Miami Hurricanes QB Carson Beck scores the game-winning TD against Mississippi with only 18 seconds left.

Miami receiver Keelan Marion had seven catches for 114 yards and a touchdown in the Fiesta Bowl.

The University of Miami Hurricanes kicked off this mega-weekend of football (college and professional) in America. The 10thranked ‘Canes literally outlasted the sixth-seeded Rebels of the University of Mississippi 31-27, in game one of the semifinal rounds of the College Football Playoffs.

’Canes coach Mario Cristobal explained: “We struggled throughout this game. We didn’t play our best, but we played well enough in the clutch moments to pull out this victory.”

In a game that featured multiple lead changes and high drama in the fourth quarter, right down to the final play, Miami, better known as “The U,” emerged victorious. The Hurricanes advance to the NCAA Division One Championship game on Jan. 19 at the Orange Bowl, literally a home game.

Miami quarterback Carson Beck, the Most Valuable Player of the Fiesta Bowl Classic, was 23-37 for 268 yards and two touchdown passes. He led his team on a 15- play, 75-yard game-winning drive with three minutes and 13 seconds left in regulation play. Beck capped it off with a three-yard touchdown run with just 18 seconds left. Beck said, “After all I have been through [surgery on his throwing arm followed by a torturous rehabilitation and a transfer from the University of Georgia to Miami] this past year, I am so grateful to be where I am with a chance to play for a national championship.”

He and his Miami teammates had to hold their collective breath for the final 18 seconds. That was almost enough time for a miraculous finish by Ole Miss star quarterback Trinidad Chambliss, who was spectacular throughout the game, throwing for 277 yards and a TD.

Chambliss took his team 52 yards in 18 seconds, only to see his last pass bounce off the right hand of his receiver in the end zone as time expired. A closer look at the play showed that the receiver was interfered with in the end zone. That call would have put the ball on the one-yard line, giving the Rebels another play and a chance to win the game. No call was made.

Miami advances to the championship game, while the Rebels of Mississippi end a tumultuous season. Their team was deserted by head coach Lane Kiffin, who left for the LSU head coaching job. They were being coached by his assistant, Pete Golding, and a few remaining members of the Kiffin coaching staff who stayed around to help Golding before moving on to join Kiffin in Baton Rouge.

The Rebels played their guts out for Golding and for themselves. It created a wonderful story of “team unity” and perseverance. Golding reiterated that statement, saying, “I can’t tell you how proud I am of this group. They never panicked. They never flinched. They’re led by special young men.”

It is a story that deserved a better ending. A footnote to this story: star quarterback Chambliss had his attempt to return to Ole Miss for a sixth year of eligibility rejected by the NCAA. He is appealing the decision.

The Hurricanes’ opponent in the championship game will be the top-ranked Indiana Hoosiers, who are 15-0 and carry a short history of routs against top-ranked teams, including a 38-3 manhandling of perennial power Alabama. The Hoosiers will enter that game with a chance to make history.

Following their thorough 56-22 demolition of fifth-ranked Oregon in game two of the College Football Playoff semifinal competition, Indiana can be the first team to complete a 16-0 season in NCAA Division One history. Indiana is led by oach Curt Cignetti, who sports a perpetual sideline scowl that makes him look like one of the “grumpy old men” Muppet characters.

His team has Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza at the helm, and they are a juggernaut to be reckoned with. Cignetti has amassed a 26-2 record in his first two seasons at Indiana, the most wins by a coach in his first two seasons at any college since the Associated Press Poll debuted in 1936.

Win number 26 was a story of complete domination from start to finish by the Hoosiers. An interception returned for a touchdown by Hoosier defensive back D’Angelo Ponds, who was Defensive Player of the Game, on the first play of the opening series, proved to be the death knell for Oregon. The Ducks got as close as a 7-7 tie before the Hoosiers blew them off the field.

Mendoza drove his team right down the field, completing four straight passes on a scoring drive, including a 23-yard TD pass to Omar Cooper Jr., that made the score 14-7 Indiana, and the rout was on. Mendoza, who was Offensive Player of the Game, continued his scintillating postseason play by tossing five touchdown passes on 17-20 passing (eight touchdown passes, five incompletions in two College Football Playoff Games).

Mendoza: “Giving all glory to God, we are just a bunch of gritty guys who play together and try to win every game that we play. We don’t have any five-star recruits. This is a collaborative effort by everyone involved with this team.”

Coach Cignetti: “Much of our success comes from the fact that we get guys that want to win more than they want to be drafted into the National Football League.”

So, the stage is set for the National Championship Game of College Football, Jan. 19 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. The Hurricanes are considered to have home-field advantage. Several back stories play into this game. Fernando Mendoza was raised less than one mile from the University of Miami campus. Coaches Cignetti and Cristobal were colleagues at the University of Alabama under Nick Saban. On Jan. 19 they will go head-to-head on the turf in the Sunshine State.