UM’s defensive rebuild masterclass, Dawson’s decisions, thoughts from Canes’ win
A six-pack of notes and thoughts after UM’s riveting 10-3 playoff win at Texas A&M, as the Canes now advance to play Ohio State in a national quarterfinal game on New Year’s Eve in Dallas (7:30 p.m., ESPN):
▪ It’s extremely difficult in sports to hit on most every decision.
General manager Bill Zito did it with the Panthers, and it translated to three consecutive Stanley Cup Finals appearances and two consecutive championships.
And Mario Cristobal, his coaching staff and a personnel department led by Dennis Smith have done it in transcending this Canes defense from one of the nation’s worst to an imposing, physical, reliable unit that made every big play needed Saturday and held a team averaging 36.3 points per game to a single field goal.
Every part of this 10-step plan worked.
It began with beating out dozens of schools for Jacksonville State safety Zechariah Poyser, who has helped elevate UM’s safety play dramatically.
It continued with loading up on quality cover corners in the transfer portal — Xavier Lucas, Ethan O’Connor and post-spring, Keointe Scott, who returned from a foot injury and was brilliant Saturday, with 10 tackles, two sacks, three tackles for loss and stout coverage.
Fixing a flawed defense continued with finding a stout, capable veteran defensive tackle in David Blay.
All the while, the Canes beat out Florida, FSU, LSU and others for Class of 2025 safety Bryce Fitzgerald, whose end-zone interception (his second pick of the day) sealed Saturday’s win.
Even after signing NC State transfer linebacker Kamal Bonner, the Canes weren’t content and smartly snagged Rutgers transfer Mohamed Toure, who jarred the ball loose from Rueben Owens II on an incomplete pass on a critical second-down play at the goal line and 28 seconds left.
The Canes wisely added a Tennessee part-time starter who played for three years in the shadows of Middle Tennessee State. Jakobe Thomas immediately became one of the glue guys on this defense.
They hung onto Akheem Mesidor, who bypassed turning pro, opting for another year of being coached by Jason Taylor.
They developed a core group of key recruits — star freshman safety Fitzgerald (UM’s only Class of 2025 recruit who wasn’t enrolled for spring football), projected top-10 pick Reuben Bain Jr. (who had three sacks and a tackle for loss and a blocked field goal on Saturday after being publicly dismissed by multiple A&M players), Wesley Bissainthe (made steady improvement over his career here), Marquise Lightfoot (who had a key third down shoestring tackle on a play that could have gone a long way), Justin Scott (solid all day Saturday), Ahmad Moten and Armondo Blount.
But everything came together largely because Cristobal hired the right defensive coordinator in Corey Hetherman, who made clear the day he was hired that UM would play fast and physical and fix the communication issues that plagued the team last season.
Credit Hetherman and Cristobal for finding the right assistants - Will Harris to coach safeties, Zach Etheridge to coach defensive backs and Damione Lewis to work with Taylor coaching the defensive line.
Taylor was the only defensive assistant retained, and he deserves credit in the development of Bain, Mesidor, Blount and Lightfoot.
That unit finished sixth nationally in points allowed per game (13.8) and seventh in rushing defense (86.8 yards per game), 11th in total defense (277.8 yards per game), 11th in third-down conversion rate (31.1%) and 14th in sacks per game (2.83).
On Saturday, they allowed three points on 11 A&M possessions against a team that scored 41 against Notre Dame, 34 against Florida and 49 vs. LSU.
They had seven sacks (against a quarterback that had been sacked just 10 times all year) and permitted 326 yards to a team that had topped 400 yards in 10 consecutive games before losing to Texas.
Thomas had nine tackles and half a sack.
Scott, as impactful as any defensive back signed in the portal, didn’t show the least bit of rust after a month sidelined.
Bain made one of the biggest stops of the game, a sack on Marcel Reed that forced A&M to punt before UM’s game-winning drive.
And then there were the two brilliant defensive plays to end the game – Toure’s pass breakup on the goal line (he was able to walk off gingerly, with assistance, after laying on the ground for a couple of minutes) and the Fitzgerald pick in the end zone, a play in which he showed great anticipation to step in front of tight end Theo Melin Ohrstrom.
Among all FBS safeties, only Louisiana Tech’s Jakari Foster has more interceptions (seven) than Fitzgerald, who has played about 60 fewer pass coverage snaps than Foster.
247 Sports rated him the No. 19 safety in last year’s class. I’d like to see the top 18!
If you’re looking for a template to rebuild a defense, the Canes can present the past 12 months as Exhibit A.
This has been a wonderful marriage of exceptional coaching, strong recruiting and player development and savvy poaching of players in the portal. That’s the formula for shutting down a loaded 11-1 team in its own stadium.
▪ UM offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson redeemed himself by riding Mark Fletcher Jr. on UM’s game-winning drive, then calling a snazzy third-and-5 shovel pass to Malachi Toney for the 11-yard go-ahead touchdown with 1:44 left.
If the Canes hadn’t won, this would have been the ultimate cruel irony: A coach who didn’t rely on his between-the-tackles running game nearly enough on Saturday, just weeks after bristling in a press conference about criticism that he runs up the middle too much.
