MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Keelan Marion didn’t know Carson Beck had thrown the ball in his direction. By the time he did, Jamari Sharpe was leaping in the air to break Hurricane hearts and clinch Indiana’s first national championship.
“It was a miscommunication on the read, and I made a mistake,” Marion said with tears still in his eyes in a somber Hurricanes locker room. “I’ve got to look for the ball and make that play for him. It’s all on me.”
Funny how college football works. Sharpe, one of Indiana’s heroes, is the nephew of former Hurricanes cornerback Glenn Sharpe, who drew the late pass interference flag in Miami’s 2003 Fiesta Bowl loss to Ohio State. That was the last time the program played for the championship before Monday.
Before Jamari Sharpe made Hoosier history, Miami had Indiana on its heels.
The Canes trailed by 6 points with the ball on IU’s 41-yard line with 48 seconds to go with Beck looking poised to lead the Canes to another come-from-behind win.
Beck said when he saw Marion run past Sharpe, he knew Indiana safety Amare Ferrell was playing Cover 2 over the top. But Beck still thought he could fit the ball in for a big play.
Coach Mario Cristobal said it was “the right place to go with the ball.” It was just off-target.
“(Sharpe) made a really good play on it,” Beck said. “You can think of every if, and or but situation after, but that’s what happened, and it sucks. It’s going to sting for a while.”
Some Miami fans may never forgive Beck. In all three of the Canes’ losses this season, a late-game interception by Beck was a deciding factor. But he’s hardly the only reason the Hurricanes did not win their sixth ring.
Miami could spend all offseason playing the what-if game.
What if Rueben Bain doesn’t jump offside on third-and-13 in the second quarter? Well, Indiana probably punts and doesn’t score its first touchdown of the game seven plays later.
What if tight end Alex Bauman does his job on the punt protection team and blocks Mikail Kamara? The Hoosiers do not block Dylan Joyce’s punt and score to take a 17-7 lead in the third quarter.
What if Miami’s defense makes the right check in the fourth quarter on fourth-and 4? Heisman trophy winner Fernando Mendoza probably does not score what turned out to be the game-winning touchdown run.
“We had a check based on the red zone and what formation we were in,” Miami defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman said. “We were anticipating a draw in that situation. I’ve got to do a better job detailing it out with the guys and making sure we get that check on.”
The reality is that Miami — the final at-large team to make the College Football Playoff field — made an improbable run and fell a couple of plays short against a 16-0 team.
Few predicted a Miami victory — and after two quarters Monday night, things looked bleak for the Canes. But Cristobal’s team didn’t back down. It kept fighting every time the Hoosiers made it a two-score game.
Miami is 23-6 over the past two seasons and hasn’t lost a game by more than a touchdown since November 2023.
Does this two-year run mean Miami will be playing for it all next year in Las Vegas? No. College football doesn’t work like that anymore. Rosters are rebuilt and retooled year-to-year. Miami will have to replace several high-end draft picks — Bain, Akheem Mesidor and Francis Mauigoa, to name a few.
Miami will finish in the AP top 10 for the first time since joining the ACC in 2004. (Megan Briggs / Getty Images)
But what makes Miami different from others is the way Cristobal has built his past two teams. Not only do the Hurricanes hit the portal hard, but Miami has also signed the top recruiting class in the ACC for four consecutive years. All but one member of Miami’s 30-man 2026 class practiced with the team the past couple of weeks, including the No. 1 offensive tackle in the cycle, Jackson Cantwell.
“You don’t just automatically return to a game like this just because you’re mad,” Cristobal said. “I think that’s the biggest misconception in sports — ‘Well, they almost got there, they’ll be back next year.’ That’s a bunch of bull. You’ve got to improve from a roster standpoint, a regimen standpoint, discipline, everything, and move forward, and these guys have set the standard to help us get there.”
Several leaders must be replaced, but others — such as running back Mark Fletcher and defensive lineman Ahmad Moten — are ready to grab the baton.
“It’s been magical watching this play out, watching Mario do it the right way, and the kids and the culture he’s built in this room,” Miami president Joe Echevarria said. “If you would have been able to listen to the postgame in the room, and the players’ commitment to each other — hearing those leaving talking about staying in the brotherhood, it was pretty extraordinary.”
Culture is something that takes time to build. Cignetti got a jumpstart at Indiana by bringing a lot of players with him from James Madison, and he turned the Hoosiers into champions faster than anyone could have imagined. Just because the Hurricanes didn’t win Monday night doesn’t mean Cristobal’s Miami makeover doesn’t deserve its due respect.
Do you know how many other programs that made coaching hires the same year Miami brought Cristobal home wished they were playing for the title Monday night?
You think USC fans are happy with Lincoln Riley?
LSU and Florida are already on their next coaches.
Oregon? Dan Lanning and the Ducks are still looking to win a ring, too.
The most important hurdle Miami needed to cross wasn’t winning a championship. It was making the financial commitment to football like USC, LSU, Florida and Oregon had long before UM’s administration woke up from a two-decade slumber.
“We’re committed to be excellent in everything we do — academics, health system and athletics,” Echevarria said. “We’re expanding the indoor practice facility, changing the weight room. That project is about to be finished this summer. And then we’ll move onto the football forever building.”
More importantly, the Hurricanes are also heavily invested in building a championship-caliber roster on an annual basis. That means doing what’s necessary to keep homegrown talents like Malachi Toney, Justin Scott, Marquise Lightfoot and Fletcher while also getting high-end free agents via the portal.
Miami is expected to sign former Tulane and Duke quarterback Darian Mensah this week. There are more big-name players in the portal who could join him in Coral Gables.
That’s the future. Cristobal, though, didn’t want to spend too much time talking about that after the game. He wanted to hug his players and thank those leaving for helping the program get to this point.
“Our drive and determination has always been off the charts, and it’s fueled by them,” Cristobal said. “I want to do well by them, and the fact that they leave here without the national title in hand, that’s really hard to deal with.”
Cristobal was not the only one thanking Miami’s players as they walked off the field at Hard Rock Stadium. A line of Miami greats — Andre Johnson, Edgerrin James, Ed Reed, Clinton Portis, Reggie Wayne and Michael Irvin, to name a few — waited outside the locker room to comfort them and lift their spirits.
It was a remarkable scene, really.
Miami’s past was there to pay its respect and thank the present.
Before Cristobal arrived, all Miami really had was its past.