Miami tries to prevent more COVID-19 — and stop favored Hokies’ No. 4 rushing attack
University of Miami coach Manny Diaz is well aware that the consequences of the coronavirus become more evident in college football every week.
COVID-19 has been especially unkind this weekend to the FBS schedule, with at least 11 games postponed and four games canceled. Postponements include No. 1 Alabama at LSU, No. 5 Texas A&M at Tennessee, No. 24 Auburn at Mississippi State and Pitt at Georgia Tech. The canceled games are North Texas at UAB, Cal at Arizona State, Utah at UCLA, and Gardner-Webb at Charlotte.
No. 9 UM (6-1, 5-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) is one of the fortunate teams that hasn’t had a game postponed or canceled because of COVID-19, but the program collectively crosses its fingers every time there’s testing, which concludes each week the day before the game — this week’s matchup at noon Saturday (ESPN) at Virginia Tech (4-3, 4-2).
Next week (Nov. 21) UM is scheduled to play at Hard Rock Stadium against Georgia Tech.
Diaz spoke about his own situation early this week after 11 Hurricanes were unavailable for the Nov. 6 N.C. State road game, many of them believed to be because of COVID-19 issues, either due to positive tests or contact tracing. Those 11 came one game after six were announced unavailable for the Virginia game.
‘At mercy of testing’
“It will be better. We are getting guys back,’’ he said, adding, “It’s still incremental as the week goes on. We’re still at the mercy of testing. We hope we get some more guys cleared.’’
Diaz was asked what precautions he takes regarding the coaching staff not being affected by the virus and how he would deal with the scenario if it should happen. Several other college coaches have tested positive, including Florida State’s Mike Norvell before the UM game and this week Arkansas coach Sam Pittman. Last Sunday, the NFL’s Miami Dolphins had five assistants who missed the game with COVID-19 issues.
“We sort of have unofficial if-this-then-that staff dynamics,’’ Diaz said. “We try to do a really good job in the building. We don’t meet in our normal offensive and defensive staff rooms. We meet in big team meeting rooms. We’re in large areas. We’re all spread out apart from each other. We’re obviously always wearing masks when we’re in the building, so we do as much as we can. And it’s still hard and there is not guarantee that it won’t affect our staff.’’
The players who have been out include starting tight end Brevin Jordan, whom Diaz wouldn’t discuss because he said then he’d “have to talk about everybody that’s on the not-available list — but there is hope that he can be back, and that’s the truth. That’s really all I can say at this point.’’
ACC scenario
Diaz is also aware that the Hurricanes, who are aiming for their fourth consecutive victory, cannot worry about their ACC standing at this point other than what is directly in front of them.
“I told them I called the ACC and asked them what the tiebreaker was and they said, ‘Go 1-0 this week,’ ’’ Diaz said jokingly of the ACC title-game scenario, which now leaves the Hurricanes clinging to hope that No. 4 Clemson (7-1, 6-1) and Notre Dame (7-0, 6-0) start losing.
The two teams with the highest winning percentage play each other for the league title on Dec. 19 in Charlotte, with the Tigers and Irish the strongest contenders for a rematch.
“Our guys have done a pretty good job with that,” Diaz said. “Every week we sort of pull the lens out and look where the league is and when we’re done talking about it, we don’t talk about it again for the rest of the week and everything goes into ‘Beat Virginia Tech.’
“Winning on the road in the league will be enough for us to focus on.’’
Blacksburg factor
The Hurricanes trail only 8-7 in games played in Blacksburg, but Virginia Tech has always been a difficult place to play. This year, however, the Hokies are having their own difficulties.
The Hokies lost 38-35 last week on a last-second, 51-yard field goal by then No. 25 and now No. 22 Liberty. But the final play was set up by an unfortunate timeout call by Hokies coach Justin Fuente. Before officials could respond, Liberty’s preceding 59-yard field-goal attempt was blocked by the Hokies and run back for an apparent touchdown. The touchdown didn’t count when officials ruled that the Hokies had called the timeout before the attempt, and Liberty got a do-over. After an 8-yard gain, Liberty hit the 51-yarder for the win.
But despite losing two of their past three games, the other 23-16 to Wake Forest, the Hokies are 2 1/2-point favorites behind strong dual-threat quarterback Hendon Hooker. A 6-4, 220-pound redshirt junior, Hooker has eight rushing touchdowns and seven passing this season, and is the only FBS quarterback in 2020 to have two 150-yard rushing games. He already has 515 yards rushing this season (6.3 yards a carry) and has completed 65 percent of his passes for 870 yards and the seven scores, with three interceptions.
“Normally going against a guy more elusive who can make plays happen with his feet you have to be careful you’re not getting too far upfield,” Miami defensive end Jaelan Phillips said. “It’s going to be big for us to rush strategically and just get after him early and often.”
The Hokies are averaging a meaty 465 yards of offense a game and as of Thursday, were fourth in the nation with 277.4 rushing yards a game.
But the Hokies are allowing an uncharacteristic 460.7 yards — 202 of those on the ground.
Virginia Tech’s biggest ground threat, running back Khalil Herbert, is questionable for the game. Herbert has run for 803 yards — second best in the ACC — and is averaging 8.4 yards a carry. But he injured his hamstring on a kickoff return early in the Liberty game, and did not return.
This story was originally published November 12, 2020 at 3:25 PM.
