid for decades, thanks to a liberal university president with a kill-what-you-eat approach to athletics; refusing to fund football, which resulted in a revolving door of second-rate head coaches and a 7-5 annual average between 2006 and 2021.
It’s a drought Miami never went through since becoming a college football powerhouse in the early 1980s.
Every fan who lived through that 58-home game win-streak, four national titles over a nine-year span and watching the Hurricanes absolutely reinvent the sport—that probation run in the mid-to-late ’90s was five years of pure hell and just unimaginable for a program that sat atop the sport for over a decade prior.
Miami clawed back between 1995 and 1999, bottoming out in 1997 with a 5-6 run and 47-0 road loss to No. 1 Florida State—but even this became part of the history outsiders learned of in the two 30-For-30 docs on the Canes; this was the era where an Edgerrin James signed on to help bring the program back—where an Ed Reed later talked about that brutal showdown in Tallahassee as a turning point that started the comeback.
By 2000, the Canes were the best team in college football again—knocking off No. 1 Florida State and No. 2 Virginia Tech—yet snubbed out of a title game shot, before fielding the best team in college football history and winning it all in 2001 and riding that 12 games into 2002 before losing the bowl game to Ohio State.
The bottom didn’t fall out overnight, but Larry Coker and that 35-3 run those first three years—a national championship, two title game appearances and three straight BCS games; it was wheels off and a 25-12 run the next three when he couldn’t recruit and develop at the same level Butch Davis did; Coker going 7-6 in 2006 and canned after six seasons.
Miami never found its footing again and has dealt with its share of false-hope since; a few fools gold seasons under Randy Shannon and Al Golden that looked promising early, only to crash and burn late—while Mark Richt had his everything-go-right run in 2017, where the Canes started 10-0 and rose to No. 2 in the rankings, before losing its final three—including an ACC title game to Clemson and an Orange Bowl to Wisconsin.
Don’t let the critics and haters gaslight regarding the Manny Diaz era—memes and social media posts this season about him winning a conference title at Duke this year before Cristobal accomplished the same with Miami.
It was a fraudulent t 21-15 run for Diaz in his three years at Miami—complete with his 2019 loss to Florida International on the old site of the Orange Bowl—right up through that 2-4 start in 2021; the Canes starting Diaz’s final season getting smashed by No. 1 Alabama, 44-13 as players still wore stupid Touchdown Rings and a Turnover Chain despite being run out of the stadium by the second quarter.
Fans hated hearing talk about “culture” early in the Cristobal era; understandable as there really is no silver lining when after years of irrelevance and wanting to believe that it could be plug-and-play with a better coach at the helm.
As fate would have it, Cristobal’s first loss as Miami’s head coach? Falling 17-9 to Texas A&M in a night game at Kyle Field.
A week later, Middle Tennessee embarrassed the Hurricanes—fueled by a broken beyond repair quarterback that had become a turnover machine. Florida State got Miami, 45-3 later in that year when a back-up quarterback proved infinitely worse than the inures starter—and for good measure losses to Clemson and Pittsburgh closed out that 5-7 run; a 1-3 record in November which also fed into the late season skid stigma that followed Cristobal his first three seasons in Coral Gables.
Year two started with some promise—including an upset of No. 23 Texas A&M at HardRock in week two—but a 4-0 start fast went down the drain after the infamous non-kneel and late collapse after a spirited comeback against Georgia Tech.
Miami dropped four of five down the stretch—another November collapse—and a 7-6 run that left Cristobal at 12-13 after two seasons at his alma mater.
CRISTOBAL’S CULTURE COMES TO FRUITION
The old adage that it’s always darkest before the light; Cristobal’s first two years were nothing short of a rebuilding nightmare—nowhere near the paint and patch work fans hoped it’d be; this program needed to be torn down to the studs and rebuilt the right way.
Looking back at that Davis era and those future stars who showed up to be part of something special—same can be said for cornerstone pieces like Rueben Bain and Francis Mauigoa anchoring both of those lines.
This duo, as well as Fletcher at running back also in that class; the leadership, the process, the standard that was set—it’s been a minute since Miami has seen these type of players coming into the program when it was down and out—only to see the Canes on the up and up as Bain and Mauigoa are first round NFL Draft picks next spring.
Cam Ward was the story for 2024; serving a reminder that Miami tends to go as far as its quarterback takes them—but there’s also a ceiling when the Canes are that bad on defense; where 9-0 fast became 10-2—conference title dreams and a CFP birth both fast down the drain after a 21-0 lead was blown at Syracuse.
Part of what has made this 2025 run so special; more than just the revamped defense and freshmen sensations on both sides of the ball—the fact that Miami was able to improve within these razor-thin margins; winning big early, dropping a few late and then turning things up a notch for a November to remember; the Canes pulling together to go 4-0 down the stretch as ever week was playoffs-like with a win-or-go-home energy.
