ACC eliminates any chance of UM overtaking Notre Dame for berth in title game. Here’s why
A six-pack of Miami Hurricanes notes on a Tuesday:
▪ The Atlantic Coast Conference eliminated any slim chance that Miami could hop Notre Dame for a berth in the conference’s championship game on Tuesday by deciding to cancel the Fighting Irish’s Dec. 12 game against Wake Forest and have Louisville play Wake Forest that day instead.
That ACC decision eliminated the slim chance that UM could overtake Notre Dame — which would have required UM wins at Duke Saturday and against North Carolina on Dec. 12 and Notre Dame losses at home Saturday against Syracuse and at Wake Forest. That benefits Notre Dame, which is playing football as a league member for the first and possibly only time this season.
As a result, the only way Miami can advance to the Dec. 19 ACC championship game in Charlotte would be if the Hurricanes beat Duke and UNC and if Clemson loses Saturday at Virginia Tech.
Why did the ACC decide to do this?
“Following a recommendation from the conference Athletic Director football subcommittee, the league’s Athletic Directors have voted to preserve the integrity of the ACC Football Championship Game by evaluating each of the three teams in contention [Clemson, Miami and Notre Dame] based on a nine-game conference schedule,” the league said in a statement. “As a result, Clemson and Notre Dame will conclude the regular season this weekend.”
And the ACC added that “should a game(s) involving Clemson, Miami or Notre Dame not be played this weekend, the ACC has the option to reschedule games on Dec. 12 as needed. Based on the current standings and results to date, Notre Dame holds all tiebreakers and has therefore secured a berth in the ACC Football Championship Game.”
Clemson is 7-1 in conference and Miami is 6-1. Notre Dame is 8-0, and the cancelation of the Wake Forest game means the Fighting Irish will play only nine conference games.
UM will play Georgia Tech on Dec. 19 if Clemson is playing Notre Dame in the ACC championship game that day.
Also Tuesday, the ACC announced that FSU will host Duke on Dec. 12 and play at Wake Forest on Dec. 19.
▪ Redshirt freshman wide receiver Jeremiah Payton remains a riddle, a player who impresses at times in practice but doesn’t do enough to convince receivers coach Rob Likens or offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee to play him nearly as much as Dee Wiggins or Mark Pope or Mike Harley Jr.
“It’s been an up-and-down situation this year,” Lashlee said of Payton. “He had some good moments. The start of the year we thought he’d earn more time, had some setbacks where he missed some games.
“It’s been hard for him to get in a rhythm. Our long-term optimism is for Jeremiah to be a very good football player. He has all the skill sets you need.”
Payton has just five receptions for 35 yards this season. He had one catch for 23 yards in one game as a freshman.
▪ ESPN’s Mel Kiper has Quincy Roche rated as a top five outside linebacker in next April’s draft even though he plays defensive end for UM.
“Using him at defensive end, that’s where he’s most comfortable, what he played at Temple,” Baker said. “It’s funny how the NFL labels outside linebackers who are really defensive ends in a 4-3 scheme as opposed to a 3-4.
“I could see Quincy going to a 3-4 and being a super productive outside linebacker. He’s a guy that really flourishes when he drops into zone - we don’t utilize him that much in that department. At Temple he did drop more often.
“In our defense with a four-down front, he checks all those boxes when it comes to getting after the quarterback.”
▪ Quick stuff part 1: Baker said second-year defensive tackle Jared Harrison-Hunte is “probably a little ahead of where maybe I thought he’d be because he hasn’t played that much football. The big thing I want to see with Jared is just consistency.”….
Roche so far is the only Hurricanes player who has accepted an invitation to the Senior Bowl…
▪ Quick stuff part 2: Though UM will be a heavy favorite Saturday at Duke, the best NFL prospect on the field might be Duke defensive end Chris Rumph, who has 12.5 tackles for loss and eight sacks. Duke’s other end, Victor Dimukeje, has 7.5 sacks, two forced fumbles and 38 quarterback pressures (third most in the ACC).
UM tackles Zion Nelson and Jarrid Williams — who will try to block those two — generally have been solid; Nelson is much improved and the Hurricanes’ offensive line problems have been more in the interior....
UM sounds inclined to stick with Gurvan Hall as punt returner over Mark Pope and Xavier Restrepo.
“That’s been an ongoing discussion (who will handle punt returns and kickoff returns),” special teams coach Jon Patke said Tuesday. “Especially our punt return. We went with Pope earlier in the season, changed to Restrepo, fell into Gurvan Hall. I thought Gurvan did a great job coming in the last game we played and securing some big time catches late in the game. You have to be a punt catcher before punt returner. Came in and caught the football, I have confidence Gurvan can go back and do that. It’s under constant evaluation who that guy is But as of right now Gurvan has the most security in returning the ball to our offense.
“At kick return Jaylan Knighton is getting better each and every week, is close to hitting one. We know how explosive he is.”
▪ UM media notes: There will be no CBS games for UM hoops, but — if COVID cooperates — ESPN announced Tuesday that it will carry the two UM-North Carolina games in prime time (Jan. 5 here and Feb. 8 in Chapel Hill) and the Duke game Feb. 1 at UM....
TV information for UM’s next few men’s basketball games: Friday vs. Stetson — 8 p.m. on ACC Network; Dec. 8 vs. Purdue — 5 p.m. on ESPN2; Dec. 12 vs. Florida Gulf Coast — time and TV to be determined;
Dec. 16 vs. Pittsburgh — 6 p.m. on ACC Network; Dec. 19 vs. Jacksonville — time to-be-determined; game on Fox Sports Sun or Fox Sports Florida; Dec. 29 at Virginia Tech — 6 p.m. on ACC Network....
In this COVID-interrupted season, WQAM-560’s Joe Zagacki and Don Bailey Jr. have done a good job calling UM road games despite being required to announce them on television monitors from the press box at Mark Light Field.
“The biggest challenge is you can only see what the camera gives you,” Zagacki said. “You can’t see what you want to see.”
Zagacki and Bailey sit eight feet apart in the Mark Light press box, watching and calling the game off three TV screens. Bailey has two screens in front of him; Zagacki has one in front of him.
It helps that they can see what’s happening on the field during TV commercial breaks.
Zagacki and Bailey call UM home games from Hard Rock Stadium.
Meanwhile, ESPN and ABC have had their announcers call many games — not all but many — from their homes.
For example, Boston Red Sox and former Miami Marlins announcer Dave O’Brien is expected to call Saturday’s UM-Duke game on ACC Network from his home in New Hampshire, while analyst Tim Hasselbeck doing commentary from his home in Tennessee.
Here’s my Tuesday Dolphins piece with lots of nuggets.
Here’s my Tuesday Heat piece with great insight from a Memphis coach on first-round pick Precious Achiuwa, and the rookie’s comments on Tuesday.
This story was originally published December 1, 2020 at 5:30 PM.
