AI-produced: generated with AI tools and reviewed by Ayokunle Spencer.
Miami beat Ole Miss 31-27 in the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl on January 8, 2026, on a three-yard Carson Beck touchdown run with 18 seconds left. The Hurricanes controlled the game almost completely and still needed a scramble in the final minute to survive it.
A game Miami dominated and nearly lost
The possession numbers tell one story. Miami held the ball for more than 40 minutes. The Hurricanes converted 13 of 21 attempts on third or fourth down. The Rebels went 2 for 10.
The scoreboard told a different one, because Miami kept handing the game back. The Hurricanes dropped several would-be interceptions, threw one of their own on a tipped pass in Ole Miss territory, missed a field goal, and took 10 penalties for 74 yards against Ole Miss's four for 34. Given repeated extra life, Ole Miss kept taking it.
The fourth quarter
Four lead changes came in the final period. Lucas Carneiro put Ole Miss ahead with his fourth field goal of the night — the same kicker who had won the Sugar Bowl a week earlier and who made kicks from 55, 56 and 58 yards across the two Playoff games. Miami answered on a 36-yard touchdown catch by freshman Malachi Toney, and Trinidad Chambliss then hit Dae'Quan Wright from 24 yards out for another Rebels lead.
Beck answered with a 15-play, 75-yard drive. At the end of it he scrambled three yards for the touchdown with 18 seconds on the clock.
Ole Miss still had a chance. Chambliss completed two passes to reach the Miami 35 with six seconds left, enough for one throw at the end zone. It fell incomplete amid heavy contact as time expired.
How the Hurricanes got here
Miami's Playoff run was the strangest of the bracket. The Hurricanes did not play in the ACC Championship Game and were a contested at-large selection. They then won three straight: 10-3 over Texas A&M in the first round, 24-14 over defending champion Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl, and this one.
Across the first two rounds, Miami held Texas A&M and Ohio State to 17 combined points. That defense, under first-year coordinator Corey Hetherman, was the reason a No. 10 seed reached a national championship.
Beck, and the price of a quarterback
When Carson Beck left the NFL Draft process to transfer from Georgia to Miami, the reaction was mixed and the reported NIL figure was substantial. The Fiesta Bowl was the argument settled. He finished 23 of 37 for 268 yards and two touchdown passes, plus the winning run.
Toney caught five passes for 81 yards. Keelan Marion had 114 receiving yards and a touchdown, a 52-yard score before halftime. Mark Fletcher Jr. ran 22 times for 133 yards.
What it set up
The win sent Miami to Hard Rock Stadium — its own building — for the national championship against Indiana. The Hurricanes lost 27-21 to finish 13-3.
For Ole Miss, the Fiesta Bowl closed a season that included a first Playoff semifinal appearance and a Sugar Bowl win over Georgia. Losing it on a quarterback scramble, after a game in which they held the ball for barely a third of regulation, was a cruel way to find the ceiling.
Updated October 7, 2026: Time-of-possession, final-drive and receiving details that we could not verify have been replaced with figures from the College Football Playoff's official recap and published reports. A description of Miami as an underdog in all three of its Playoff wins, and a claim that it was the first team to play for a title in its home stadium, could not be confirmed and have been removed.
