The three-game College Football Playoff Slate for the first-round matchups kicked off on Saturday at Kyle Field, with a fantastic battle between the Miami Hurricanes and Texas A&M Aggies. On a very windy afternoon at Kyle Field, it was a rough game for kickers and a great time for some marquee performers.
Let’s dive into thw winners and losers from the Miami Hurricanes versus the Texas A&M Aggues.
Winner: Mark Fletcher Jr, RB, Miami Hurricanes
There were very few standouts for either offense on Saturday at Kyle Field. To put that into greater perspective, Hurricanes running back Mark Fletcher Jr had more rushing yards (81) than Carson Beck had passing yards (80) on the first nine drives by Miami. Fletcher was everything for this Hurricanes offense, often being the only reason they got into scoring range. He might’ve only had a single explosive run (24 yards), but he was consistently gaining positive yards and setting up the Hurricanes offense with 2nd-and-mediums and 3rd-and-shorts. Then, he ripped off the longest run of his career (56 yards) to flip the field with Miami going from having it at its 14-yard line with 4 minutes left to being at the Aggies’ 30-yard line. Two plays later, he put Miami into the red zone.
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Loser: Carter Davis, K, Miami Hurricanes
Hurricanes kicker Carter Davis made history on Saturday; unfortunately for him, it was for all the wrong reasons. Miami’s placekicker became the first player in the history of the College Football Playoff to miss three field goal attempts in a single game. The wind gusts could be blamed for his first miss from 47 yards out, but responsibility for the whiffs from 40 and 35 yards out falls squarely on Davis. It was a rough performance from Davis, who entered the College Football Playoff with an 87.5 percent conversion rate in the regular season. This was a difficult way for his collegiate career to end.
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Winner: Dalton Brooks, S, Texas A&M Aggies
While the Aggies didn’t ultimately turn the takeaway into points, here’s why the play made by safety Dalton Brooks still mattered. Malachi Toney had possession of the football at the Aggies’ 47-yard line with seven minutes left in the game when Brooks reached in and ripped it out of his hands with Texas A&M recovering. When the Hurricanes got the football back, there were only four minutes left and they had the football at the 14-yard line. Brooks flipped field position with that one play. It’s just a shame for him that his offense wasted a great scoring opportunity.
Loser: Texas A&M Offensive Line
Entering the College Football Playoff, Texas A&M’s offense allowed the 11th-fewest sacks (12) in the nation and the fewest tackles for loss per game (2.83) in college football. The Aggies offensive line had a season-worst performance on the biggest stage. Marcel Reed was sacked seven times and Texas A&M allowed seven tackles for loss. The inability to win in the trenches neutralized Reed’s ability to stand in the pocket to throw deep, and it resulted in none of the Aggies’ running backs having a single run go for 10-plus yards. It was a brutal performance by the Aggies offensive line.
Winner: Malachi Toney, WR/PR, Miami Hurricanes
Malachi Toney was beating himself up a bit mentally after getting stripped of the football midway through the fourth quarter. As his Hurricanes teammates reminded him, he is one of the biggest reasons why Miami made the College Football Playoff, and he was instrumental to the team’s success at Kyle Field. As a returner, he delivered a 55-yard punt return that took the football from the Hurricanes’ 20-yard line to the Aggies’ 25-yard line. In the fourth quarter, he fielded a punt at the 4-yard line and took it to the 14-yard line. Then, after nearly four quarters of Miami’s offense being stagnant in the red zone, Toney took a handoff from Beck and got around the edge before tiptoeing down the sideline for the go-ahead touchdown. This true freshman is truly special and we might just be seeing him scratch the surface of his potential.
Loser: Carson Beck, QB, Miami Hurricanes
The first round of the College Football Playoff showed how little faith the Hurricanes coaching staff has in Carson Beck. That remains true even if you look past the fact that they took the football out of his hands on the biggest scoring drive, which covered 86 yards on six plays. We would also point to the number of trick plays the Hurricanes called, finding ways to get extra creative rather than having Beck win on his own. A year ago, Beck was still viewed as a potential first-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. Now? He is likely to be a Day 3 selection.
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Winner: Bryce Fitzgerald, S, Miami Hurricanes
Miami won because of its true freshman. A four-star recruit coming out of high school, the Miami native delivered in the biggest moments for his hometown team. It started with an interception at the 44-yard line that he returned 36 yards, giving the Hurricanes offense the football inside the red zone. That wasn’t enough for the freshman. On 3rd-and-goal with Texas A&M having a shot at the game-tying touchdown with seconds left, Fitzgerald picked off Reed again to sink the dagger into the Aggies’ hearts and silence Kyle Field. Miami is moving on to the Cotton Bowl, and its future feels even brighter because of Fitzgerald and Toney.
