Hurricanes’ goal against Virginia Tech is simple: ‘Go take care of our business’
Mario Cristobal can see everything starting to come together. His Miami Hurricanes have responded from a rough patch, one that saw them lose twice in three weeks, to put together two all-around dominant wins against Syracuse and NC State.
“We’re on the verge of playing our best football,” the coach said.
Now, the Hurricanes need to keep that going, and do so on the road, for them to have any hope of making it into the 12-team College Football Playoff.
Miami (8-2, 4-2 Atlantic Coast Conference), No. 13 in the latest CFP rankings, begins that run of back-to-back road games on Saturday when it travels to face Virginia Tech (3-7, 2-4 ACC). Kickoff from Lane Stadium in Blacksburg, Virginia, is set for noon with the game broadcast on ESPN.
The Hurricanes have crept up in the rankings in recent weeks — going from No. 18 two weeks ago to No. 15 last week to No. 13 this week — but still appear to need help in order to get into the field at the end of the season.
Above all us, they have to handle their schedule before they can even worry about what happens elsewhere.
“We’ve done some great things,” Cristobal said. “We’ve got to go take care of our business, and everything else will take care of itself.”
Ever since that second loss of the season, a 26-20 overtime defeat at SMU, Miami has taken care of its business.
It outscored Syracuse and NC State by a combined 79-17, with the two touchdowns allowed each coming in the fourth quarter of the blowouts. The offense has averaged 7.57 yards per play compared to 3.54 for the opposition. The Hurricanes defense forced five turnovers, including returning an interception for a touchdown each week, while also logging 16 tackles for loss and eight sacks.
“Both sides showing up where they need to,” Cristobal said.
On paper, these Hurricanes are a playoff team. They played like it more often than not, too.
“We’re super talented,” quarterback Carson Beck said. “We have all the talent in the world.”
But those two losses, by three points to Louisville and in overtime to SMU, are holding the Hurricanes back from being locks for the field. They have Miami on the outside looking in of reaching the ACC Championship Game — although there is a path to get to Charlotte — and has the Hurricanes in a logjam with several other two-loss teams making their case for an at-large berth into the playoff.
They know there’s chatter going on outside about the Hurricanes’ playoff case (specifically about the head-to-head win over a Notre Dame team that has an identical 8-2 record but is ranked four spots ahead of them).
They aren’t focusing on that right now.
They can’t.
“For us — I keep preaching this — it’s about focusing each and every day,” Beck said. “Just trying to go 1-0 and keeping things simple every Monday, every Tuesday, every Wednesday, every Thursday and so on and so forth. Just shrinking the margins. Just focusing on what we need to focus on each and every day. But obviously with each opportunity that we’re given, we just need to execute.”
“We just need to win every single play that we run. Just focus on that. It’s literally that simple.”
That message now needs to carry into Saturday when Miami heads to Virginia Tech. The Hokies have struggled this season. They fired coach Brent Pry following an 0-3 start and have not been much of a threat on the field all season. Miami is a 17.5-point betting favorite for the game.
But the Hurricanes know not to take any team lightly. They can’t. Plus, those still on the team from last season remember the meeting between these two teams, one Miami had to rally from a pair of 10-point deficits and hold off a near miraculous Hail Mary throw as time expired to come out with a 38-34 win to start conference play.
Quarterback Kyron Drones, who had a pair of touchdown passes in that game last season and can make plays with his legs as well, still leads the Hokies’ offense. He has thrown for 1,717 yards and 16 touchdowns with seven interceptions while rushing for nine touchdowns — making him one of 17 quarterbacks nationally (and one of two in the ACC, along with Georgia Tech’s Haynes King) with that many rushing touchdowns.
“They threw the ball a lot,” Hurricanes defensive lineman Akheem Mesidor said of last season’s game with Virginia Tech. “They also ran the ball really well.”
This Hurricanes defense, though, is vastly improved from the one fielded last year. It’s ranked in the top 10 in a slew of key stats nationally under first-year defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman and has been Miami’s strength all season.
Should Miami make it into the playoffs, that unit will be a big reason.
“Guys just want to win,” Mesidor said. “Everybody in the building wants to win.”
They’ll need to win again on Saturday and once more after that to keep their playoff hopes alive.
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