Hurricanes’ mentality one win from ACC title game: Play like they have ‘nothing to lose’
Cam Ward knows the situation. The entire Miami Hurricanes team does.
After No. 8 Miami’s 42-14 win over Wake Forest on Saturday, the path for the Hurricanes (10-1, 6-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) is simple: Win at Syracuse (8-3, 4-3 ACC) next Saturday, and Miami is heading to Charlotte for the ACC Championship Game on Dec. 7 against SMU (10-1, 7-0 ACC).
It was one of several goals Ward set for himself and the team when he transferred to Miami from Washington State for his final season of college football. He wanted to win. He wanted to go out on a high. He wanted championships.
Ward picked the Hurricanes, a team with a rich history of the past but in a national title drought spanning more than two decades, as the team with which he wanted achieve those goals.
He joined a team that went 7-6 last season and has put together a record-setting season individually to get Miami into the national championship conversation. The Hurricanes have won 10 games for just the second time since joining the ACC in 2004. They need one more
But does that bring any extra pressure? Nerves? Challenges.
Not to Ward.
“At the end of the day, Miami was a mid team last year,” Ward said postgame Saturday. “We’re doing better than what they were last year. So we have nothing to lose. That’s how we play the game. It’s good to control your destiny another week. But we know it doesn’t mean anything if you don’t win. Just got to watch this tape, go to Syracuse and try to win.”
Ward has certainly done his part in helping Miami rack up wins, and his re-writing of the Hurricanes’ record book has come with it.
The latest round of feats came against Wake Forest on Saturday. Even though he threw for just 280 yards and two touchdowns (with an interception) while completing 27 of 38 passes, it was still enough to add two more records to his name.
Ward on the season has now completed 268 of 399 passes for 3,774 passing yards and 34 touchdowns against seven interceptions. The total completions and passing yards broke Bernie Kosar’s school records set in 1984 (262 completions, 3,642 yards) and that have stood for 40 years. Ward broke Steve Walsh’s school record for single-season touchdown passes set in 1988 when he threw his 30th touchdown of the season on Nov. 9 at Georgia Tech. His nine 300-yard passing games are the most in a season in UM history and his four 400-yard passing games are tied by the most for a Hurricanes player ever.
But in typical Ward fashion, he deflected praise for the accomplishments. He credited his teammates — the depth Miami has at wide receiver and running back, the talent of the offensive line in front of him — for making his job easier.
“Any quarterback in this position is able to break some records,” Ward said. “They’re the reason I’m able to do that.”
But Ward’s transcendent ability has Miami on a path that the team hasn’t experienced in quite some time. Miami has played in an ACC Championship Game once, in 2017 when it got thrashed 38-3 by Clemson. The Hurricanes haven’t won a national title since 2001.
Ward has the Hurricanes in position to do both because of how he has led UM’s offense to levels it has never reached before. Miami leads the country in yards per game (541.5), yards per play (7.61) and points per game (44.7).
“He’s just worried about the right thing and not about the records,” fifth-year offensive lineman Jalen Rivers said. “He’s worried getting the team better. ... It’s great to have a player like that who’s not worried about himself, the stats and all that because that’ll come when he plays his game, which he has been.”
And it has Miami right where it wants to be. How the Hurricanes play next weekend will dictate their future.
Win, and they have a chance for a conference championship and beyond.
Lose, and they’re definitely out of the conference title game and almost assuredly on the outside looking in of the College Football Playoff.
The high stakes are still there for a program that has yearned to be back in this position for so long.
It’s right there for them if they are up to the task.
“We haven’t been in position since my five years here,” Rivers said, “so it’s been great. We’re just excited to get the next opportunity to get to that point.”
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