an excerpt:
Before the snap, Beck told Marion to watch his defender. If he came down into press coverage, Beck was looking Marion's way.
"Then my job is to win," Marion said.
Sure enough, corner James Braxton pressed, and Beck launched a pass to the sideline that careened off Marion's hands. Immediately, Marion grabbed at his face mask, begging for a flag.
"He literally grabbed my whole face," Marion said. "I'd been telling [Braxton] all night he can't mess with me. He can't guard me."
The flag came, and the 15-yard penalty set up Miami with a first-and-10 at the Ole Miss 46.
After a short completion, Beck dropped back on second down and was immediately chased from the pocket. As he scrambled to his right, he saw
Malachi Toney along the sideline and zipped a pass. Toney snagged the ball and tapped his foot along the grass for what was initially called a catch, but replay showed his heel touched out of bounds.
Miami faced another third down, and Beck delivered another dagger.
"Open zone, the ball came," said
CJ Daniels, who hauled in a 7-yard catch to covert the first down, "and I had to come through for my teammates."
Beck threw incomplete on each of the next two plays, however, and Miami faced third-and-10 at the Ole Miss 35 for what Dawson said was "ultimately the most critical play of the drive."
Marion found Beck before the play and begged for the ball.
"I'm hot," he told his QB. "I'm ready. I've got the adrenaline running. Now let's go."
Marion ran a dig route, and Beck hit him in stride. The play went for 17 yards.
After a short run by
CharMar Brown, Dawson dialed up a pass play called "Seahawk."
On the final play:
The play was supposed to go to Toney on a dig route. If that was covered, Beck was supposed to have a receiver crossing along the back of the end zone. If that failed, the tight end was on a delay and set to serve as a safety valve.
Ole Miss played it perfectly.
"I came back to the cross, came back to the dig, they'd doubled it," Beck said.
Beck danced in the backfield, and eventually the pass rush broke through.
"The D-end came in screaming," Mauigoa said. "I was blocking him until [guard
Anez Cooper] bumped me off. The guy looped around me, and he was all the way around me. He almost got to Carson and I was like, 'Oh s---.' I sprinted over and hit him, turn back and Carson's wide open to the end zone. I'm like, 'There he goes.'"
Beck scrambled to his left, and with Ole Miss in man coverage, there was nothing but green grass ahead of him.
"I started celebrating before I got to the end zone," Beck said. "It was one of the best moments of my life. I basically blacked out."
"I didn't think he had it in him," Brockermeyer said. "He's got sneaky speed. But seeing him in the end zone, it's something I'll never forget."
Said teammate Jakobe Thomas: "Seeing Vanilla Vick take off in the end zone the last couple of seconds. It was amazing to see."
