Miami’s Cristobal seeks first ACC home win. UM hasn’t beaten Clemson at home since 1956
Last year at Clemson, the Miami Hurricanes were playing for a bowl game.
They failed miserably.
Saturday, the Hurricanes are playing for their first Atlantic Coast Conference home win under coach Mario Cristobal after losing to all four ACC opponents at Hard Rock Stadium in 2022 (North Carolina, Duke, Florida State, Pittsburgh) and to Georgia Tech in their 2023 league opener Oct. 7.
Miami (4-2, 0-2) needs to avoid a downward spiral in seeking its first win against Clemson (4-2, 2-2). It’s UM’s fifth attempt since last beating the Tigers in 2010. The last time Clemson came to Hard Rock in 2015, the Tigers won 58-0 — UM’s worst loss in history. Coach Al Golden was fired the next day.
“I always tell Coach [Mark] Richt I’m the reason he got the job,’’ ACC Network analyst Eric Mac Lain, a former Clemson offensive lineman who played in that game, told the Miami Herald on Thursday in discussing the rivalry.
The perennially dominant Clemson, with an uncustomary two losses this season to Duke and Florida State, would be a sweet win if the four-point-underdog Canes can fix their numerous flaws that were exposed last week at undefeated North Carolina.
“In the past, we dealt with it and it just carried over,” UM leading receiver Xavier Restrepo said of consecutive losses in recent years. “Now our main focus is on our self-inflicted wounds. Offense, top 10 [No. 7 overall] in moving the ball in the entire country. Defense [No. 18 overall] is doing a really good job. Again, it’s self-inflicted wounds, turning the ball over, penalties. We’ve got to focus on ourselves.
“Clemson has a great defense,’’ Restrepo added. “We’ve just got to lock in and bring everything we have.’’
The Tigers have the nation’s No. 5 defense, allowing only 261.8 yards a game and 175.5 passing yards a game for eighth best. Offensively, they’re led by 6-2, 205-pound sophomore quarterback Cade Klubnik, who has thrown 151 consecutive passes without a pick. Klubnick is 137 of 210 (65.2 percent) for 1,370 yards and 11 touchdowns, with two interceptions. He has also rushed for 118 yards and three touchdowns.
South Florida football fans might remember Klubnik from making his first career start last December at Hard Rock in the Capital One Orange Bowl, where the Tigers lost 31-14 to Tennessee in an up-and-down Klubnik performance.
“It’s definitely a really cool stadium and a cool atmosphere,’’ Klubnik told TigerNet this week. “I’m excited to go back there and come away with a win.’’
UM starting quarterback Tyler Van Dyke was hit hard and hobbled after being sacked a season-high three times last week and seen Monday limping and unable to bend his right knee with his leg covered with an Ace bandage. Cristobal said Monday that the quarterback was “ready to go’’ and would play. If not, his replacement would likely be freshman Emory Williams, who has played in three games this season (Miami of Ohio, Bethune-Cookman and at Temple) and is 12 of 15 (80 percent) for 144 yards.
Sophomore Jacurri Brown started two games last season, including the 40-10 loss at Clemson, but has not played this season. At Clemson, Brown was 6 of 13 for 53 yards and one interception.
Turnover turnaround
The Canes have turned over the ball nine times in the past two games, going from fifth in the nation in turnovers lost to 97th of 129 FBS teams.
“What’s very clear to us is, yeah, we’ve made a lot of progress as a team,’’ Cristobal said this week. “Offensively and defensively, the improvement statistically is staggering. But we’ve made some really good plays in some critical moments and we’ve hurt ourselves in some critical moments — at all levels.’’
That means coaching, of course, with the worst moment being when Cristobal chose to run a play instead of kneeling in the victory formation with 33 seconds left against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, who recovered the subsequent UM fumble and scored four plays later for the last-second victory. UM would be 5-1 and 1-1 now, instead of trying to avert a three-game slide.
Mac Lain, the ACC analyst, called it a “culture-type game’’ between two major programs trying to prevent collapse.
“No one ever wants to go 0-3 in three weeks,’’ he said of UM. “And not having won an ACC game at home? That’s crazy. From a recruiting standpoint, these two teams probably go head-to-head a bunch on different guys, especially in the state of Florida. I remember every team I was a part of at Clemson, we were just loaded with Florida guys. That was such an important pipeline for us. Anytime you can go into those houses and phone calls or meetings and be like, ‘Yep, did you see that? We just beat those guys,’ that holds weight.
“It’s desperation from the season standpoint for each team. You’re probably already out of [the ACC title game in] Charlotte, but it really feels like if you lose this one it’s an elimination game. It is for sure over.”
Clemson is the first of six consecutive ACC games to end UM’s regular-season. The Canes need two more wins to qualify for a bowl, which they didn’t accomplish in last year’s 5-7 campaign.
Restrepo said it’s a matter of ‘getting better.’
“From the first day I ever touched a football it was `always get better,’” Restrepo said. “...We have to get back on this winning train and keep improving ourselves on the field.”
This story was originally published October 19, 2023 at 4:26 PM.