Even though he was far more effective than any other UM weapon on Saturday, Fletcher didn’t get consecutive carries until the final two minutes of the third quarter.
At one point, Fletcher had seven carries for 39 yards, while UM had 12 yards on its 12 other plays. By midway through the third quarter, UM’s backs had touched the ball on only 12 of 40 plays.
Gerard Pringle Jr. — who had 17 carries for 116 yards against NC State and 10 for 82 against Pittsburgh — had only one carry all day (for 1 yard). CharMar Brown, who had 100 carries for 389 yards this season, never touched the ball.
With Toney often seeing double-teams, it was puzzling why Dawson didn’t rely on the smash-mouth approach that bludgeoned Florida, especially considering that A&M had been gashed for 218 yards rushing (6.2 per carry) in its Thanksgiving weekend loss to Texas.
ESPN’s Desmond Howard and Greg McElroy both questioned Dawson’s play-calling.
“Slow developing misdirection is not going to be effective [against this defense],” McElroy said in the third quarter after a reverse to Keelan Marion. “I don’t like this play-calling by Dawson.”
But Dawson smartly came to his senses late, giving the ball to Fletcher, who carried it five consecutive times on UM’s go-ahead score, for gains of 56, 2, 12, 3 and 2.
Fletcher closed with 17 carries for 172 yards, a sterling 10.1 per carry average. Conversely, the nation’s top running back draft prospect, Notre Dame’s Jeremiyah Love, had 23 carries for 94 yards (4.1 average) against this A&M defense.
▪ UM won despite only 103 passing yards from Carson Beck, who wasn’t particularly impressive but didn’t make the big mistake, either.
Beck, who finished 14 for 20 with one touchdown and no interceptions, made a few nice throws but frittered away too much time on UM’s drive that ended with a missed field goal before halftime.
“Every NFL scout and GM is watching this game to see if he can really be an NFL quarterback, because he’s facing an NFL defense,” former Gators, Ohio State and Jaguars coach Urban Meyer, who now works for Fox, said on The Triple Option.
Bain and Mesidor, who are Mel Kiper Jr.’s No. 2 and 3 defensive line prospects (behind LSUs Keldric Faulk), very much validated their lofty predraft status. Kiper has raised Mesidor to 22nd among all draft prospects.
Mesidor, who had 1.5 sacks and 1.5 tackles for loss and eight quarterback hurries, “is going to be a good pro,” longtime draft analyst Dane Brugler of the Athletic posted on X during the game.
“Older [will be 25 on draft weekend] and the medicals need to check out. But just on tape, I love the way he varies his pass rush and creates challenging angles for blockers. He’s a dude.”
Keionte Scott, who has thrived in the slot after struggling on the boundary for Auburn last season, also helped himself.
“Scott has been an arrow up”NFL prospect all season,” Brugler said on X. “The most disruptive DB near the [line of scrimmage] that I’ve seen this year in” college football.
▪ Though Bain played brilliantly after multiple A&M players downplayed his skills publicly, he should not have broadcast his expletive-filled postgame rant on Instagram Live.
His “[expletive] Texas A&M and [expletive coach] Mike Elko” comments would have been harmless if delivered in the privacy of a locker room, without cameras rolling. But making those remarks on a live social media feed wasn’t a good look.
Bain handled the news conference fine. “Some guys were in the media, saying some things,” he said. “God bless them. Don’t write checks you can’t cash.”
To refresh, here were those comments:
“We don’t think [Bain is] a threat that much,” Texas A&M’s Reed told former ESPN analyst David Pollack last week. “Another defender we have to go against.”
Texas A&M OL Trey Zuhn III said: “I don’t think he’ll be a threat that we need to worry about too much. We have a great offensive line, so we’ll be able to handle him.”
In a calmer moment, Bain said he had a screenshot of a tweet about Zuhn as a background photo on his cell phone. Not that he needed the motivation.
▪ Quick stuff part 1: Canes greats reveled in the win on social media. “Our Defense is something special!” Calais Campbell tweeted. “Might’ve been boring to most but for me, that was a fun game to watch.’... “Absolutely beautiful game,” Jimmy Johnson said….
Not only did Fitzgerald snag two interceptions, but he had good pass coverage to help foil A&M’s fake punt earlier in the game…
Carter Davis had gone 14 of 16 on field goals before missing three of four on Saturday….
Beck’s 31 first-half passing yards were the second-fewest ever in a playoff game, topping only Jalen Hurts’ total in a game in which he was benched and replaced by Tua Tagovailoa.
▪ Quick stuff part 2: UM’s 10 points were the fewest ever by a winning team in the 12 years of the College Football Playoff. ..
The last time that A&M was held to three points in a home game was September 2002 against Virginia Tech, per the AP’s Tim Reynolds, who also noted that Fletcher’s 167 rushing yards were 54 more than any player had in a road game against a top-10 FBS team this season.
“OMG, Mark Fletcher has some good feet,” Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill tweeted.
This story was originally published December 20, 2025 at 5:44 PM.
