The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: Goodyear Cotton Bowl, Ohio State Buckeyes College Football Playoff 2025 Edition

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THE MIAMI HURRICANES WENT INTO AT&T STADIUM AND BEAT THE #2 OHIO STATE BUCKEYES 24-14 TO ADVANCE TO THE COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF SEMIFINALS!!!!!!!!!

Craig T. Smith is back with your game recap, and Mike Schiffman has your 3 stars:

Let’s get into this edition of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly:

The Good

• A win! Winning is hard, and I’m never taking it for granted. IDC IDC IDC.
• THIS WAS THE BLUEPRINT!!!!!!!!!!! THIS IS HOW CRISTOBAL WANTS TO PLAY, AND WIN!!!!!!
• A measure of revenge. No, it’s not a 1-to-1 game to the Fiesta Bowl robbery, but beating Ohio State is the most beautiful thing in the WORLD.
• QB Carson Beck. I said we needed to see an elite game from him tonight, and that’s what we got. 19/26 passing (73.1% completions) for 138 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions. Beck also ran 7 times for 23 yards, and converted 3 KEY 3rd downs for the Miami offense.
• RB Mark Fletcher Jr. 19 carries for 90 yards and 2 catches for 25 yards and a touchdown. Yes, Fletcher had a lost fumble on the night, but he was still offensive MVP for the game.
• RB Marty Brown. 5 carries for 26 yards and a touchdown, and 1 catch for 5 yards to convert a huge 3rd down on the final TD drive (which he ended with his TD run).
• WRs Malachi Toney, C.J. Daniels, and Keelan Marion all had 5 catches on the night.
• The offensive line. Absolute and total dominance of a deep and talented Ohio State defensive front.
• Nickel Keionte Scott. 4 tackles, 1 interception returned for a touchdown. Defensive player of the game. His impact cannot be overstated.
• EDGE Akheem Mesidor. 5 tackles, 2 TFLs, 2 sacks. He was an ever-present visitor into Ohio State’s offensive backfield.
• EDGE Rueben Bain Jr. 3 tackles, 1.5 TFL, 1 sack. Bain beat OSU’s right tackle with regularity and ease, applying pressure on their QB, and forcing him into sacks by others on the defense.
• EDGE Marquise Lightfoot. 3 tackles, 2 TFLs, 1 sack, 1 QB hurry. This was Lightfoot’s most impactful game of his career, and flashed the elite, 5-star recruit potential we hope to unlock from him in the future.
• S Jakobe Thomas. 7 tackles and the game-season interception.
• LB Mo Toure. 7 tackles, 1 PBU, and physical play all over the field all night long.
• LB Wesley Bissainthe. 6 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 sack.
• P Dylan Joyce. 4 punts for 185 yards, a 46.3 average, with 2 going 50+, and 2 downed inside the OSU 20. Great when we needed him to help flip the field.
• K Carter Davis. 1/1 on FGs, hitting from 49 yards out, and kickoffs for touchbacks all night long. After a tough day against Texas A&M, this was good to see from Davis!
• Held Ohio State QB Julian Sayin to 22/35 passing (62.9% completions) for 287 yards with 1 TD and 2 interceptions.
• That was a season-low in completion % by Sayin
• That tied a season-high in interceptions by Sayin
• EDGEs Akheem Mesidor and Rueben Bain Jr. lined up next to each other on 3rd down and worked a beautiful stunt, both beating their blockers and ending with a Mesidor sack of Julian Sayin to end OSU’s first drive.
• Miami opened the scoring with a 9 yard touchdown pass from Carson Beck to Mark Fletcher Jr. after Miami faked the run on a super power (7 OL) set. HELL YEAH!!!! THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT!!!!!

• Nickel Keionte Scott jumped a bubble screen, intercepting the ball and returning it 72 yards for a touchdown to give Miami a 14-0 lead!!

• With his 3rd catch of the day, Malachi Toney went over 1,000 yards on the season. He’s adding to his own freshman receiving yardage record, and is just the 7th Miami Hurricane to hit that threshold in a season. Congrats!

