COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Miami brought a bad defense to the Texas A’s&M on Saturday to defeat the seventh-seeded Aggies in a College Football Playoff game.
The No. 10-seeded Hurricanes forced Marcel Reed into three turnovers and sacked him seven times in the 10-3 win.
“The defense was off the charts all day,” coach Mario Cristobal said.
They move on to face No. 2 Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl on New Year’s Eve.
Texas A&M had a chance to tie it after freshman Malachi Toney’s 11-yard touchdown reception with less than two minutes left in the game.
The Aggies drove down the field and got a first down at the 5. But Miami (11-2) forced back-to-back incompletions before fellow freshman Bryce Fitzgerald jumped into the end zone for his second interception of the day to secure the win.
“When the lights come on, some people kind of own it. He’s that guy,” Cristobal said. “When the lights come on, he knows what to do, how to do it, and there’s no hesitation in that guy at all. You don’t feel any kind of reservation from him as a freshman.”
Hurricanes strangled Texas AA potent &M attack that entered the game averaging 36.3 points per game. Combined with Reed’s seven sacks, they took him out of the pocket and forced him to attempt tough throws over and over again. He was 25 of 39 for 257 yards but couldn’t get the Aggies into the end zone for the first time this season.
“I’m just trying to make sure he’s uncomfortable and trying not to run the same coverage every time…and I thought our guys did a really good job of handling it all day,” defensive coordinator Corey Heatherman said.
They also restricted Texas A&M to 89 yards rushing on 35 carries with the team’s longest run coming on an 11-yard run by Reed.
Defensive end Rueben Bain Jr., the ACC Defensive Player of the Year, had four tackles for loss and three sacks to lead Miami’s massive pass rush. The junior also blocked a field goal in the second quarter to help the Canes beat Texas A’s& m before the end of the first half.
Payne credited Heatherman, who is in his first year at the school, for the team’s defensive success on Saturday.
“It’s crazy for us to win this game like that,” Payne said. “From the first snap to the last, the defense came to play, and that’s the way it’s going to be, especially when you have someone like Coach Heatherman, someone like that, coaching us every game just to come out and play our best.”
Toney’s big play was made possible by a defensive stance after he fumbled the ball on the previous possession. He set up a reception, but Dalton Brooks knocked the ball out and it was recovered by Texas A’s Damion Sanford.&M 47 about seven minutes before the end.
The Hurricanes got the ball back when Payne sacked Reed on two of three plays on the next drive to force a punt.
Heatherman talked about the growth of the defense, which allowed the team to improve throughout the season.
“Now that the defense is connected, and now they want to play for each other, they want to come out and compete in every series,” Heatherman said. “They don’t want to let themselves down.”
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