Carson Beck, the Georgia transfer to Miami, torched his skeptics in the Fiesta Bowl. He guided the Hurricanes to a 31-27 semifinal win over Ole Miss, earning the MVP award with 268 passing yards, two TDs, one INT, and a game-sealing 3-yard TD scramble with 18 seconds left. The 2024 interception plague has been forgotten, but the sting lingered, as Beck took a jab at his old SEC program.

“It just means more. #FiestaBowlChamps,” Miami’s quarterback Carson Beck captioned his Instagram post after the Ole Miss win.

This win means more to Carson Beck, as his Miami tenure began with doubts and damage. With an elbow injury ending his Bulldogs tenure abruptly, he moved to the Hurricanes and then missed spring practice because of the same issue. The constant doubt loomed over him. But today he became the MVP of the Fiesta Bowl and the player who turned Miami’s fate with his impressive rushing touchdown in the final seconds of the game.

Beck completed 23 of 27 passes for 268 yards, throwing two touchdowns and one interception. With just 18 seconds remaining in the game, he scrambles three yards into the end zone and completes a rushing touchdown to help Miami enter the playoff finals. Even on third down, Beck operated at the top level. He completed 7 of 9 thrown passes for 85 yards. He also converted two key first downs as a runner, extending drives to keep Miami’s hopes alive.

Now, the problem was always with Georgia’s offensive line. The shaky 2024 line left him exposed while Miami protected him on 72.9 percent of dropbacks. His average depth of target against the Rebels, which was 9.9 yards, was the second-deepest of the season.

“I told them, ‘We’ve got three minutes for the rest of our lives,'” Beck said to ESPN’s Holly Rowe. “Nothing else matters. We’ve got three minutes to go through this, man. I mean, everything we’ve worked for since January, everything we’ve been through, all the adversity that we face, all comes down to three minutes in the semifinals.”

All this came when this man decided to show up. No one knows it better than Miami’s recruiter and executive director, Dennis Smith, who had a chat with him about life after a week of transferring.

“Carson Beck was as broken of a human being I’ve seen,” Smith recalled after the Ole Miss win. “He didn’t want to go back to college. Had no choice. People ran him out. Confidence problems. Very angry at the world.”

With trouble on file, his personal life also took a major hit. Former Miami basketball player Hanna Cavinder and Carson Beck ended their relationship in April 2025, a phase which he described as “difficult” for him. But it was all worth the wait, and now even Mario Cristobal is proud of his decision to keep him close.

Mario Cristobal takes a subtle shot at Kirby Smart after Ole Miss win

Miami enters the playoffs for the first time since 2001. All thanks to Mario Cristobal’s resilience and coaching that pushed them this far. But what worked in his favor was the $4 million risk he took in the offseason.

Taking in a quarterback who threw 12 interceptions in 2024 was a risky gamble. But Mario Cristobal trusted Carson Beck. Sure, he had early struggles, throwing four interceptions against Louisville. Yet he just showed up at the right time; his team needed him. Now, Cristobal is praising his leadership and game while taking a subtle shot at Georgia’s head coach, Kirby Smart.

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“That’s a perfect example of a guy who just feels supported,” Cristobal said. “He’s hungry. He’s driven. He’s a great human being, and all he wants to do is he wants to see his teammates have success. That’s what we witnessed tonight.”

That makes sense. After last year’s inconsistency, everyone doubted Beck, called his move money-driven, and even trashed Miami. But he proved what he is capable of. He took charge of the entire team when the defense faltered and took them straight to the playoff finals.

“(Carson) Beck, either by Kirby (Smart) letting him go, or choosing to go, either way is a big red flag,” Anonymous NFL General Manager. “It certainly hurts him with us. He didn’t leave to win, play against better competition, or get better coaching. A bad look for him. That makes no sense and makes you wonder a lot about a lot.”

Carson Beck dismantled Ole Miss’s top-ranked defense, crushing their Ohio State dreams. Now, riding on that momentum, Beck is ready to take Miami to the finals. Now, with Cristobal’s confidence in Beck, can he top Indiana for the title? That remains to be seen.