The Miami Hurricanes celebrate after defeating the Mississippi Rebels during the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Fiesta Bowl in State Farm Stadium on Friday, January 9, 2026 in Glendale, Arizona.
GLENDALE, Ariz.
The Miami Hurricanes are heading home.
And when they get there, they will be competing for a national championship.
The No. 10 Hurricanes defeated the No. 6 Ole Miss Rebels 31-27 in a College Football Playoff semifinal at the Fiesta Bowl on Thursday at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
Quarterback Carson Beck ran for a go-ahead 3-yard touchdown with 18 seconds left to cap a 15-play, 75-yard drive to seal the win. Beck overall completed 23 of 37 passes for 268 yards and two touchdowns with one interception along with that game-winning rushing touchdown.
Ole Miss desperately moved down the field, but its final pass attempt was broken up in the end zone with Ethan O’Connor and Zechariah Poyser in coverage.
“Man, I couldn’t even believe it,” said Beck, who was named the game’s offensive MVP. “I was on Cloud Nine. All the fans — we were right in front of our student section, [which] was sitting right there where I ran in, and everyone’s jumping up and down, yelling again. I was just so, so happy, so excited. What a gutsy game. What a gutsy game from our team, and what a way to just continue to battle through adversity.”
Miami (13-2), the last at-large team to make the 12-team playoff field, will now play for its sixth overall national championship and first since the 2001 season on Jan. 19 at the place they call home: Hard Rock Stadium.
The Hurricanes will face the winner of Friday night’s Peach Bowl between No. 1 Indiana (14-0) and No. 5 Oregon (13-1) for the title.
Ole Miss’ season ends with a 13-2 record.
“When I saw everybody running on the field, it was a dream. It felt like a dream,” said linebacker Wesley Bissainthe, who was part of coach Mario Cristobal’s first recruiting class and endured the lows of the start of this era of UM football to reap the rewards of playing for a national championship. “I was waiting on somebody to wake me up. I don’t know, but it was a great experience, man. I’m happy we got the dub, and I’m grateful for this.”
Miami Hurricanes head coach Mario Cristobal reacts after a play during the first half of a College Football Playoff semifinal against the Mississippi Rebels in the Fiesta Bowl at State Farm Stadium on Thursday, January 8, 2026 in Glendale, Arizona. PHOTO BY AL DIAZ [email protected]
That said, it wasn’t the Hurricanes’ prettiest game. Far from it.
And it nearly cost them.
The Hurricanes dominated time of possession thanks to a stout running game — Mark Fletcher Jr. had 133 rushing yards on 22 carries — but had trouble finishing drives throughout the night.
The defense bent a lot and didn’t break often but didn’t have any real signature plays. UM only sacked Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss once — and that came on an intentional grounding call on the Rebels’ opening drive. Hurricanes defenders dropped four would-be interceptions.
After being called for just four penalties through the first two rounds of the playoffs, Miami was flagged 10 times on Thursday — many coming at crucial times.
But in the end, Miami did just enough to move on — and at this point, moving on is all that matters.
“It‘s the simplicity of these guys,” Cristobal said. “They know exactly who they are, and they know what it took to get us to this point and they were not settling for getting to this point just to get here. 1-0 was the objective. They weren’t going to let anything get in the way. So all they did was do what they do every single day on the Greentree Practice Field and did it to an elite level to finish the game. Again, I can’t speak more highly or proudly enough of them and their resilience.”
Miami Hurricanes wide receiver Keelan Marion (0) and wide receiver Malachi Toney (10) react after Marion scores in the first half of a College Football Playoff semifinal against the Mississippi Rebels in the Fiesta Bowl at State Farm Stadium on Thursday, January 8, 2026 in Glendale, Arizona. PHOTO BY AL DIAZ [email protected]
UM led Ole Miss 17-13 at halftime behind a 38-yard Carter Davis field goal, 4-yard CharMar Brown rushing touchdown and 52-yard passing touchdown from Carson Beck to Keelan Marion.
The Rebels briefly led 7-3 after a 73-yard Kewan Lacy rushing touchdown on the first play of the second quarter — the longest play allowed by UM’s defense all season — before Brown’s rushing touchdowns capped a 15-play drive.
Ole Miss then tied the score at 10-10 with 4:38 left in the first half on a 42-yard Lucas Carneiro field goal before Beck’s pass to Marion made it 17-10 with 2:18 left in the half. Carneiro then hit a 58-yard field goal with 11 seconds left in the quarter to cut Miami’s lead to 17-13 at the half.
Miami’s offense then came up empty on each of its first three drives of the second half — on a missed field goal, interception off a tipped pass and punt after back-to-back sacks — despite reaching Ole Miss territory on every possession. That allowed the Rebels to take the lead on two more made Carneiro field goals from 54 yards with 22 seconds left in the third quarter and 21 yards with seven minutes left to play.
And then? Chaos.
Miami ripped off a four-play, 75-yard drive capped by a 36-yard touchdown pass from Beck to Malachi Toney. 24-19 Miami with 5:04 left to play.
Ole Miss followed with a six-play, 75-yard drive capped by a 24-yard touchdown pass from Chambliss to Dae’quan Wright. 27-24 Ole Miss after the two-point conversion with 3:13 left to play.
And then Beck orchestrated the biggest drive of his career to close it out.
And now, the Hurricanes are heading home to compete for a national championship.
“I think it’s more a reflection of our players and their DNA and the way that they’re wired, how they came into the program and how they’ve continued to develop and evolve,” Cristobal said. “So it almost seems like the tougher it gets, the better we play. And it’s a testament to them, to their resilience, and their will.”
This story was originally published January 8, 2026 at 11:30 PM.
Jordan McPherson
Miami Herald
Jordan McPherson covers the Miami Hurricanes and Florida Panthers for the Miami Herald. He attended the University of Florida and covered the Gators athletic program for five years before joining the Herald staff in December 2017.
