Miami Stuns Ohio State 24-14 in Historic CFP Upset

The Night the Hurricanes Rewrote Playoff History

MIAMI GARDENS — At the stroke of midnight the roar that rolled out of Hard Rock Stadium sounded nothing like a college crowd and everything like a coastal squall. Miami, a 17-point underdog, had just toppled mighty Ohio State 24-14, delivering the largest upset in the nine-year annals of the College Football Playoff and turning South Florida’s winter sky orange.

Fourth-Quarter Lightning

Trailing 14-10 with 11:12 left, quarterback Jalen Brown dropped a 42-yard dime to Jacolby Williams on third-and-9, igniting a drive that ended with his own 11-yard bootleg. The Hurricanes never gave the ball back. Safety Darius Miller’s one-handed interception with 2:03 remaining sealed the verdict and sent students spilling onto the field in a jubilant, towel-waving tide.

“We believed at 6 a.m. in July,” Brown said, helmet still on, tears cutting through eye-black. “Everybody else just caught up at midnight.”

Defense Sets the Tone

Miami’s front seven harassed Buckeyes quarterback Evan Stewart into five sacks and a season-low 182 passing yards. Cornerback Malik Ransom jarred loose two third-down passes, turning red-zone trips into field-goal attempts and keeping the sellout crowd in full throat.

• Miami out-gained Ohio State 387-312 despite a 9-minute deficit in time of possession.
• The Hurricanes converted 9 of 16 third downs; the Buckeyes managed 3 of 13.
• Third-string tailback Kyren Davis, pressed into action after two injuries, galloped for 103 yards on 19 carries.

Playoff Landscape Shaken

The upset vaults No. 7 Miami (12-1) into the national semifinal against SEC champion Georgia, while No. 2 Ohio State (11-2) faces an off-season of what-if. The Buckeyes had reached two of the past three title games and entered Saturday averaging 43 points.

“Sometimes the bear eats you,” Ohio State coach Ryan Day said. “Tonight we got eaten.”

Oddsmakers listed the result as a 19-point swing from the opening line, eclipsing the previous CFP upset record—Utah over Alabama by 10 in 2022. Sports-books in Las Vegas reported seven-figure losses on money-line tickets that paid as high as 9-to-1.

From 5-7 to Center Stage

First-year head coach Lance Bennett, hired last December after the program stumbled to its first losing season since 1997, stood atop a ladder at midfield, holding the game ball aloft as fireworks painted the clouds. Athletic director Jennifer Ruiz announced inside the locker room that the school would erect a commemorative mural on campus before semester’s end.

Across South Florida, car horns blared until dawn. Miami-Dade police estimated spontaneous block parties in at least 14 neighborhoods. The city of Miami Beach tweeted a 4-minute video of Biscayne Boulevard awash in green and orange, captioned simply: “It’s a Cane thing.”

Next stop: Atlanta. The Hurricanes will meet the Bulldogs in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl on Jan. 1 for the right to play for the national championship. History says they have no chance. History, on this night, already took a hit.