Miami Hurricanes veteran quarterback Carson Beck saw wide receiver Jojo Trader streaking down the field. Trader had his defender beaten.
Beck released the ball and knew he would be celebrating momentarily.
“I literally was saying, ‘Oh, that’s a touchdown,’ in my head,” Beck said.
The wind at Texas A&M’s Kyle Field said no. The wind caught the deep pass and blew it out of bounds. The windy conditions kept Beck from trying to throw downfield, and he ultimately ended the game with only 104 passing yards — his lowest total of the season. The Hurricanes relied on Mark Fletcher Jr. and the running game to secure the first-round playoff win.
The combination of the wind and how the Hurricanes’ offensive line was performing against the Aggies’ defensive front prompted Beck to tell offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson to keep giving the ball to Fletcher.
“I could see just as the game evolved, our guys were leaning on them. Like leaning on them, leaning on them,” Beck said. “And that type of game where it’s just a physical, brutal battle — like it was war out there. And in that type of game, ultimately, those like 2-yard, 3-yard runs at the beginning turn into 5-, 6-yard runs. Your 8, 9 turn into 12, 14. … You could just see in the way that they were playing — and I don’t want to say in their effort; obviously, they were playing their butt off — but our guys were just physically imposing their will on them. I went up to (Dawson) like, ‘Yo, we are physically dominating them. Just go smash mouth. Just go right at them and I think we’re going to be able to go right down the field.
“And I’ll be damned if that last drive, we — first play — go right at them, and there goes (a 56-) yard run.”
Dawson said he knows Beck has seen a lot of high-level football over his career, and the veteran quarterback’s observations are usually correct.
“He sees things very clearly,” Dawson said. “Typically, when he comes off the field and says something and you watch it on the iPad, he’s typically spot on. And so there’s things that I don’t see in the course of calling it that I watch the iPad, and he’s typically pretty spot on in those situations. And everybody keeps a level head and a very calm demeanor, which is key in those type of games when it’s real tight and look, one mistake can cost you a game. And so I thought his input was awesome.”
Dawson added: “His calmness sticks out. He never gets rattled in any way, shape or form because he’s been in big games. He’s been in the atmosphere. So nothing is too big for him. And his football IQ and the quickness he unfolds things is really elite. He sees things and he can spit it back to you and in a way that really is unique.”
Despite Beck’s low statistical passing output, Beck and Dawson were content with the quarterback’s performance.
“I thought we played … a clean game,” Beck said. “It was a really, really good defense. They’re very talented up front in that front seven. They’re obviously the No. 1 team in the country on third down. They had a great plan against us. The wind definitely affected (us) in some way, shape or form.”
Pro Football Focus graded Beck’s game harshly. The site gave him a 46.3 passing grade — his lowest grade of the season and even worse than his four-interception game against Louisville. But the low grade largely stemmed from the short passing game; Beck’s 5.2 yards per attempt was his lowest mark of the season. Beck still completed 70 percent of his passes and avoided turning the ball over against a strong Aggies pass rush.
“We’ve always said it when talking about Carson,” coach Mario Cristobal said. “He’s not interested in stats and anything regarding personal accolades. He wants to win.”
