What Miami's thrilling victory over Ole Miss mean for Ohio State

The Miami Hurricanes conducted one of the best final drives of the season as they needed 15 plays to score the game-winning touchdown to beat the Ole Miss Rebels 31-27 in the semifinals of the playoffs.

This is now the third straight win for the Hurricanes in the postseason, and they are now one away from winning the national championship. One of those victories was against the Ohio State Buckeyes, as they took them down on New Year's Eve, 24-14.

There are many ways to look at the Hurricanes' run in the playoffs as similar to what Ohio State did last year, winning four straight to take home the national title. Buckeyes fans might be wondering how Miami's win over Ole Miss affects Ohio State.

First of all, it was good to see Miami be competitive and take down an SEC school like Ole Miss, which has been stellar all season. It does, in some sense, vindicate Ohio State from losing to them in the playoffs.

Ohio State can hang its hat on being able to slow down Hurricanes running back Mark Fletcher Jr., who rushed for 90 yards and averaged 4.7 yards per game against the Buckeyes defense. Fletcher had a better game against the Rebels, rushing for 133 yards and six yards per carry.

Overall, the Buckeyes' defense played better than Ole Miss did against the Hurricanes' offense. Ohio State allowed 291 yards while the Rebels surrendered 459 yards in their loss.

It might be unfair to compare the two defenses, but the Buckeyes had one of the most dominant units in the nation, finishing in the top five in total defense and first in points allowed per game. Ohio State always had a better defense and would match up a bit better than the Rebels did.

The biggest difference between the Rebels and Buckeyes was the mistakes. Ole Miss finished more drives with points because it protected the football better. Buckeyes quarterback Julian Sayin threw two interceptions against Miami, which allowed them to score just 14 points, and two drives stalled out that could have been scoring drives.

Ohio State's biggest takeaway is that the defense is exactly where it needs to be as a unit, despite having to replace some big names like Caleb Downs and Arvell Reese, who both have declared for the NFL Draft.

It's the offense that needs some work, with Sayin needing some development going into his second season as the starter, which will come with time, so Buckeyes fans shouldn't worry about that, as they are still set up well for the future.