CFP Recap: Takeaways from Miami’s win over Ole Miss in the Fiesta Bowl
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I don’t know what your idea of a fiesta is, but the 2026 Fiesta Bowl certainly seemed like quite the bash.
Miami has advanced with its Fiesta Bowl victory over the Ole Miss Rebels to the national championship bowl. Okay, it’s not actually called that, but why doesn’t it have a name? Why does every other postseason game have a name that ends in “bowl” but not the one that caps it all off? The NFL has the Super Bowl—why doesn’t college have the Champ Bowl or the Title Bowl or just “The Bowl”!
Anyway, the Hurricanes won, and what a game it was! Just a week after making the Sugar Bowl the most exciting bowl of the season, Ole Miss topped it with this Fiesta Bowl, going back-and-forth in an action movie that came just a failed Hail Mary from sending them to the title game.
Another fantastic edition of the 2025-2026 CFP. Here are three takeaways from the Fiesta Bowl semifinal game:
1. Back-and-forth to the very end
Ole Miss has been part of both this CFP’s greatest games, with the Sugar Bowl and Fiesta Bowl both coming down the wire and to the very last play. Miami started the game with a field goal, the Rebels scored a touchdown, the Hurricanes answered, then Ole Miss tied it, and on and on till they entered the 4th quarter with Miami up 17-16.
That was when Ole Miss took the lead with a field goal, but then Miami answered with a touchdown, only for the Rebels to answer with another of their own, and then watch Miami get another of their own with 18 seconds left! Wow, what a ballgame! But wait! There was more! Ole Miss quickly got the ball to midfield and set up a Hail Mary that came very close to sending them to the national championship. Six lead changes—you can’t ask for a better semifinal game than this year’s Fiesta Bowl.
2. Coaching chaos but spectacular season
This season, for the first time ever, Ole Miss made the college football playoff thanks to an 11-1 season that had a close loss to Georgia but wins over Florida, Oklahoma, LSU, and all the rest of their slate. Not only did they make the expanded, “easier-to-get-in” playoff, but they won in both the first round and the quarterfinals to play as one of the last four teams standing in the semifinal bowls, thus reaching the 4-team era realm of the CFP.
Not only that, but they took Miami down to the very last snap in their 15th game of the season to finish 13-2 overall, 8-1 against SEC foes, and as one of the last four teams standing—all with the Lane Kiffin saga raging like wildfire all around the college football universe for the back half of the regular season and all postseason.
Coach here, coach there, coach might be here, coach might go there, assistants gotta recruit for LSU one minute and lead a championship chase next. It was wild, it was crazy, and it was a spectacular success for the University of Mississippi, which has just finished one of its greatest football seasons in school history.
3. Clutch TDs bring Miami to its first-ever homefield title game
Trailing 17-19 with just over five minutes left in the game and without a touchdown since the 2nd quarter, Carson Beck threw a short pass to Malachi Toney, and he was off to the races. The clutch scoring gave the Canes the lead back, but when the Rebels responded with a quick scoring drive of their own, Miami needed to go back-to-back, and they did, getting the go-ahead house call with 18 seconds remaining and bringing the successful downfield drives when they counted most.
Now they’ll be the first team ever in either the BCS or CFP era to play for a national championship inside their home stadium. Hard Rock Stadium, Miami, FL is hosting the national championship on January 19th, and the Hurricanes will be playing there for the ninth time this season—just on a Monday instead of a Saturday.
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