The Miami offensive line, one of the best nationally protecting the quarterback in 2025, faces an anemic Mississippi pass rush in the Fiesta Bowl College Football National Semifinal on Thursday night.
Miami is seventh nationally, allowing 3.71 tackles for loss and ninth, permitting 1.07 sacks per game in 2025. Mississippi is 64th, producing 5.57 TFLs and tied for 68th with Oregon, averaging 2.07 sacks per game. Princewill Umanmielen leads Mississippi with eight sacks.
In the Pro Football Focus Fiesta Bowl preview, they mentioned that Carson Beck has been the most difficult QB to pressure in 2025. Max Chadwick of PFF noted that Miami is first nationally with an 87.6 pass blocking grade.
Per Chadwick, Beck has an average time to throw of 2.35 seconds, the third fastest nationally. The 16.4 pressure rate Miami has allowed in 2025 is the lowest by five points per Chadwick. When Beck is kept clean, he has an 82.6 PFF grade, but that regresses to 45.7 under pressure, 94th nationally.
"The Rebels need to cover the short and intermediate ranges of the field well and force Beck to hold onto the ball a tick longer than he’d like in order to allow their defensive line to get home. "Max Chadwick, Pro Football Focus
Where Mississippi pass rush ranks nationally
Mississippi has 15 TFLs and four sacks in the two CFP games. Per Chadwick, Mississippi is 83rd nationally in pass rush grade. Despite their low sack totals, Mississippi is 120th nationally, blitzing 27.2 percent of the time per Chadwick.
Miami allowed six TFLs and two sacks in its 10-3 first-round CFP win over Texas A&M and four TFLs and two sacks in its 24-14 win over Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl CFP quarterfinal victory. With Miami running for 328 yards in the first two rounds, Beck has only had to be efficient.
Beck has completed 33 passes in 46 attempts for 241 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions combined in the first two CFP games. Those are the lowest yardage totals for Beck in 2025. The Mississippi pass defense has been slightly vulnerable in the CFP.
Tulane had 306 passing yards with two TDs and one interception against Mississippi in a 41-10 loss. Georgia had 219 yards passing with one TD and no interceptions in a 39-34 loss to Mississippi in the Sugar Bowl CFP quarterfinal. Expect Miami offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson to open the playbook more versus Mississippi.