Miami Hurricanes Beat Ohio State Buckeyes 24 – 14 | CFP Quarterfinal Instant Reaction

Jeremiah Smith, Julian Sayin, Caleb Downs, Ryan Day and the Ohio State Buckeyes fell 24-14 in the College Football Playoff Quarterfinals to Carson Beck, Malachi Toney, Reuben Bain Jr and the Miami Hurricanes in the Cotton Bowl.

This was a rematch of the 2002 National Championship game. Mario Cristobal and his Canes pulled off an impressive upset knocking the Buckeyes out and they did it through sheer will, Akheem Mesidor was a game wrecker next to Bain and these 2 caused huge problems for Brian Hartline and his offense.

The Matt Patrica Ohio State defense was considered the best in the country and have NFL talent everywhere, Kenyatta Jackson Jr, Caden Curry, Kayden McDonald form a fierce front and behind them Arvell Reese and Sonny Styles make up the best linebacker duo maybe in the last 5 year or more in the sport, James Lauranitas has done an incredible job with them. The key was to slow down Mark Fletcher Jr and getting pressure on Beck and they were not able to do a good enough job of that.

They limited the deep throws down field to Malachi Toney, Keelan Marion and CJ Daniels, as they wanted to test Ohio State’s cornerbacks Jermaine Matthews, Davison Igbinosun but they dominated in the trenches all night. Shannon Dawson had his most difficult game ahead ahead of him and Miami found a way to beat Ohio State, the most talented team in the playoff is now in the rear view mirror.

The offensive line for the Hurricanes is great, Francis Mauigoa anchors the right side and he had to deal with all of the multiple fronts and disguises that the Buckeyes use with their unit NFL talent. Corey Hetherman and his defense dominated Carson Hinzman, Austin Siereveld, Phillip Daniels and the Buckeyes offensive line and limited the running game with true freshman Bo Jackson and also James Peoples, CJ Donaldson, the Indiana front was great but this line they face New Years Eve might be even have better and has top end premier talent.

Carnell Tate and Max Klare were key pieces to an offense that struggled to run the ball and get cheap easy yards. Miami doubled Jeremiah Smith at times and he went for 157 yards but this game came down to which quarterback had less mistakes and that was Beck. Ohio State was 9.5 point favorites in the Cotton Bowl and had the best odds to win the National Championship Now Miami plays either Georgia or Ole Miss.