Miami returns from 3-week COVID layoff with a historic blowout, eyes on ‘a big-time bowl’
D’Eriq King’s experience throughout the final weeks of November was typical for large swaths of the Miami Hurricanes’ roster.
“It was just lonely,” said the quarterback, who revealed Saturday he tested positive for COVID-19 last month. “I’m at home watching a lot of TV, a lot of Netflix and trying to do whatever you can do.”
He experienced some mild symptoms, and mostly had to fight off boredom and the frustration he couldn’t play football. At least a quarter of the team has had the coronavirus, a source told the Miami Herald, and it forced the Hurricanes to close their facilities for almost two full weeks last month.
For a team which had found so much joy and connection playing together throughout a pandemic, it was a reality check. COVID cases are soaring across the United States and college football games are canceled every weekend because of them. Miami managed to mostly escape it for more than two months, so once it did come for them it served as a final reminder of the fragility of this season.
“Obviously, it was difficult with us being off, but I think that the team came back hungrier,” offensive lineman Corey Gaynor said Saturday. “It’s hard being away from something you love so much, but when we got back together obviously I don’t think we missed a beat and I think we grew as a team.”
They came back thinking about big-picture goals because it’s impossible not to with a team this special. Miami (8-1, 7-1 Atlantic Coast) entered the weekend with a slim chance to make the 2020 ACC Championship Game — and maybe even the College Football Playoff — and a very real chance to reach a New Year’s Six bowl game. The latter goal remains firmly in play after the No. 9 Hurricanes’ 48-0 win Saturday against the Duke Blue Devils in Durham, North Carolina.
Above all else, Miami just wanted to play again. It had been 20 days since the Hurricanes last played a game and they only sneaked in a handful of practices in those three weeks as the virus ripped through the program, even hospitalizing associate athletic director of athletic training Vinny Scavo.
It started to feel like the offseason all over again, when the Hurricanes weren’t sure whether a season would even happen. Miami postponed two games against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and Wake Forest Demon Deacons, and then Wake Forest, originally rescheduled to be the Hurricanes’ opponent Saturday, canceled on Miami because of COVID-related issues within its program. The Hurricanes only found out last Sunday they would face Duke this weekend and they only had five practices last week to get ready.
Somehow, the result was Miami’s most thorough beatdown in nearly 20 years. The Hurricanes piled up 524 yards of total offense and held the Blue Devils to 177. They scored six touchdowns and forced five turnovers. Their shutout was their first of any kind since 2006 and their first against a major-conference opponent since 2001, and it was Miami’s most lopsided win against a Power 5 conference team since its 2001 pummeling of the Washington Huskies and it did so with 15 players, including five with starting experience, unavailable for undisclosed reasons.
“I’m not sure surprised is the right word. We’re always hopeful,” coach Manny Diaz said Saturday. “We didn’t go into the game pessimistic that we couldn’t do something like this, but to see the players do it, it reminds me of what they’ve done all year. Every time it’s been sort of the darkest time ... these guys have stepped up.”
After so much went wrong in the second half of November for Miami, Saturday could’ve hardly gone better. The Hurricanes scored 21 points in the first half, then 21 more in the third quarter and then they emptied the bench for the fourth. Every player who traveled, Diaz said, got into the game.
The only way the weekend could have gone better was outside Miami’s control. The No. 4 Clemson Tigers blew out the Virginia Tech Hokies, 45-10, in Blacksburg, Virginia, to clinch the second spot in the ACC Championship opposite the No. 2 Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The Hurricanes slim hopes at a conference title died as they were dismantling Duke.b
All year long, Miami has stressed a one-game-at-a-time approach, which is easier to buy into than ever when any given game isn’t guaranteed. On Saturday, the Hurricanes stuck to their message, but there’s an important caveat to it this week: Miami will host the North Carolina Tar Heels at Saturday at Hard Rock Stadium and a win would clinch third place in the ACC, paving a clear path to the Orange Bowl for the Hurricanes, who enters the week at No. 10 in the CFP rankings.
If Clemson beats Notre Dame on Dec. 19 in Charlotte and Miami beats the North Carolina, the Hurricanes would virtually guarantee themselves a spot in the Orange Bowl through the ACC’s tie-in.
While championship hopes faded Saturday, a litany of new goals clarified. If it wins out to end the regular season, Miami would hit 10 wins for the first time since 2018, which is the last time the Hurricanes went to a New Year’s Six game. Add in a bowl victory and Miami would hit 11 for the first time since 2003, which is also the last time the Hurricanes won one of those top-tier bowl games.
“I love this team. I’m so glad I came here. I love the University of Miami,” King said. “Finishing the right way — that’s really, really, really important. Trying to get to 10 wins this year with North Carolina and Georgia Tech, and obviously a bowl game — a big-time bowl game — is super important for us.
“We’re still taking it one game at a time. You can only control what you can control, so we can control tomorrow’s practice, Tuesday’s practice, Wednesday and the game against North Carolina. So I’m excited to finish on the right foot. I just love the school, so I’m going to do everything I can — everything we can as a team — to finish on the right foot.”
Miami-UNC gets national audience
The Hurricanes’ meeting with the Tar Heels on Saturday no longer has ACC title implications, but the top-25 matchup is still getting a national audience.
The ACC set Miami-North Carolina for 3:30 p.m. on ABC as the Hurricanes try to lock up third place in the conference in Miami Gardens.
Miami rises in Coaches
The Hurricanes are still No. 9 in the AP Poll after their blowout win Saturday, but on the rise in the Coaches Poll
The Indiana Hoosiers jumped Miami in the AP Poll, but the Hurricanes passed the BYU Cougars after Saturday. Indiana climbed from No. 10 to No. 8 after beating the then-No. 18 Wisconsin Badgers, 14-6, and BYU fell from No. 8 to No. 14 after losing to the then-No. 14 Coastal Carolina Chanticleers, 22-17.
In the Coaches Poll, Miami moved up one spot from No. 9 to No. 8, passing the Cougars after their loss in Conway, South Carolina. The Hoosiers remain behind the Hurricanes in the Coaches Poll despite their win in Madison, Wisconsin.
This story was originally published December 6, 2020 at 9:00 AM.
