ARLINGTON, Texas — Miami head coach Mario Cristobal had already come and gone. So had a throng of Hurricanes wanting photos on the field in their new Cotton Bowl champion T-shirts.

Finally, 39 minutes after the game ended, one of the most unassuming heroes in Wednesday’s 24-14 College Football Playoff quarterfinal win over Ohio State found the victorious locker room and strolled in.

“Man,” quarterback Carson Beck said to no one in particular, “they started the party without me.”

The party, however, was worth the wait. Redemption always is.

Beck only passed for 138 yards Wednesday, with a lone touchdown pass on a screen to Mark Fletcher Jr. But stats don’t sum up Beck’s importance to the Hurricanes, his progress or what might be next — a showdown between Beck and the Georgia program he used to lead.

“For me individually, everything that’s happened and transpired over the past 12 months has been unreal,” Beck said.

Carson Beck vs. Georgia in the CFP semis? 👀

The Miami QB could face off against his former team in the next round 🍿 pic.twitter.com/9GD1bI1GJL

— ESPN (@espn) January 1, 2026

Beck’s career arc goes back even deeper. He was a blue-chip recruit who waited his turn at Georgia while Stetson Bennett led the Bulldogs to back-to-back national titles. He starred in his first season as a starter (2023) while drawing major NFL buzz, but he didn’t get a chance to play in the CFP because his Bulldogs missed the field. When Georgia made the quarterfinals last year, Beck couldn’t play in it again; he injured his elbow in the first half of the SEC title game.

He finally got the shot he envisioned on Wednesday, 373 days after his surgery.

“For me personally … it feels so good to have this opportunity,” Beck said.

He made the most of it. After missing his first two passes, Beck completed 19 of his final 24, including a Cotton Bowl-record 13 in a row. Beck passed 11 times on third or fourth down; he converted on seven of them. Offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson said Beck, again, made the right checks and moves in the run game to allow Miami to rush for 153 yards on a top-10 run defense.

“He really didn’t make any mistakes,” Dawson said.

Well, maybe one.

Dawson told Beck during the week that he’d have to run for a few conversions against an Ohio State defense that allowed a couple of opposing quarterbacks to slither through. That’s what Beck tried to do with a first-half scramble on third-and-3, but a replay review determined he fell a few feet short.

“When I didn’t get that one,” Beck said, “I was like, ‘You know what, if I get in this situation again, I’m running somebody over, and I’m getting the first down.’”

So when he found himself in that situation again — third-and-11 early in the fourth quarter — Beck ran a defender over. He avoided the ground by spinning over a Buckeye and falling just past the sticks.

“He wasn’t gonna be denied,” Dawson said.

Carson Beck was effective both through the air and on the ground against Ohio State. (Sam Hodde / Getty Images)

That rush — and his pair of third-down completions on the game-sealing drive — set up the possibility of one of the juiciest matchups of the CFP era: Beck versus his former team (if the Bulldogs can beat Ole Miss in Thursday’s quarterfinal).

After the game, Beck said he wished the Bulldogs good luck. He admitted thinking about a hypothetical showdown as he studied the bracket over the last few weeks. How could he not?

“Shoot, you turn on the TV, you see the Bulldogs, you see the red and black,” Beck said. “That was me.”

Some people in Georgia have already been thinking about the possibility, too. Beck’s mom, Tracy, said she heard from 20 Georgia folks on Wednesday.

“I don’t know how to explain it except that we support those friends, but obviously we want Miami to win,” Tracy said. “And can they win? Yes, they really can.”

It’s hard to argue with her after watching Miami’s lines push around the reigning national champions Wednesday night. If the defensive front dominates the way it did in the first half, Miami can hang with anyone.

And if Beck can play another clean, efficient game, he could finally get his chance to lead a program to a national title.

Maybe that’s why his mom spent the final three minutes of the Cotton Bowl bawling. After watching her son watch last year’s quarterfinal, Beck wasn’t just playing in one. He was starting and starring in it.

And maybe that’s why Beck took his time getting to the party, where he bobbed his head under a sideways cap as music boomed in the locker room, before leaving to take photos with friends, family and fans amid the confetti strewn across the field.

“It’s been a hell of a ride,” Beck said.

And it’s not over yet.