If Miami would've drawn up the ideal scenario for them to come out on top of Thursday night's Fiesta Bowl matchup against Ole Miss, they would've said it needs to be low-scoring, with Miami using the ground-and-pound game to eat up as much clock and energy on offense as possible, both to wear out Ole Miss's defense and to keep the ball away from Trinidad Chambliss. For about three quarters of the game, that was just how things were going. Miami dominated time of possession, ran over Ole Miss at will, and completely disrupted Chambliss and the Rebels offense's flow. Unfortunately for the Canes, they just couldn't score. Multiple promising drives were ruined by penalties and inopportune sacks, plus a missed field goal. And so despite being dominated for the majority of the night, the cardiac Rebels just kept hanging around and hanging around.
The final score itself, 31-27, might indicate that this one was a shootout, in which case you'd probably expect Chambliss to have led Ole Miss to victory. If you've watched this Miami team all season, you might even have been impressed that they were able to get 27 points in the first place. But instead of another miracle Mississippi moment, it's Miami that won this Fiesta Bowl, which did indeed turn into a shootout in the fourth quarter. Carson Beck threw for 268 yards on 23 of 37 passes with two TDs and one interception (which surprisingly wasn't his fault), and also ran in the game-winning touchdown. Chambliss also went 23 for 37, putting up an unexceptional 277 yards and one touchdown. It was not easy for the Ole Miss offense to get going. Kewan Lacy did his part, running for 103 yards on 11 carries in spite of his bad hamstring, getting the bulk of that yardage on an 73-yard touchdown run in the second quarter. But Miami dominated on the ground, racking up nearly 200 yards, most of those by Mark Fletcher.
It must be said just how inexplicable it was to see the Canes win. Losing this exact kind of game is a Miami specialty, falling in two of them just this season in the losses to Louisville and SMU. It was the kind of game where Miami's defense dropped multiple potential backbreaking interceptions. It was the kind of game that depended on Beck's arm and decision-making. It was the kind of game that depended on Mario Cristobal's game management. And yet Miami proved that they could overcome all kinds of adversity, including their own conference's tiebreaker rules. No amount of Michael Irvin antics can steal this team's shine after last night, though I'm sure he's up for the challenge.
As for Ole Miss—look, they were playing with house money. Chambliss is a star and he'll be back next year, along with Lacy. It would've been a fun story had they won again, if only to see how many more coaches they could lose without it mattering, and it's safe to say that they've already made Lane Kiffin look every bit the jackass he is. It's a tough loss, but you can't say they didn't give their everything; their kicker even got a doinker to go in at one point. As for Miami, they rose to the occasion at the right moment, because the national championship game will be another, bigger monster for them to overcome.
