Everything Carson Beck Said Ahead of Matchup Against No. 7 Texas A&M

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Time is starting to wind down before the College Football Playoff game between the Miami Hurricanes and Texas A&M. Both teams are hyper-focused and prepared to reach the next round in the Cotton Bowl; others have more on their shoulders than not.

Quarterback Carson Beck was brought into Miami for this specific reason. Reach the CFP and make a run with the Canes.

Miami has done it, sneaking in over Notre Dame, and now, the Hurricanes' star quarterback looks to use his experience and leadership to work for the Hurricanes in their first playoff game in program history.

On His Experience...

The atmosphere and the environment is gonna be next to none, and for us, what that means is focusing out on our preparation, right? That's all we can do is focus on our preparation. Obviously, we're super excited for this opportunity, super excited for the challenge that this is gonna, you know, bring towards us.  But again, all you got to do is focus on your preparation and continue to work each day, and then ultimately on Saturday, go out and execute.

What Stands Out What Stands Out With the Aggies Third Down Defense...

Yeah, I mean, obviously, the number one team in the country on third downs, and A, a lot of that is accredited to the players that they have on their defense. They're obviously super talented in the back end, super talented up front, and, you know, in their linebacking core.  But another part of that is the scheme that they do, right? What their DC has, obviously, schemed up each and every week, scheming up protections and bringing different types of blitzes and mixing up coverages and things of that sort. So again, we understand, you know, the challenge that we're gonna have to face when it comes to third down, and obviously, that's a huge emphasis for us as we head into this game on Saturday.

On the Team Meeting that Turn the Season Around...

Yeah, I think a lot of times, just in the world that we live in with the media and social media and just everything, all the noise around you, that, you know, sometimes that outside noise can start to kind of leak in, right?  And it's really hard to keep that out, especially as a team, right? And everybody hears it, but I think that meeting really resonated with us because all the negativity that outside leaking in, like, we watched that, and we' seen that, and we met about it and it's like, yeah, this is who we are, right? Like, we've put it on film, we've done this, we've done it before, we've beat very talented teams, and this is what we're capable of, like finishing out this regular season.  And obviously, we were able to do that and finish the way we wanted to, and now have earned the opportunity to, you know, play in this playoff and go play Texas A&M on Saturday.

On Francis Mauigoa...

Obviously, he's been here since the beginning, right?  Obviously, when Coach Cristobal came in, he's one of the first guys who has been, obviously, in this university at theU for his whole tenure, and he leads that offensive line, right? And obviously, there's a lot of older guys on that offensive line, and they lead the way, right? I've said that this whole entire season, that those two group D line O line, they lead the way on both sides of the ball, and we're right behind him, Obviously, he's one of the best players in the country at what he does, and again, I'm happy that we have him on our team, and I'm happy that he's up there at right tackle protecting me.

On How He Feels Physically Heading into this Game

I mean, I feel great, obviously, I haven't played a game in a couple of weeks, and really, the biggest thing is staying in shape, right? Stay in shape, trying to get stronger, right, put on some extra muscle, that maybe you lost, uh, you know, throughout the season, it's kind of hard to maintain that, you know, as you go to the season, you're playing games again, bang up, you're beat up, right?  So, you're a little time off. It doesn't necessarily mean that it's time off, right? It's time to work.  It's time to get better. And I think that's what we've done. That's what we've been doing.  You know, these past two weeks, and as we head into this week of preparation, is just continuously getting better, staying in shape, conditioning, and ultimately getting that physicality and that edge back so that we're ready on Saturday.

On the Others That are Starting to Make an Impact...

Yeah, well, you get, I obviously CJ goes down, right?  Lyle's been battling. You know, injury throughout the season, and you get guys that can go down, and obviously, it's always next man nap, but, we really mean that when we say that, right? And then we've also shown that. You know, those guys have really stepped up and those big-time situations and big-time games right in big-time moments as well, you know, making big runs on first down, explosive runs, making big plays on third down, touchdown catches, things of that sort.  Again, the chemistry continues to go, and it's really all starting to come together at the right time, I feel like, for us. And, again, those guys are stepping up in an instrumental way for our team,

On Miami Making the College Football Playoff

That means everything. And you just said it, you kind of answered the question, is sorry about that., you're good, you're good, you're good.  I mean, this is what I came here for. Obviously, back a year ago, I was waiting to, you know, get surgery on my right arm, which is it's crazy how much can happen in a year. And here we are, right?  It's been one hell of a year, and there's been a lot of adversity that we've had to face as a team, that I've had to face individually, you know, in that moment to see the you come up on the TV, I obviously was extremely excited, and ready for the opportunity, right? This team is excited to compete. We're excited to go out there and show the product and the brand of what the U is, right, what the U is, and what it stands for, and the culture of who we are.  So, again, we've been preparing our butt off, and we're ready to go compete.

And honestly, just based off of the way that everything was trending right, and obviously we started lower, just based off of kind of when they started the rankings and whatnot, but we knew what had to be done.  We knew what we were capable of to put ourselves in a position for the people that were making the decision to see, hey, like, these guys are are ready and can compete with anybody, kind of like I said, after the pit game, and I truly believe that. And, you know, obviously they made the decision to put us in and here we are preparing and I have been preparing these past two weeks to go, Face Texas A&M on the road.