• Miami held Ohio State scoreless in the 1st half. That was the first time OSU didn’t score in a half since the 2016 Fiesta Bowl.
• K Carter Davis with a 49 yard FG to extend Miami’s lead to 17-7 late in the 3rd quarter. Big bounce back from him after a tough day against Texas A&M.
• RB Marty Brown returned to action with one of the biggest plays of the year, a 5 yard touchdown to put Miami up 10 with 55 seconds left in the 4th quarter!
• Miami ended the game with pressure on Julian Sayin from Rueben Bain and Marquise Lightfoot, forcing a floated throw that was intercepted by Jakobe Thomas, giving Miami the ball and the win!

• 153 yards rushing — 2nd most allowed by Ohio State this season
• 4.6 yards per play — 3rd highest allowed by Ohio State this season
• 4.1 yards per rush — 2nd highest allowed by Ohio State this season
• 6 chunk plays — 1 passes (15+), 5 runs (10+)
• 7/14 on 3rd down — 2nd highest number and rate allowed by Ohio State this season
• 1/1 on 4th down
• 18 first downs
• 33:20 time of possession to 26:40 for Ohio State.
• 7 TFLs
• 5 sacks
• 3 QB hurries
• 2 PBUs
• 2 turnovers created — Scott interception-touchdown, Thomas interception
• +1 turnover margin
• NO PENALTIES!!!!!!! A CLEAN GAME!!!!
• (okay there was 1 declined penalty on Jeremiah Smith’s touchdown catch, but I’m still calling this a clean penalty game)
• Held Ohio State to 332 yards of offense
• Held Ohio State to 45 yards rushing — by FAR the lowest total of the season
• Held Ohio State to 1.9 yards per carry — by FAR the lowest total of the season, and lowest since Penn State in 2023
• Held Ohio State to 3/10 on 3rd down
• Held Ohio State to 2/3 red zone scoring
• The advanced stats chart tells the story of a defensive rock fight, but with more offense than the A&M game, which Miami won again.

The Bad

• At the OSU 30 yard line with 2 minutes left, consecutive negative yardage plays took Miami out of field goal range. With the chance to go up 3 scores, coming up empty on that drive was a gut punch before the half.
• Allowing OSU to walk down the field to score a touchdown on the 1st drive of the second half. Don’t love that.
• Only 7.3 yards per completion. Miami took some vertical shots, but this was a plodding offensive performance yet again.
• Allowed 7 chunk plays — 5 passes (15+), 2 runs (10+)
• Allowed 13 yards per completion
• Allowed 1/1 on 4th down
• Allowed 18 first downs
• Allowed 4 TFLs on 61 non-kneeldown offensive snaps
• Allowed 2 sacks
• 2/3 red zone scoring

The Ugly

• A quick 3 and out in less than a minute to start the game for the Miami offense.
• Ohio State WR Jeremiah Smith. 7 catches for 157 yards and a touchdown. He was nearly the entire offense for OSU, and we just couldn’t stop him. Now you saw firsthand why I’ve been so vocal about his skills as the best prospect from SoFla I’ve seen in 25 years living here.
• Beck missed both an open checkdown, and an open receiver for what would have been a 3rd down conversion on that first drive. Real ugly.
• Mark Fletcher Jr. lost a fumble on 3rd and 3 inside the OSU 20 to end Miami’s 2nd offensive drive.
• Malachi Toney fumbled twice, but recovered himself both times. Still, you CANNOT put the ball on the ground, man. Need to tighten up with ball security.
• Booth review overturned a Carson Beck scramble for a 1st down midway through the 2nd quarter. Absolute horseshit call. Beck CLEARLY got the line to gain. AT BEST video evidence was inconclusive. To overturn that and say he was short was the kind of fuckery that costs you a game. Fuck. FUCK!
• Leaving points on the board. Miami turned the ball over inside the OSU 20 on one drive, then stalled out from the OSU 30 on another. Those drives could have been anywhere from 3 to 14 more points on the scoreboard in the first half. You cannot leave points out there against an opponent of this quality, especially when you’re dominating the game so handily. You HAVE TO make the scoreboard reflect the dominance of the game, and 14-0 at the half was good, but it wasn’t as much separation as there should have been.
• Only 2/3 red zone scoring, with the drive with no points ending on a fumble
• Ahmad Moten Sr. was injured on an illegal hi-low combination block by Ohio State. No call. The status of Moten’s leg injury is unknown at this point.

