The season is fading but Miami still has goals to fulfill, reason to fight at Georgia Tech
With three regular-season games left for the Miami Hurricanes, it seems as if the situation couldn’t get much worse.
But it could get better.
If the Hurricanes (4-5, 2-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) win two of their remaining games, beginning with Georgia Tech (4-5, 3-3) at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta, they will qualify for the postseason — no small feat at this point.
“The season is not going the way we want it to,’’ said fifth-year senior tight end Will Mallory, “but to be able to finish strong and make it to a bowl game and win one would mean a lot, especially for a lot of the older guys, myself included.”
Problem is, the Canes might be without the services of usual starting quarterback Tyler Van Dyke, who sustained a shoulder injury against Duke on Oct. 22 and re-injured it last week in a 45-3 loss to Florida State. Should Van Dyke be unable to go, then either redshirt freshman Jake Garcia or true freshman Jacurri Brown would start. Garcia has thrown four interceptions and fumbled four times the past three games. Brown, a strong runner, has little college experience and struggled throwing against the Seminoles.
Multiple Injuries along the offensive line have only made it more difficult for the quarterbacks, who likely will be playing behind a redshirt freshman (Laurance Seymore) at left guard and a true freshman (Anez Cooper) at right guard.
UM’s paltry running game has not compensated for the quarterback situation, as the Canes rank 94th nationally in rushing 131.6 yards a game and have had several injured running backs.
Defensively, UM has allowed 45 points in three of their five losses, and could be going against true freshman quarterback Zach Pyron, who in his first start led the Yellow Jackets to a come-from-behind 28-27 last week at Virginia Tech.
Postseason blues
The last time the Hurricanes didn’t qualify for a bowl was in 2007 after a 5-7 season under first-year coach Randy Shannon. Although they qualified in 2011 (6-6) and 2012 (7-5) under Al Golden, self-imposed bans kept them home.
After Saturday’s road game, the Canes travel again for a Nov. 19 game at No. 12 Clemson (8-1, 6-0), then finish the season Nov. 26 at home against Pittsburgh (5-4, 2-3).
Georgia Tech is battling for the same postseason opportunity, with seemingly impossible-to-beat opponents after Miami — at No. 15 North Carolina and at top-ranked Georgia. The Yellow Jackets’ head coach, Geoff Collins, was fired in late September after starting the season 1-3 and going 10-28 overall. He was replaced by interim head coach Brent Key, who serves as the run game coordinator and offensive line coach. The Jackets have since gone 3-2.
“Bottom line: We’ve done a good job playing on the road in conference,’’ said UM coach Mario Cristobal, whose Canes are 2-1 this season on the road, beating Virginia Tech Oct. 15 and Virginia in quadruple overtime Oct. 29, but falling Sept. 17 at Texas A&M.
UM is coming off a 45-3 loss to in-state rival Florida State, and Cristobal said there was “no time to wallow.’’
“The reality is we have a tremendous opportunity to get better,’’ the coach said. “We’ve shown we’ve been able to do that this season a couple different times, to bounce back and play really, really well.
“The tape [from Florida State] told us the truth, that we’re not playing to the best of our ability. We’ve got to get better and develop a whole lot better to make sure we have the outcome that we want. That right there should be more than enough motivation.’’
Bowl chances
ESPN’s College Football Power Index gives Miami a 1.9 percent shot of winning out and 28.6-percent shot of winning six games, which is the minimum needed to qualify for the postseason — unless there are too many bowl slots and not enough teams to fill them. In that case, the team’s Academic Progress Rate (APR) is used in deciding which 5-7 teams get berths.
The Yellow Jackets have a 6-percent chance, according to the index, of reaching six wins, but as of Thursday were still 1 1/2-point favorites.
Bowl games give coaches an opportunity for several extra practices in which they can use to evaluate younger players.
“For the program moving forward it’s really important,’’ Mallory said. “As a young guy myself those were...important reps that you need.’’
Third-year sophomore receiver Xavier Restrepo said the extra bowl practices “are all good, especially for the young guys developing.
“But most importantly, we just gotta be 1-0 this week — focus on Georgia Tech.’’
