NCAA storylines: Canes look to contain dynamic Chambliss

And then there were four.

Miami and Ole Miss meet in Glendale, Ariz., Thursday night in the Fiesta Bowl, and Oregon and Indiana will settle a score of their own on Friday in Atlanta in the Peach Bowl, with the results setting the stage for the National Championship a week from Monday – a game that would serve as a de facto home game for the Hurricanes with it being held at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.

First, Mario Cristobal’s team will have to handle a storm of its own, in the form of Trinidad Chambliss, who has emerged as dynamic quarterback in the sport. But he’s far from the only signal-caller who could wreak havoc over the next couple days.

Settle in and enjoy, because there’s just three games left.

Storylines for each of college football’s semifinal bowl games:

Can Miami keep Trinidad Chambliss under wraps in the Fiesta Bowl?

Miami and Ole Miss, meet in a Fiesta Bowl battle with an irresistible storyline: The historic villain against the program that keeps on rolling, despite being spurned by its own head coach on the eve of the playoffs.

So, can the Hurricanes snuff out any potential fairytale ending for the SEC’s only remaining team?

Cristobal dares teams to beat Miami up front, and to this point, nobody has been able to handle Canadian Akheem Mesidor and his partner in crime, fellow edge rusher Rueben Bain Jr.

Cristobal’s scheme worked to perfection in the first round against Texas A&M, where the Hurricanes sacked Marcel Reed seven times, and was near flawless against Ohio State on New Year’s Eve in the Cotton Bowl – a thorough, start-to-finish win over the defending national champs, with Mesidor and Bain combining to get to Heisman finalist Julian Sayin three times.

Now Miami has its biggest challenge yet. An encounter with Chambliss, whose legend keeps growing with each passing week.

Chambliss was electrifying against Georgia in the Sugar Bowl, passing for 362 yards and two touchdowns and escaping pressure incessantly, including three times on a scoring drive early in the fourth quarter that gave Ole Miss a lead it wouldn’t relinquish.

Chambliss started the season as an unknown – a transfer from D-II Ferris State, brought in to back up Austin Simmons – and has emerged as one of college football’s greatest folk heroes, carrying a program that’s often considered an afterthought to the brink of a national title berth.

Chambliss gave Rebels fans even more reason to breathe easy this week, committing to return – rather than join Lane Kiffin at LSU, as many had feared – in the event his plea with the NCAA for an extra year of eligibility is rectified.

The key for Miami is containing Chambliss, much like it did Reed and Sayin.

Mesidor went to work early against Ohio State, sacking Sayin on the opening drive, and the Hurricanes got a 72-yard pick six in the second quarter from Keontra Smith – a play where he made a perfect read on a bubble screen, jumping the route and taking it all the way to stretch Miami’s first-half lead to two touchdowns. In its two playoff wins, Miami has forced five turnovers, with four coming as interceptions.

In the event Chambliss gets the best of Mesidor and Bain, Cristobal may have to lean heavier on Carson Beck, who’s mostly been asked to limit mistakes – something he’s done effectively, to his credit – in those wins over Texas A&M and Ohio State.

Beck played his best down the stretch of the regular season, passing for 1,125 yards and 11 touchdowns in a four-game stretch that helped vault Miami back into the playoff picture, but has thrown for just 241 yards in the postseason. Simply playing clean might not be enough to get the job done against Chambliss, as it was when Beck was stacked up against Reed and Sayin.

To this point, Miami has generally risen to the level of its competition, including in its Week 1 win over Notre Dame, which proved to be the decider in its inclusion over the Irish in the playoffs.

Another strong defensive performance, and Bain and Mesidor will only pad their stock for April’s NFL Draft, for which ESPN’s Mel Kiper currently has them ranked as the 19th and 21st best prospects on his latest Big Board, respectively.

Does Indiana get the best of Oregon for a second time this season?

Speaking of Kiper’s Big Board, the top two slots belong to quarterbacks — Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza of Indiana, and Oregon’s Dante Moore, who are set to meet in the Peach Bowl on Friday.

Are we about ready to dismiss the notion that the Hoosiers can’t win big games under Curt Cignetti, after last season’s only two losses came against national finalists Ohio State and Notre Dame?

That idea was essentially thrown out the window back in October, when Indiana stormed into Eugene and emerged victorious over the Ducks — a win that affirmed its status as a national title contender.

The Hoosiers went undefeated this season, then knocked off Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship before hammering Alabama 38-3 in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day.

Mendoza threw more touchdowns than he did incompletions against the Tide, and is far from the only weapon Indiana has on offence. Roman Hemby and Kaelon Black are one of the best one-two rushing punches in all of college football, and receivers Elijah Sarratt and Omar Cooper Jr. are likely to be chosen on one of the first two days of the draft.

And despite the fact his roster will be picked apart by NFL general managers, Cignetti has little concern moving forward, having already nabbed TCU quarterback Josh Hoover and standout Michigan State receiver Nick Marsh — amongst others — from the transfer portal to replenish next season.

Oregon pitched a shutout against Texas Tech in the Orange Bowl, but that also served to mask an unflattering offensive performance of its own — one in which the Ducks backfield combined to rush for 89 yards on 36 carries, while Moore was held without a touchdown pass. Jordon Davidson ran for two scores, though one came immediately after a Matayo Uiagalelei strip sack set the Ducks up on the Red Raiders’ six-yard line.

Davison also suffered a broken clavicle late in that game and has been ruled out for the semifinal, meaning starter Noah Whittington will need to carry an even bigger load against Indiana.

Error-prone efforts won’t hold up against Indiana, particularly at this time of year. The Hoosiers picked Moore off twice when they met in October, and a fourth-quarter touchdown strike from Mendoza to Sarratt put them ahead for good in a 30-20 win.

Indiana limited Ohio State and Alabama to a combined 13 points in its past two games, holding the Buckeyes off the scoreboard in the second half in December and then outgaining the Tide by over 200 yards a week ago.

The defence is led by All-Big Ten First Teamers Aiden Fisher and D’Angelo Ponds – a pair of players that Cignetti plucked from his previous tenure at James Madison – and is holding opponents to just 10.3 points per game this season.

Moore is still undecided on whether he’ll enter the NFL Draft after this year, as is his top receiver, Kenyon Siddiq. Like Moore, Siddiq is a junior, and leads all FBS tight ends with eight touchdown receptions this season.