How the Ohio State Buckeyes were stunned by Miami Hurricanes in CFP

The Miami Hurricanes pulled off the unbelieveable and upset the Ohio State Buckeyes, 24-14. It now makes Ohio State 0-3 on New Year's Eve in the College Football Playoff era. Miami was led by quarterback Carson Beck who finally showed up in the CFP going 19-26 for 138 yards, and one touchdown. With 7 rushes for 23 yards to go along with it.

But they real reason why Miami won is because of their defensive line dominating all night long. Coming away with five sacks, and forcing Sayin to make two crucial turnovers, the Hurricanes defense deserves a ton of credit. The story coming in was about Miami's defense and they delivered.

The game started off with the teams exchanging three and out's before the Hurricanes started to drive down the field their second drive. But it was Payton Pierce forcing a fumble as the Buckeyes took over, but were end up having to punt it away as it was a defensive battle early on.

At least that seemed like the case at first. But despite it being a tie game, Miami out-gained Ohio State 110-9 in total yards during the first quarter alone. The Hurricanes quickly kept their offensive momentum going as they took a 7-0 lead off of a passing touchdown from Beck to Fletcher.

You almost could have expected the Buckeyes to come out looking flat with 25 days off in between games. But expectations at Ohio State are just different.

The Buckeyes offense seemed to get going after a 59-yard bomb to Jeremiah Smith, but Julian Sayin proceeded to throw a pick-six just two plays later. Down double digits for the first time since the 2023 Cotton Bowl when Missouri handed Ohio State a 14-3 loss with Kyle McCord at the helm. With three sacks in the opening three drives, Miami's defense was as advertised to start.

In fact, the Buckeyes were shutout in the first half for the first time since the 2016 CFP Fiesta Bowl when they fell to Clemson, 31-0. It was a first half dominated by the Hurricanes as they walked into halftime with a 14-0 lead.

When you look back at this game, Ohio State coming up with two sacks to force a Miami punt before the half was looking to be crucial until Jayden Fielding missed yet another field goal. To go along with that, rushing for a total of negative three yards is just a recipe for disaster.

But the Buckeyes came out of the half determined to change things around, and especially the run game. They ended up running it six times for 35 yards on the opening drive in the second half which was capped off with a rushing touchdown from Bo Jackson to finally put Ohio State on the board as the Hurricanes still had a 14-7 lead.

The Buckeyes defense had their chances to force a punt on Miami's next drive, but were at least able to hold them to a 49-yard field goal making it a 17-7 game. Ohio State would of course respond though as Sayin caught fire ever since his pick-six. This time around, he finds Smith for a 14-yard touchdown on a crucial fourth down to make it a 17-14 game as the comeback was on.

It was the defense' turn to keep the momentum on the Buckeyes sideline and they did just that by forcing their first punt to open up the fourth quarter. But unfortunately it would not be enough as Sayin could not make the throws he needed to down the stretch.

Essentially putting the game away with a rushing touchdown by CharMar Brown, the Hurricanes took a commanding 24-14 lead with just 55 seconds left in the game. But the real nail in the coffin was one last interception by Sayin who could not escape the pressure tonight.