Keelan Marion #0 of the Miami Hurricanes celebrates after defeating the Ohio State Buckeyes 24-14 during the 2025 College Football Playoff Quarterfinal at the 90th Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic at AT&T Stadium on December 31, 2025 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images)
It's Miami vs Ole Miss tonight in the Fiesta Bowl College Football Playoff semi-final. The winner faces the victor from tomorrow's other semi-final between Oregon and Indiana in the Peach Bowl. Both teams took interesting paths to get where they are.
Beginning with the Hurricanes, many thought they would not make the playoffs. Most of the season they seemed to be on the outside looking in because Notre Dame was in their way in the college football playoff rankings. Funny thing was, Miami beat Notre Dame early in the season. Finally justice prevailed in that regard and in the final release of the rankings Notre Dame was out and Miami was in.
MIAMI VS OLE MISS
So the question remained, "Was Miami good enough to be in?" At first we weren't so sure. In their first playoff game, which seems like months ago, they beat Texas A&M on the road 10-3. That game was 3-3 late. It was hard to tell if the Canes were good or if that was a bad game.
But we got our answer the following week when the Hurricanes bullied #2 ranked Ohio State 24-14. That game was won in the trenches. Miami, from the ACC, looked more like a Big Ten team than Ohio State did.
As for Ole Miss, where do we start? While we expected them to be a playoff team we did not expect them to go this far. They've suffered through too much turmoil, right? Coach Lane Kiffin left them high and dry to take the LSU job. Some of Kiffin's assistants that he is taking with him to Baton Rough have hung around to help coach Ole Miss, while also recruiting the transfer portal for LSU. Crazy huh?
Miami vs Ole Miss will be decided on the field tonight and we will break it all down with the latest college football talk and analysis on Craig Shemon and Company from 2-6 pm on ESPN Southwest Florida.