Closing strong and overcoming adversity as a team—while coaches proved adaptable on the fly and were able to right this ship in early November; that can’t be discounted.
The biggest reason the College Football Playoff, ESPN’s talking heads, Notre Dame, or anyone else letting the final month of football work out its kinks? A full-fledged belief that Miami was going to face-plant somewhere down the stretch, finishing 9-3 or 8-4.
It’s honestly why committee mouthpieces and other commentators didn’t bother working through a logical reason the Irish were ahead of the Canes in the rankings—because they all expected a Miami loss to clean up their messy situation.
There’s something that builds internally when odds are defied and we prove our critics wrong; especially in the context of team sports—and in Miami’s case, this current batch of players paying for the sins of past Hurricanes.
IT’S BACK TO ‘US AGAINST THE WORLD’
“The U” will forever be a villain in this sport. The critics and pundits will theoretically talk about how the game is better when Miami is in the mix—but they’re the first to tear the Canes down when they’re winning big and finally stumble.
Miami losing to Louisville by a field goal, or to SMU in overtime—in a ridiculously-officiated game—the outside noise was palpable and it was almost as if that 5-0 start, the No. 2 ranking and praised heaped on the Canes by the band-wagoners never happened.
While other programs across the college football landscape this were the beneficiaries of the “better losses” narrative; a conversation that started after Notre Dame was 0-2 out the gate, losing to the best teams on their schedule and with no opportunities to make up any ground with the of their pedestrian schedule.
The SEC fueled this as well, keeping unworthy teams like Tennessee and Missouri in the Top 25, to help the likes of Georgia, Alabama and Oklahoma with “ranked wins”—the Vols and Tigers hyped for “good losses” as well as they beat nobody, but fell to the SEC’s best.
All the while, Miami stayed focused on the task at hand, ignored the outside noise and kept on winning—and thanks to public pressure when they sat at 10-2 next to Notre Dame; the entire sports world and media on their side as head-to-head and competition still had to matter between two evenly-ranked and matched teams—Selection Sunday was the Canes’ dream and a nightmare for the rest of the field, as they let a dangerous underdog into the party.
Miami survived Texas A&M and stayed alive; fueled by a world-class defense, loaded trenches and a power running game—traits and assets that absolutely have the Hurricanes in the mix to win this whole thing.
A road trip to Kyle Field was a huge undertaking; Miami pulled it off—and while Ohio State is a different kind of challenge all together, there is something to be said for a neutral field and an indoor showdown—after the elements in College Station had such a massive impact on how that inaugural playoff game went down.
Miami isn’t necessarily playing with the house’s money; not with Ohio State, (most-likely) Georgia and then a formidable foe in a national title game on deck; an Oregon, an Indiana, a Texas Tech or an Alabama—but clearing this first hurdle was bigger than most realize; the pressure of winning that first-ever CFP game, surviving that SEC road challenge and no one-and-done energy, where a loss fuels another conversation about Miami and Notre Dame and who really belonged.
Motivation also won’t be a problem a week from now; the pressure all on Ohio State as defending national champs—coming off a loss in the Big Ten title game and an extended break with their first round bye.
The Buckeyes will get a Hurricanes team who not only knows they’re an underdog; they’re being counted out by the masses and not expected to pull off the upset—which is the same energy the fueled the late season rally and last week’s showing against the Aggies.
Miami isn’t looking for believers and band-wagoners; this is a program that has forever thrived with this us-against-the-world energy—a program that leans internally on each other, in a city that full of outsiders, anti-establishment folks and a melting pot of those who are anything but the cookie-cutter, rah-rah college football crowd.
Lose on New Year’s Eve; this season is still a success at 11-3—but get a win, move to 12-2 and start the conversation around a Fiesta Bowl against Georgia and another two weeks with Miami as front page news?
Conversely, if Ohio State takes a second round nosedive and loses two in a row after being undefeated up to that point—just like Texas A&M saw their season end; the season is a colossal failure; No. 2 losing to No. 10 when trying to keep their machine rolling.
History is there for the taking; it’s just a matter of Miami coaches going back to the drawing board—game planning for this next opponent, while keeping this team hyped and grounded as this five-game winning stream and post-season rolls on.
Christian Bello has been covering University of Miami athletics since the mid-nineties. Getting his start with CanesTime, he eventually launched allCanesBlog—which led to a featured columnist stint with BleacherReport. He’s since rolled out the unfiltered, ItsAUThing.com where he’ll use his spare time to put decades of U-related knowledge to use for those who care to read. When he’s not writing about ‘The U’, Bello is a brand storyteller for some exciting companies and individuals—as well as a guitarist and songwriter for his Miami-bred band Company Jones, who released their debut album “The Glow” in 2021. Hit him on Twitter for all things U-related @ItsAUThingBLOG.