The Miami Hurricanes' defense held down the fort against the Texas A&M Aggies to secure the program's first-ever College Football Playoff victory, with a final score of 10-3. They had heroic plays that made a massive difference throughout the game, especially Rueben Bain Jr. The junior edge rusher finished with five total tackles, four solos and one assist, four tackles for loss, including three second-half sacks.
It was an outstanding performance in the program's biggest match in over two decades. However, the outside noise was what ignited the spark in the 21-year-old.
On the same day that the Selection Committee marked the final rankings for the 12-team bracket, Dec. 7th, Aggies' offensive lineman Trey Zuhn III made some interesting remarks towards the star defender.
"I don't think that he'll be a threat that we need to worry about too much," he said. "We'll be able to handle him."
To say such remarks about one of the most highly regarded players in the country and a project NFL first-rounder was a bit shocking. Before the game, Bain Jr. confirmed that he saw the comments and offered his "blessings."
After the victory, while on an Instagram live stream in the locker room, he had an extremely explicit response.
"They whole [offensive line] some [explicit]," Bain Jr. said. "[Explicit] you Mike Elko, [explicit Zuhn III], [explicit] everybody, [explicit] Texas A&M."
There was certainly a lot of passion building up since the comments towards him were made. Bain Jr. later revealed that he had made those words his screensaver as a reminder.
"Like I said before, I don't take kindly to disrespect," the edge rusher said. "Last two weeks, I was on that, ready to play some football. Some guys was in the media, saying some things they shouldn't have said, but they did. God bless them. Just writing checks they can't cash."
There was no doubt that Bain Jr. was aware of the noise, but the response would take time, which worked well in his and the Hurricanes' favor. The team advances to the Cotton Bowl quarterfinals and will face the Ohio State Buckeyes on New Year's Eve, Dec. 31st, 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time on ESPN.
There is still history to be written within the program, but this victory is a significant moment. Mario Crisotbal has successfully established a new culture and standard, with Bain Jr. as one of the pioneers.
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