Miami Hurricanes Seal Victory in High-Stakes Playoff Game

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00:00I'll give them credit.

00:01They were 9.5.

00:02Their dogs jumped out 14-0.

00:04Seal the deal with a 24-14 win.

00:07I mean, all the pressure on Julian saying they get to pick six.

00:11Mark Fletcher with 90 yards on the ground.

00:13I mean, all the games yesterday started with the ball matchups,

00:17high scoring, you know, upsets across the board, Iowa,

00:21and some of the others.

00:22But you just look at the body of work for the Miami Hurricanes

00:25in their second-round game.

00:27And let me tell you, they took the physicality to the defending national champion.

00:32Dominant victory.

00:34Carson Beck made enough plays.

00:35And Mario Cristobal did pick up his second playoff win.

00:39They have all the momentum.

00:40We'll see if they can continue in the semifinal playoff round.

00:44But we got off round number two with an upset win.

00:47Impressive style on New Year's Eve.

00:49We're going to get back to that game in just a few moments.

00:51But Joe is right.

00:51A lot of college bowl games yesterday, which included in the playoffs,

00:55will be today.

00:56Three games, Joe, on deck.

00:5812 o'clock start, 4 o'clock start, and an 8 o'clock start.

01:01Absolute must-see TV.

01:02I love the playoffs, Joe.

01:04But before we start to break these games down and get back into the Miami game,

01:07a lot of people are starting to say,

01:09well, maybe it's unfair for the higher seeds, Joe, to get a bye week now

01:12because they can't seem to win.

01:14Now, granted, it's a short sample size that we have.

01:16But if you have a bye, you're officially 0-5.

01:18Yeah, I mean, it's unreal when you see these games play out.

01:21We talk about a train in motion.

01:23And when your offense is clicking and your defense is hitting on all cylinders,

01:27you hate to take a bye in the middle part of the season,

01:31especially with a national championship looming in January.

01:34But that's the case right now.

01:36We're seeing these teams that have played round one games really step up,

01:40make some plays.

01:41They look more in sync.

01:43The quarterback-to-wide receiver relationship seems to be there.

01:46The continuity on the offensive line seems to be there.

01:49And, again, that momentum continues from week to week where when you,

01:54let's say, have Oregon last year that was 15-0 in the regular season,

01:59and then they go on for three weeks, don't play a game,

02:02and then get just smashed by Ohio State last year, that's a telltale sign.

02:09Certain coaches need to prepare.

02:10I think when you look at the second-round games,

02:13which coach do I believe in more?

02:15It's the late game with Kirby Smart, knowing he's been there, done that.

02:19He knows how to prepare, knows his team.

02:21Won two back-to-back national championships.

02:24So certain teams will do it better than others,

02:27and that's what we saw last night with the Hurricanes dominating Ohio State

02:31in that matchup in Arlington.

02:32You know what's interesting about that game, too, yesterday, Joe?

02:34We're going to get that today because we're going to hit every single one

02:36of those playoff games today.

02:37We'll tell you where those lines opened up, where they closed.

02:39But more importantly for me, you look at the Miami game yesterday, Joe.

02:42It was 9-1-1 and did not move all week.

02:44But before the game, you saw the buybacks here coming in on the Hurricanes,

02:47where most outlets actually closed that game at 7-1-1.

02:49And a total that was 42-1-1 actually dropped to 39-1-1 at a lot of spots here.

02:54So let's talk about that game itself because we were led to believe that Ohio State

02:57is one of the best defenses that we've seen, Joe, let's call it, over the past decade.

03:00And rightfully so.

03:01You look at the numbers, under 10 points per game.

03:04Now you want to say who they played and who they matched up with,

03:07and maybe it's a little bit easier to schedule, take that out.

03:08Numbers don't lie.

03:09They were a very good defense.

03:10Last night, they also were a very good defense, Joe.

03:12But the question was, what were we going to get out of that Ohio State offense,

03:16who we saw in the previous game against Indiana in the Dome, Joe,

03:19not score that much.

03:20Against the Miami Hurricanes, not scoring that much.

03:22And they came away with a loss yesterday.

03:24Let me ask you this question.

03:25Ryan Day getting back to play, calling duties.

03:28Any difference for you in that game last night?

03:29Yeah, I think we always talk about coordinators, right?

03:32You know, Hartline that took the head coaching job,

03:34and he took it back, Ryan Day, they have to get into a rhythm.

03:38And obviously, Ryan Day knows the personnel.

03:40But, you know, coordinators are like pitchers, right?

03:42They're also like quarterbacks.

03:44It might take them a couple games to get the pulse of that team.

03:47And even though they had three weeks to prepare for this matchup,

03:51it's different in game speed, obviously,

03:53with a red-hot defense led by Reuben Bain.

03:56But I think when you look at Ohio State's performance,

03:59two critical factors for me step out.

04:01Lack of the consistent rushing attack, Bo Jackson did get some yards,

04:05had a big run, did rush for over 50 yards,

04:08but only 48 on the afternoon, and 3-10 on third-down conversions.

04:12I mean, if you would have told me at the start of the game,

04:15Miami's going to hold Ohio State to 3-10 on third-down conversions,

04:18I would have said they're going to be within margin.

04:20Just because we know how consistent and how good Ohio State is.

04:24They had one of the best third-down offenses in the country.

04:27Julian saying throughout the year has never played with pressure coming from behind

04:32the way he did, and Miami took the game to them.

04:35And it was evident in the first couple of drives,

04:37you saw Miami and Mark Fletcher move the football.

04:40You saw the push out of the offensive line.

04:42They weren't scoring points in the first eight minutes,

04:46but they were moving field position,

04:48and they flipped the field and put the pressure on Ohio State to make plays.

04:52And once they played from a deficit,

04:53that was advantage Miami's defense, and they closed the door.

04:57Now, granted, it was 17-14, and there were plays to be made by Ohio State,

05:01and Jeremiah Smith had a fantastic game.

05:04But basically, they limited chunk plays in this matchup,

05:07and that's why they won by 10 points.

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