Caitlin Clark Is Directly Responsible For Miami’s Run To College Football National Championship

Carson Beck scored the game-winning touchdown to send Miami to the national championship, which would not be possible without Caitlin Clark. She is directly responsible for the Hurricanes’ success in college football.

It is one of the craziest butterfly effects in college sports.

The greatest scorer in women’s college basketball history played so well during March Madness almost three years ago that Miami landed its current college football signal-caller. Something like that.

Caitlin Clark cooked Hailey Van Lith.

This entire sequence of events started on the first day of the second quarter of 2024. Well, actually, we have to go even further back.

Let’s start one year prior.

Hailey Van Lith announced her decision to enter the transfer portal after three seasons at Louisville on April 8. The 5-foot-9 point guard wanted to prove she was more than just a shooter before she turned pro so she committed to LSU (the reigning champions) on April 27, 2023.

The Tigers played their way to the Elite Eight against the Hawkeyes of Iowa on April 1, 2024.

Caitlin Clark was a senior and Van Lith was tasked with guarding her. It did not go well.

Clark absolutely cooked Van Lith over 40 minutes to finish with 41 points, 12 assists and seven rebounds. Neither she nor Angel Reese were unable to find any success on defense. They could only shrug out of complete bewilderment as the biggest star in women’s hoops history punched her ticket to the Final Four.

Hailey Van Lith re-entered the transfer portal not too long thereafter. She landed at TCU.

Carson Beck transferred to Miami and led the Hurricanes to a College Football Playoff national championship.

Haley Cavinder and her sister, Hanna, initially forwent their final year of eligibility in 2023-24 after three seasons at Fresno State and one season at Miami. They did not play that season.

And then Haley decided she wasn’t done.

The better of the two twins announced her return to college basketball for the 2024-25 season at TCU. She and Van Lith were going to be in the same backcourt when the latter committed.

And then she changed her mind.

Haley Cavinder transferred back to Miami. Hanna also decided to come out of retirement.

That all went down in April 2024. Hanna revealed her relationship with Carson Beck in July.

Beck was expected to be a top-five pick in the NFL Draft at the time. He was still at Georgia.

The fifth-year quarterback ultimately struggled with accuracy in the fall of 2024 and suffered an injury to his UCL in the SEC Championship that ended his year prior to the Playoff. His draft stock was not quite as high as expected. As a result, Beck decided not to enter the NFL Draft pool after initially declaring.

He transferred to Miami instead.

A monster NIL deal worth at least $3 million helped to make the decision for him and his girlfriend (at the time) was also in the 305. She denied her involvement in his recruitment but… they partied together on a billionaire booster’s boat for her birthday in January so I would imagine she was part of it.

Beck and Cavinder ultimately went through a messy breakup but Carson Beck stayed at Miami. He scored the game-winning touchdown to send the Hurricanes to the national championship on Thursday.