Miami’s defensive line holds the key to Cotton Bowl vs. Ohio State, and it can pull the upset

Story by

Story by
Miami’s defensive line holds the key to Cotton Bowl vs. Ohio State, and it can pull the upset

Troy Finnegan, ClutchPoints · ClutchPoints

Mon, Dec 29, 2025 ·

6 min read

About Our Ads

Miami's defensive line holds the key to Cotton Bowl vs. Ohio State, and it can pull the upset appeared first on ClutchPoints . Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here .

The College Football Playoff quarterfinals are almost here, as the top four teams are coming off of byes and are ready to resume their push for a national championship. However, it won't be easy for any of the top seeds, as all of them re playing against hungry teams that are playing with a lot of confidence after winning first-round games.

Last season, that spelled trouble for the top seeds, as the four teams with byes went 0-4 in the quarterfinals. That included a win for Ohio State, which was coming off of a first-round win over Tennessee, in a blowout of Oregon in the Rose Bowl.

Now, the Buckeyes will try their hand at getting a win with the extra rest. When New Year's Eve comes, it will have been 25 days since the Buckeyes played in the Big Ten title game on Dec. 6. Meanwhile, 10th-seeded Miami is coming off of a hard-fought 10-3 win over Texas A&M and will be playing with a swagger in this game, especially defensively.

Miami's offense against Ohio State's defense has the potential to be an ugly mismatch. The Hurricanes tend to get in ruts, especially in the passing game, and Carson Beck is prone to coughing up turnovers at the worst times. That is bad news against an Ohio State defense that is arguably the best unit in the nation, with NFL talent littered all over the field.

However, if Beck can take care of the ball and Miami can hit a few big plays with Malachi Toney and come of their other talented skill players, the Hurricanes defense can keep them in the game and potentially cause a seismic upset against the defending champs in the Cotton Bowl on Wednesday night.

Miami's defensive line is the key to victory

If Mario Cristobal and company want to pull off the upset in this game, they are going to have to dominate the line of scrimmage especially on the defensive side of the ball.

That starts with the Miami defensive line. The Hurricanes' front absolutely wrecked the Texas A&M offensive line in the first round of the CFP, and it will have to do it again on Wednesday to keep its season alive.

The Miami front has done that to a number of teams throughout the season, including to Notre Dame back in Week 1, but Cristobal's group has been flying a bit under the radar of late after a pair of midseason losses to Louisville and SMU. Now, that unit is back to playing some of the best football in the country.

That starts against the run, where Miami is one of the best teams in the country at stopping the ground game. Including the win over Texas A&M, Miami ranks seventh in college football with just 87 yards per game allowed on the ground (side note: the top seven teams in run defense all made the CFP. Take notes everyone!).

Against Texas A&M, a very good rushing team that had star running back Le'Veon Moss back in the lineup, Miami gave up just 89 rushing yards on 35 attempts. That's a good sign going into a game against Ohio State where stopping the run will be paramount.

Miami gets the job done on the ground by creating negative plays that put the offense behind the sticks. Star defensive end Rueben Bain Jr. and linebackers Wesley Bissainthe and Mohamed Toure have 19 stops against the run each on the season, defined by PFF as a tackle that results in a failed play for the offense. The Hurricanes will need plenty more of that in this game if they want to hold the Ohio State offense down.

While the Buckeyes have an explosive running back in Bo Jackson, they have an average running game by most numbers. Their 162.8 yards per game on the ground ranks just 63rd in the country, so there will be openings for Miami to have success.

However, while the down-to-down success may not be there, Jackson's ability to create big plays out of thin air is something that Miami definitely has to be wary of. The freshman averages 4.17 yards after contact per attempt, good for seventh in the country according to PFF. He has also has 35 runs of 10 or more yards, accounting for almost 20% of his carries and ranking in the top 10 overall in college football.

If Miami can bottle Jackson up, then the pass rush can get after it on late downs.

Miami's run defense can open up the pass rush

The run defense may be the meat and potatoes of this game for Miami, but the Hurricanes may need to create some big plays with their pass rush in order to keep pace with the Buckeyes.

Bain and Akheem Mesidor form one of the best pass-rushing duos in football and both are capable of wrecking a game at any time. Both rank in the top 15 in PFF's pass-rushing productivity stat among players with 300 pass rush snaps, putting them both in that elite category when it comes to rushing the quarterback.

Bain was especially great in the first-round game in College Station, restoring his status as one of the top overall prospects in the upcoming NFL Draft despite a quiet couple of months. He finished that game with three sacks and five quarterback hurries, constantly disrupting Marcel Reed in the pocket and completely dominating the game from his defensive end spot.

Ohio State has kept quarterback Julian Sayin clean for the most part this season — he's been pressured on just under 25% of his dropbacks this season — but Miami must affect him in the pocket to win this game. Sayin's pressure numbers aren't bad by any stretch, especially for a first-year starter, but he is a machine when working in clean pockets.

Sayin has dominated opposing defenses when he gets to throw from a clean pocket all season long. He completes a staggering 83.1% of his passes in those situations, throwing for 9.4 yards per attempt and 24 touchdowns to just four interceptions, so it's almost impossible to stop this offense when he is rolling.

When Sayin is under pressure, his completion percentage drops to just 61.5%. He still doesn't turn the ball over much, but that's clearly the way to force some unsuccessful plays and get that offense off the field.

Miami has a very good secondary, but no group of defensive backs can hold Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate down for an entire game if the quarterback has all day to throw. For Miami to counter those two receivers on the outside, it's up to Bain, Mesidor and the rest of the defensive front to dominate the game and be the best group on the field.

Mobilize your Website

View Site in Mobile | Classic

Share by: