Miami at Texas A&M: College Football Playoff players to watch, key to game

Miami and Texas A&M are making their first College Football Playoff appearances.

Can the Hurricanes pull the upset after sneaking into the field, or will Texas A&M set up a quasi-home-game quarterfinal matchup with Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl?

[More CFP: Alabama at Oklahoma | Tulane at Ole Miss | JMU at Oregon]

No. 10 Miami at No. 7 Texas A&MHow these teams got here

Miami (10-2): Hey, did you know that Miami jumped Notre Dame for the final at-large spot in the College Football Playoff in the last set of rankings? It might have been slightly controversial.

The Hurricanes got into the playoff because of their win over Notre Dame in Week 1. But it took so long for that playoff berth to feel certain because of the way the CFP committee evaluates teams. After Miami was at No. 18 at the start of November following a loss to SMU, the Hurricanes slowly worked their way up the rankings. They finally got close enough to Notre Dame for that head-to-head win to actually matter for the committee after BYU lost to Texas Tech in the Big 12 title game. Miami getting in the playoff over Notre Dame is perfectly defensible. How they got to the playoff, however, isn’t.

Texas A&M (11-1): The Aggies had designs on a first-round bye entering Thanksgiving week. A&M had saved an undefeated season with an incredible second-half comeback against South Carolina on Nov. 15 and then made quick work of FCS Samford to move to 11-0.

But the hope of a first-round bye in the playoff and a trip to the SEC title game again ended at the hands of the Texas Longhorns. A year after Texas denied the Aggies a visit to Atlanta, Texas did it again in a 27-17 win. A&M had no shot at the playoff a year ago; a chance for the national title is a nice consolation. But the Aggies would sure love to beat the Longhorns sometime soon.

How the QBs stack up

Miami QB Carson Beck had two really ugly games in 2025. Both of those games resulted in Miami losses.

The Georgia transfer has completed nearly 75% of his passes for 3,072 yards and 25 TDs with 10 interceptions. Six of those picks have come in the Hurricanes’ two defeats. He threw four picks in Miami’s 24-21 home loss to Louisville on Oct. 17 and then threw two more in a 26-20 overtime loss at SMU. Outside of that, he has just one other multi-interception game.

Beck has thrown at least two touchdown passes in eight of Miami’s 12 games this season and has been excellent since that SMU loss. Over his last four games, Beck is 89-of-112 passing for 1,125 yards and 11 TDs with just one interception.

A&M QB Marcel Reed was perhaps the most surprising player to miss out on the top 10 of the Heisman voting after his successful season. Reed isn’t the passer Beck is — he’s completed just 62% of his passes — but he’s rushed for 466 yards and six scores while also throwing 25 touchdowns.

A poor performance against the Longhorns made sure he wasn’t going to get invited to New York. But it’s hard to overlook how good Reed was in the comeback performance against South Carolina. After a disastrous first half, Reed finished the game 22-of-39 passing for 439 yards and three touchdowns with two interceptions.

Players to watch

Miami WR CJ Daniels: Star freshman Malachi Toney has been the go-to wide receiver for the Hurricanes. His 84 catches are more than twice as many as any other Miami player, and he leads the team with 970 yards. But Daniels is a very important part of the Miami pass game. And the Hurricanes got him back at the end of the season.

Daniels has missed three games due to injury but is still tied with Toney for the team lead in receiving TDs with seven. The LSU transfer has 35 catches for 391 yards and had two grabs for 40 yards and a TD in his second game back from injury. Can he help prevent A&M from focusing its efforts solely on Toney?

Texas A&M RB Le’Veon Moss: The Aggies’ top running back hasn’t played since Oct. 11. But he could be back on the field against Miami after returning to practice this week.

Moss has missed the last six games with an ankle injury he suffered against Florida. Before the injury, Moss had 70 carries for 389 yards and six touchdowns over the Aggies’ first six games of the season.

In 2024, Moss had 121 carries for 765 yards and 10 TDs. Rueben Owens has filled in admirably with 618 yards on 112 carries with Moss out of the lineup. But having Moss and Owens back on the field together for the first time in over two months could be huge for the Aggies.

Key to the game

Both defenses are strikingly similar against the pass. Opponents have completed less than 60% of their passes for fewer than 200 yards per game against both A&M and Miami. But Miami has held opponents to fewer than five yards a carry and forces nearly two turnovers per game. A&M has forced just nine turnovers all season.

Will turnovers be the difference? And can Miami’s Mark Fletcher Jr. open up space for Beck to operate through the air? A&M has allowed opponents to rush for over six yards a carry four times in 2025. Fletcher leads Miami with 685 yards and 10 TDs on 141 carries. If Miami can make A&M worry about the run game, the Hurricanes have a real shot at pulling the upset.

Miami at Texas A&M: College Football Playoff players to watch, key to game

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