Podcast: Does another awful Miami loss raise long-term concerns? And Garcia expectations
The Miami Hurricanes keep finding new ways to lose and their 45-21 defeat at the hands of the Duke Blue Devils was certainly a creative one.
Miami turned the ball over eight times, and lost five fumbles and its starting quarterback to blow a second-half lead to Duke on Saturday at Hard Rock Stadium.
It was about as ugly as it can get, so David Wilson and Susan Miller Degnan, the Hurricanes beat writer for the Miami Herald, zoom through it at the top of this episode before moving on to bigger-picture concerns.
The manner in which the Hurricanes (2-3, 1-2 Atlantic Coast) lost, though, is impossible to ignore. Miami lost a fumble on a kickoff, running back Jaylan Knighton fumbled twice and quarterback Jake Garcia committed three turnovers—three interceptions and two fumbles—in the most extended action of his young career. After ripping off 14 straight points to take the lead in the third quarter, the Hurricanes melted down and suffered yet another inexplicable loss in Miami Gardens.
The big question this week: What does it mean for the program? Coach Mario Cristobal spent all week answering questions about the state of this team, why the team is underachieving so badly and how long it might actually take for him to build the Hurricanes into a national contender.
Forget national contention, though. Right now, Miami isn’t even a good team and is in real danger of failing to qualify for a bowl game for the first time since 2007, especially with Tyler Van Dyke’s status in doubt.
The quarterback hardly practiced in the first part of the week and now Garcia is in line to make his first career start Saturday against the Virginia Cavaliers, On3.com reported. The redshirt freshman needs to be better than he was last weekend, but we’re willing to excuse it, too, because of how suddenly he was thrust into action after Van Dyke’s apparent right shoulder injury.
With this season increasingly looking like a lost one, Miami will at least get a glimpse of its future this weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia.
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