Miami Hurricanes head coach Mario Cristobal knew his team had to work a little harder to win the College Football Playoff semifinal, but not just because of Ole Miss.
His team was largely under the weather, which he told ESPN in the postgame on-field interview after a 31-27 win over the No. 6 Rebels (13-2). Miami, the No. 10 seed, will return home to play in the national championship game on Jan. 19 at the Miami Gardens stadium.
“Thank God for everything first and foremost,” Cristobal told ESPN on Thursday. “Secondly, I want to give a lot of credit to our players. I can’t tell you how many of our players were sick or had the flu, had issues. We kept talking about was that we’re going to find a way. We’re focused on just enjoying this one, but we gotta get focused on 1-0 one more time.”
Miami (13-2) didn’t look mostly ill as a team, the Hurricanes defense shut down the Rebels offense in the first quarter, but only led 3-0 on a 38-yard field goal by kicker Carter Davis. Then, the back-and-forth battle between the two really commenced in the second quarter.
Kewan Lacy’s Big Play Ignited a High-Scoring Game
Ole Miss running back Kewan Lacy took the ball 73 yards untouched on a touchdown run for a 7-3 lead. Lacy injured a hamstring and didn’t return, which cost the Rebels in the end.
Miami limited big plays after that on defense, but the Rebels answered everything from the Hurricanes throughout amid six lead changes. The Hurricanes took back the lead, 10-7, when running back CharMar Brown scored on a 4-yard touchdown.
Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss answered back, 10-10, as he led a 51-yard scoring drive, capped by Lucas Carneiro’s tying 42-yard field goal. Miami quarterback Carson Beck then covered 52 yards all at once on a deep touchdown to wide receiver Keelan Marion.
The Hurricanes kept the lead going into halftime, but Ole Miss chipped away at it with a 58-yard field goal by Carneiro, 17-13, in the final minute. Defenses kept each other off the score board for almost all of the third quarter until Carineiro hit from 54 yards to make it a 17-16 game.
4 Lead Changes in Fourth Quarter
Miami and Ole Miss swapped the lead four times in the fourth quarter, which began with Carineiro hitting a chip shot field goal of 21 yards for a 19-17 lead. Beck stepped up to put his team ahead, 24-19, with seven minutes left on a 36-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Malachi Toney with 5:04 left.
Chambliss answered with a 24-yard touchdown pass to tight end Dae’Quan Wright for a 27-24 lead with 3:13 left. Beck then scored the game-winning touchdown on a 3-yard run with 24 seconds left for a 31-27 advantage.
“That’s a perfect example of a guy who just … he feels supported, he’s hungry, he’s driven, he’s a human being. And all he wants to do is … see his teammates have success,” Cristobal said of Beck, “… that’s what we witnessed tonight.”
“And Carson Beck, I can’t say enough great things about him. Love the guy. Absolutely awesome,” Cristobal added.
Chambliss had one last chance for last-second heroics with a throw that got broken up by the Hurricanes.
Miami’s Mario Cristobal Makes Head-Turning Admission After Win vs. Ole Miss