College Football Playoff semifinals 2025: Takeaways from every game - ESPN

We can only hope that the second semifinal is as good as the first.

On Thursday night in the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl, Miami watched multiple leads disappear, dropped potential interceptions, committed penalties and still gutted its way into the College Football Playoff National Championship game with a 31-27 win over Ole Miss.

Carson Beck's 3-yard touchdown run made the difference, but it was a wonderful back-and-forth affair until the end.

As we prepare for the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl between Indiana and Oregon on Friday evening, here are the key plays and takeaways from an incredible first semifinal.

Miami paid millions of dollars to bring Beck to town, and in the drive that would define his season with the Hurricanes, he led them 75 yards for the winning touchdown to send them to the national title game. Money well spent, huh?

Beck's 3-yard touchdown scramble with 18 seconds left capped a madcap fourth quarter that featured four lead changes and even saw Ole Miss drive close enough for a shot at the end zone on the final play.

The Hurricanes hogged the ball for much of the game — time of possession after three quarters: Miami 33:50, Ole Miss 11:10 — but dropped four potential interceptions, missed a field goal and threw a pick deep in Rebels territory. Given extra life, Ole Miss took two fourth-quarter leads, first on Lucas Carneiro's fourth field goal of the evening, then on a 24-yard touchdown pass from Trinidad Chambliss to Dae'Quan Wright. But with four third-down conversions, Beck guided the Canes down the field and won the game.

Miami games don't tend to feature many big plays, for or against, but chunk plays caused some pretty big swings in this one.

Kewan Lacy's 73-yard burst early in the second quarter — Ole Miss'