The Scarlet and Gray

[djp73]

pressure

[Caesar]

Don't know who to root for in this game.

[toysoldier00]

Ohio State 24, Miami (FL) 31: Miami Stuns Ohio State as Second-Half Mistakes Flip the Rose Bowl
By Zachary Anderson on December 31, 2025


Jeremiah Smith's late third quarter fumble just yards from the end zone was the key play of this game.



Ohio State arrived in Pasadena looking like the most complete team in the country, undefeated, fresh off a Big Ten title, and armed with the kind of balance that usually survives a bad quarter.

Miami didn’t care. The Hurricanes absorbed the early punches, kept their poise, and used a punishing fourth-quarter finish, plus two devastating Ohio State turnovers after halftime, to walk out of the Rose Bowl with a 31-24 win that ends the Buckeyes’ perfect season and sends Mario Cristobal’s program surging into the playoff’s next round.

The night began the way Ohio State fans have watched so many games begin in 2025: the defense set the tone, the offense took the early lead, and the stadium felt like it was tilting scarlet. Miami went three-and-out on its opening possession.

Julian Sayin and the Buckeyes immediately responded with an opening drive that mixed quick rhythm throws and efficient runs, capped by a 1-yard touchdown pass to freshman tight end Nate Roberts. Ohio State led 7-0, and for a moment, it looked like the No. 1 seed might turn this into another clinical Ohio State script.


The Buckeyes got off to an early start, when Julian Sayin hit freshman tight end Nate Roberts for a 7-yard touchdown.

Then came the first sign that Miami was not going away. On the Hurricanes’ next possession, Carson Beck found running back Mark Fletcher Jr. on a swing route that looked like it could become a chunk play, until Sonny Styles chased it down from behind and jarred the ball loose. Arvell Reese fell on the fumble, and Ohio State had a chance to land a second haymaker before Miami had even found its breath.

Ryan Day later pointed to that sequence as the standard Ohio State expects to live in.

“That’s the kind of football we’ve played all year,” Day said. “You create a takeaway, you give your offense a short field, and you have to make it count.”

Ohio State did add points, a drive aided by a pass interference penalty ended with a field goal, but it was also the first hint that Miami could bend without breaking. The Buckeyes’ 10-0 lead with 1:02 left in the first quarter felt substantial, but it didn’t feel definitive, not against a team that clearly came to trade blows.

Miami’s response was the calmest stretch of offense Beck has played in weeks. He went 8-for-8 on the next drive, cutting through Ohio State’s coverage with quick, confident completions, and Fletcher finished it with a short touchdown run to make it 10-7 with 9:28 left in the half. When Miami’s defense forced a punt on the next series, the game had officially changed from Ohio State’s early command to something closer to a chess match.


Mark Fletcher Jr. got Miami on the scoreboard early in the second half.

The Buckeyes briefly reclaimed the emotional edge thanks to the one player who seems to do that by himself. With 6:07 left in the second quarter, Jeremiah Smith caught an 8-yard curl, broke a tackle, turned the corner on the safety, and outran everyone for a touchdown. One play, 17-7, and the Ohio State crowd finally sounded like it had found its voice.

It didn’t last.

Miami answered again, this time with a deep shot to Malachi Toney setting the table before Fletcher powered in for his second touchdown with 3:23 left in the half. Ohio State squandered its own late-half opportunity with clock management issues, and the Buckeyes went to the locker room with a 17-14 lead that suddenly felt fragile.

Cristobal said afterward that the halftime message was simple: keep playing the brand of football that got them here. “We weren’t going to flinch,” Cristobal said. “Not in this stadium, not against this opponent. We knew if we kept playing our game, the opportunities would come. And when they came, we had to finish.”

Miami finished first.

Ohio State opened the third quarter with a punt, and the Hurricanes drove for the game’s first lead, with Beck finding tight end Alex Bauman on a 10-yard touchdown. Caleb Downs leveled Bauman at the goal line, but Bauman stretched the ball across anyway, and the Rose Bowl’s feel shifted from “Ohio State cruising” to “Ohio State sweating” in a hurry. Miami led 21-17, and for the first time all season, the Buckeyes looked like they were playing a game that demanded perfection.


Alex Bauman's third quarter touchdown gave the Hurricanes their first lead of the game.

They didn’t have it.

Ohio State responded with a 14-play drive that finally looked like the Buckeyes had steadied themselves, until the defining mistake. With :51 left in the third quarter, Smith fumbled as he was going into the end zone, a momentum-killer that turned a potential lead-changing touchdown into a gut punch. Miami didn’t waste it. The Hurricanes bled clock, converted third downs, and kicked a field goal with 10:31 left to extend the lead to 24-17.

Then came the second mistake, and this one felt fatal. Ohio State went three-and-out, the defense forced a punt, and Sayin took the ball back with a chance to reset the game. Instead, Zechariah Poyser intercepted him with 6:43 left, a backbreaker that handed Miami both field position and the emotional high ground.


Alex Bauman's third quarter touchdown gave the Hurricanes their first lead of the game.

Miami delivered the dagger drive with a mix of toughness and nerve, highlighted by an improbable moment: on third-and-11, Beck broke two tackles on a 21-yard scramble, the kind of play that shouldn’t happen to Ohio State’s defense, and the kind that tells you a team’s belief has hit a new level. Fletcher finished it with a 3-yard touchdown run with four minutes to play. Miami led 31-17, and the unthinkable was suddenly very real.

Ohio State still had one last swing. Sayin engineered a touchdown drive that included a fourth-and-17 heave to Smith for a 45-yard touchdown with 1:57 left. With three timeouts, the Buckeyes had a pulse. They even got the stop they needed, almost. Fletcher ripped off an 8-yard run on first down, and after a tackle for loss, it came down to third-and-3. Miami threw to Toney, but Malik Hartford broke it up. Ohio State would get the ball at its own 44 with 1:25 left.


Julian Sayin and Jeremiah Smith connected for a 45-yard touchdown on 4th down with just under two minutes to keep the game alive.

But there was no miracle finish. Ohio State went underneath three straight times, couldn’t break tackles, and faced fourth-and-3 at Miami’s 49. Sayin went back to Smith, the only choice that made sense, but Poyser arrived again, breaking it up to effectively seal the game. Miami knelt it out. The Rose Bowl belonged to the Hurricanes.

Statistically, it was the kind of game Ohio State usually survives. The Buckeyes outgained Miami 491-430, and the first downs and third downs were essentially even. But the turnovers came in the worst possible moments, and Miami’s ability to win at the line of scrimmage in the second half mattered more than any yardage chart.

Sayin finished 33-of-49 for 362 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. Bo Jackson had 57 yards on nine carries and added 58 receiving yards on five catches. James Peoples had 51 yards on nine carries. Smith was brilliant and tragic all at once: 10 catches for 179 yards and two touchdowns, plus the fumble that changed the night. Carnell Tate added six catches for 52 yards.


Jeremiah Smith went for 179 yards and two touchdowns, but his fumble will haunt him.

Ohio State’s defense, so often the game’s loudest voice, couldn’t find its usual disruptive edge, no sacks, and only one true jolt play, Styles’ first-half forced fumble.

Beck was composed and sharp, going 28-of-40 for 369 yards and a touchdown while adding 20 rushing yards on three carries, including that decisive scramble. Fletcher’s rushing line wasn’t huge, 41 yards on 20 carries, but the three touchdowns were everything, and the eight-yard run that ruined Ohio State’s final comeback chances was the kind of “winning football” play that defines postseason nights.

Tony Johnson had 103 yards on nine catches, CJ Daniels added 78, Toney broke the game open with 86 on four, and Bauman’s touchdown delivered the first lead. Reuben Bain Jr. added 1.5 sacks, and Poyser’s interception and late pass breakup put his fingerprints on the upset.

Day didn’t blame one player, but he didn’t dodge the truth either. “We had opportunities to put that game away,” he said. “And we didn’t. Against a team like that, in a game like this, you don’t get to leave points out there and you don’t get to give possessions back.”


Miami's defense made their presence known, bringing a level of physicality Ohio State could not match.

If there was one clear takeaway beyond the turnovers, it was the trench story. Miami’s front made Ohio State uncomfortable far more often than Ohio State made Miami uncomfortable, and the contrast showed most vividly when the game tightened. The Buckeyes threw 49 times because the rhythm demanded it, and Miami kept hitting Sayin, kept squeezing space, kept forcing Ohio State to earn everything.

Ohio State’s season will still be remembered as dominant, and this roster is still loaded with the kind of talent that turns a program into an annual title threat. But on a night when the Buckeyes needed to be their cleanest self, Miami was steadier, tougher, and more opportunistic, and the Hurricanes earned every bit of the Rose Bowl shocker.

Qtr	Time	Team	Result	Play	OHST	MIA
1st	7:33		TD	Nate Robets, 1 Yd pass from Julian Sayin	7	0
1st	0:58		FG	Jayden Fielding, 38 Yd FG	10	0
2nd	9:25		TD	Mark Fletcher Jr., 1 Yd run	10	7
2nd	5:57		TD	Jeremiah Smith, 60 Yd pass from Julian Sayin	17	7
2nd	3:22		TD	Mark Fletcher Jr., 1 Yd run	17	14
3rd	5:27		TD	Alex Bauman, 10 Yd pass from Carson Beck	17	21
4th	10:27		FG	Bert Auburn, 42 Yd FG	17	24
4th	3:57		TD	Mark Fletcher Jr., 3 Yd run	17	31
4th	1:49		TD	Jeremiah Smith, 45 Yd pass from Julian Sayin	24	31

[Captain Canada]

What a devastating loss. That one is going to stick with you for a lil bit.

Damn shame.

[toysoldier00]

Wow a lot of movement in the portal, will be fun to see where they all end up. Yall got to reload

Just became all the more important now.

Miami in for one hell of an ass-whooping. Better not stumble here or Soapy will never let you hear the end of it

You might have to leave the board if you lose in real life and game to Miami.

too busy plotting my revenge

can't fold after that article. boys gotta get it done, even if they gotta leave some Canes in body bags after

the pressure got to us

pressure

I ain't gonna lie, it got to me

Don't know who to root for in this game.

It may have ended up being better if Miami just lost this one. Making it my mission to destroy them now.

What a devastating loss. That one is going to stick with you for a lil bit.

Damn shame.

Nightmare fuel, truly.

[Caesar]

Oof. Lost control of the game there and just fell too far behind too late in it.

[redsox907]

oh man. That was not on my bingo card.

Gonna be a long offseason trying to get over that one

[YaBoyRobRoy]

Jeremiah Smith sold! Brutal end to what seemed like a season of destiny. Excited to see what's next for the Buckeyes

[ShireNiner]

I'd post a bunch of updates before a certain Miami fan comes back and sees this. Just my 2 cents. Good luck.

[djp73]

I don’t like Miami but I hate Ohio State. Will be fun to see how you buy build next years roster.