Miami and Ole Miss have provided two of the most compelling storylines of this year’s College Football Playoff.
But only one will earn the chance to play for a national title after the teams square off on Thursday night in the Fiesta Bowl in a CFP semifinal in Glendale, Ariz.
After making the 12-team field as the final at-large selection, the 10th-seeded Hurricanes (12-2) have defied the odds twice with dominant defensive performances in wins against seventh-seeded Texas A&M 10-3 in the first round and a 24-14 Cotton Bowl triumph against No. 2 Ohio State on Dec. 31.
The No. 6 Rebels (13-1), who will play Miami for the first time since 1951, drubbed 11th-seeded Tulane 41-10 and put together a stunning 39-34 comeback win over No. 3 seed Georgia in the Sugar Bowl quarterfinal last Thursday.
The winner of Thursday’s game will face the winner of the Peach Bowl semifinal matchup Friday between top-seeded Indiana and fifth-seeded Oregon for the national championship on Jan. 19 in Miami.
Ole Miss continues to persevere and extend its best season in program history despite having its coaching staff in flux since head coach Lane Kiffin departed in November to become LSU’s head coach.
With Pete Golding promoted to head coach and multiple assistant coaches such as offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. remaining with the Rebels until their season ends, they have continued to find ways to extend their season.
Ole Miss quarterbacks coach Joe Judge on Tuesday compared the situation to how they handled the uncertainty of coaches’ availability during the COVID pandemic in 2020.
“We always talk ahead basically after every game, me and Charlie (Weis Jr.) and Pete (Golding) have sat down and talked about the next week coming up and how we’re going to handle it,” Judge said. “And when he’s going to Baton Rouge, when he’s coming back, how we’re going to prep for the next week. Throughout the week, we’ve communicated in terms of all the what-ifs.”
Ole Miss is seeking its first national championship while Miami is one win away from playing for a potential sixth national title and its first since 2001.
Two of the biggest keys for the Rebels will be trying to slow down Miami’s rushing attack led by Mark Fletcher Jr. and keeping quarterback Trinidad Chambliss protected from the Hurricanes’ dominant pass rush led by defensive linemen Rueben Bain Jr. and Akheem Mesidor.
The Hurricanes have posted 12 sacks in two CFP games and lead the nation with 46 sacks overall over 14 games.
“We’re a D-line that puts a lot of pressure on the quarterback,” said Mesidor, who has 3 1/2 sacks in the playoffs. “Our DBs are big and fast and great players. I think we help each other out, 100%. We put pressure on the quarterback, have him make a mistake.”
Ole Miss is ranked No. 65 nationally in rushing defense (146.1 yards per game), and yielded 124 yards to Georgia last week. Fletcher ran for 172 of Miami’s 175 yards against Texas A&M and ran for 90 of the Hurricanes’ 153 yards on the ground against Ohio State last week.
“They have a lot of confidence in their run game,” Ole Miss linebacker TJ Dottery said Tuesday. “It’s very physical, and that’s somewhat of a model to dominate up front. And that’s our plan, to dominate their line of scrimmage and shut that down.”
Chambliss had one of the best games of his career against Georgia, completing 30 of 46 passes for 362 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.
Miami’s top defensive players are conscious of the challenge that awaits them with Chambliss’ playmaking ability.
“I definitely think it’s something everybody collectively as a defense has to focus on,” said Miami defensive back Keionte Scott, who had a key 72-yard interception return for a touchdown against Ohio State. “I don’t think you can put it on one or two position groups. When it gets to that point where it breaks down or it doesn’t break down, I think everybody doing their job (1 through 11) can erase a lot of those things.”
