GLENDALE, Ariz. 鈥� The Miami Hurricanes are heading home.
And when they get there, they鈥檒l be competing for a national championship.
The No. 10 Hurricanes defeated the No. 6 Ole Miss Rebels, 31-27, in a College Football Playoff semifinal at the Fiesta Bowl on Thursday at State Farm Stadium.
Quarterback Carson Beck ran for a go-ahead 3-yard touchdown with 18 seconds left to cap a 15-play, 75-yard drive to seal the win. Beck completed 23 of 37 passes for 268 yards and two touchdowns with one interception along with that game-winning rushing touchdown.
Ole Miss desperately moved down the field, but their final pass attempt was broken up in the end zone with Ethan O鈥機onnor and Zechariah Poyser in coverage.
Miami (13-2), the last at-large team to make the 12-team playoff field, will now play for its sixth overall national championship and first since the 2001 season on Jan. 19 at the place they call home: Hard Rock Stadium. The Hurricanes will face the winner of tonight鈥檚 Peach Bowl between No. 1 Indiana (14-0) and No. 5 Oregon (13-1) for the title.
Ole Miss鈥� season ends with a 13-2 record.
That said, it wasn鈥檛 the Hurricanes鈥� prettiest game. Far from it.
And it nearly cost them.
The Hurricanes dominated time of possession thanks to a stout running game 鈥� Mark Fletcher Jr. had 133 rushing yards on 22 carries 鈥� but had trouble finishing drives throughout the night.
The defense bent a lot and didn鈥檛 break often but didn鈥檛 have any real signature plays. UM only sacked Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss once 鈥� and that came on an intentional grounding call on the Rebels鈥� opening drive. Hurricanes defenders dropped four would-be interceptions.
After being called for just four penalties through the first two rounds of the playoffs, Miami was flagged 10 times on Thursday 鈥� many coming at crucial times.
But in the end, Miami did just enough to move on 鈥� and at this point, moving on is all that matters.
And now, the Hurricanes are heading home to compete for a national championship.