Miami stuns Ohio St. in Cotton Bowl, reaches CFP semifinals

ARLINGTON, Texas — Keionte Scott returned an interception 72 yards for a touchdown, Carson Beck threw a scoring pass and No. 10 Miami shocked defending champion Ohio State 24-14 on Wednesday night at the Cotton Bowl in the first College Football Playoff quarterfinal.

The No. 10 Hurricanes (12-2) have won two playoff games to get into football’s final four after needing an at-large berth to make the 12-team field, even without playing in the ACC championship game. One more win and they will get to play for a national championship in their home stadium.

“We knew coming into today that it wasn’t going to be easy,” Beck told ESPN after the game. “That’s a damn good football team on the other side right there. It was a battle. It took all four quarters until the very last minute. And I’m just so proud of how we fought adversity and continued to fight throughout the game.”

Next for Miami in coach Mario Cristobal’s fourth season is a CFP semifinal at the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 8 against No. 3 seed Georgia or No. 6 seed Ole Miss, the SEC teams playing in the Sugar Bowl on Thursday night.

There hasn’t been a national title for “The U” since 2001. The Hurricanes were denied a repeat the following season with a double-overtime loss in the Fiesta Bowl to Ohio State, the only other time the teams met in a bowl game.

Now it’s No. 2 Ohio State (12-2) — which entered the playoff as the consensus favorite to win the national championship and had more bets placed and more money wagered on it to win the title than on any other team at multiple sportsbooks — that won’t be able to win back-to-back national titles for the first time in program history.

The Buckeyes hadn’t played since a 13-10 loss to now-No. 1 Indiana in a Big Ten championship game matchup of undefeated teams on Dec. 6. They still got a first-round bye, then lost just like all four teams that went directly to the quarterfinal round in the inaugural 12-team playoff last season.

Scott’s second pick-six this season came when he jumped a quick screen pass to the left thrown by Heisman Trophy finalist Julian Sayin, then had a wide-open field to sprint untouched to the end zone for a 14-0 lead with 11:49 left in the first half.

That came only 1:42 after Beck’s quick pass to Mark Fletcher Jr. coming out of the backfield for a 9-yard score.

Beck, who was part of Georgia’s national titles in 2021 and 2022 when Stetson Bennett was the starter, completed 19 of 26 passes for 138 yards. The TD throw to Fletcher, who also ran 19 times for 90 yards, was the seventh of 13 consecutive completions for Beck to set a record in the Cotton Bowl, which was played for the 90th time.

“Whoever doubts him, that’s fine,” Cristobal said of Beck. “He’s got to continue to prove himself. (He) is a great teammate, a great competitor and a true Miami Hurricane.”

Sayin, a freshman backup behind Will Howard for Ohio State’s championship run last season, was 22-of-35 for 287 yards with two interceptions and a TD to Jeremiah Smith. Sayin was sacked five times.

AP All-America receiver Smith, a Miami native, caught seven of those passes for 157 yards, including a 14-yard TD on a fourth down in the fourth quarter.

Carter Davis added a 49-yard field goal in the third quarter and CharMar Brown ran for a 5-yard TD in the game’s final minute for the Hurricanes, whose 24 points were the most Ohio State gave up this season.

Information from ESPN’s David Purdum and The Associated Press was used in this report.