Team Grades

Offense: B+

This was the first team to score more than 16 points against Ohio State all year. Even if you take away the touchdown scored by the defense, Miami’s 17 purely offensive points set the record against OSU’s vaunted defense this season. And, that was with leaving anywhere between 3 and 14 points on the board with an early fumble in the red zone, and a drive that suddenly stalled after easily marching to the OSU 30 yard line just before the half.

As noted above, Miami had more success running the ball against Ohio State than anyone this season, and that allowed the Canes to possess the ball for a long time, and wear down the opponent. The offensive line was DOMINANT again today, and they paved the way to victory.

The main demerits are the turnover in the redzone, and the lack of any explosive passing plays. Yes, I’m nitpicking, but I’ll take it. Great stuff!

Defense: A

This was largely a masterclass from Miami’s defense. Absent one drive to start the 2rd quarter, Ohio State could do less than nothing running the ball. And, outside of Jeremiah Smith, a transformational superstar, Ohio State’s vaunted passing game didn’t do anything. Sure, Smith had 157 yards and a touchdown, but he was the only player who really had a good game on Ohio State’s offense.

Miami bullied Ohio State up front. The defensive line ate their lunch all night long, with 7 TFLs, 5 sacks, and plenty of other plays with pressure in the offensive backfield against both the run and pass. The stars were stars, with Keionte Scott, Rueben Bain, Akheem Mesidor, Mo Toure, and Jakobe Thomas making huge play after huge play on the day.

There were moments when Ohio State had momentum in the 3rd and 4th quarter, but Miami’s defense rose to the moment, and won the game. I’m so proud of these guys, their effort, their excellence, and the INCREDIBLE turn around from last season. I can’t speak highly enough about the defense. Bravo

Special Teams: A

Joyce’s punting was incredible. Davis’s kickoffs were great. And he nailed a long field goal right down the middle when Miami desperately needed points to settle the game and get a 2 possession lead late in the 3rd quarter. Jaboree Antoine downed a punt at the 2 yard line, too! There weren’t any returns of note, but this was still great work by the special teams units, whose coverage was exemplary when needed.

Coaching: A+

This is what it’s supposed to look like. This is what we’ve wanted, and what Cristobal has been building toward. And seeing it in action with complete, complementary football on the biggest of stages, was GLORIOUS!

Mario Cristobal had this team ready to go, and he managed this game nearly flawlessly. The ONLY thing that could be critiqued was the decision to call timeout late in the 2nd quarter after an OSU run play. Cristobal was being aggressive and trying to get the ball back. It didn’t work like that, but I see the vision. Again, this is one where you have to make the call and be okay with the result, even if it doesn’t go how you expect. People would have cried about “conservative Mario” had he not called timeout there, so whatever. I dig the choice.

Also, Cristobal was aggressive on 4th down in a key moment, and just had his finger on the pulse of this game. Again, for a much-derided coach whose game management decisions are joke fodder for fans and CFB commenters alike, Cristobal was pitch perfect tonight, and I’m giving him his due for that!

OC Shannon Dawson was in his bag and called a great game. No, every play he called did not work, but he pounded the ball on the ground, set Carson Beck up for timely passes, and got more points against Ohio State than ANYBODY ELSE this year, including #1 Indiana. My only complaint would be the desire to see more from the vertical passing game, but that’s not going to have me lower this grade. Bravo!

DC Corey Hetherman is a DOG and he should win the Broyles Award for what he’s done to breathe new life into the Miami defense. Just like Dawson’s offense had more success against Ohio State than any other team this season, Hetherman’s defense stifled Ohio State more than any other team this season. 7 TFLs, 5 sacks, and 2 interceptions don’t even begin to tell the story of the dominance of Miami’s defense. It wasn’t perfect, as OSU was able to put together a couple of drives, but Miami’s defense was up to the moment when it counted most, and that’s credit to Hetherman. Bravo!

That’s it for this installment of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

Hop in the comments and let me know your thoughts.

Go Canes

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