Unlucky, but heat on Manny Diaz rises as Miami Hurricanes lose ACC opener to Virginia | Opinion
The shake-your-head losses keep stacking up. As poker chips they are getting taller than the exhilarating wins. And you sense the table might be turning on Manny Diaz.
It seems crazy to say. The opponent was 2-2. It was a home game. The Miami Hurricanes were favored to win. And yet this felt like such a huge, crucial, anxious game. One needed. It felt like something as essential as oxygen to UM’s head coach.
It didn’t happen, the win didn’t. Just like so many others haven’t the past few years.
The Canes’ 30-28 home loss to Virginia on Thursday night at Hard Rock Stadium — in UM’s Atlantic Coast Conference opener — leaves Miami 2-3 on the season and now playing from behind in the ACC’s (should be) eminently winnable Coastal division.
It ought to be called the Coasting division, so mediocre is the field, and yet Diaz’s guys blew their first chance to stake a claim to the conference and turn their listing season right.
It was cruel loss. A 33-yard last second missed field goal denying Miami a 31-28 win.
And I know, I know. UM quarterback D’Eriq King missed a second consecutive game with a shoulder injury. Last week it didn’t matter against tiny Central Connecticut State. Thursday it did against an actual opponent. That isn’t nothing. UM quite likely would have won with King in there. And it was close without him, UM playing from behind and never quitting.
No matter, though. No excuses, right? Miami was at home and favored, even with a backup QB. If you are a big, proud, pedigreed program aspiring to get back to what Miami used to be — during that five-national-championship-run between 1983 and 2001 — you win this game. Period. You don’t “yeah, but” why you didn’t. You don’t blame a missed field goal.
It happened to be a night when UM honored Howard Schnellenberger, the ‘83 championship coach (by a 31-30 score) who passed away this past March at age 87. The nostalgia of that was fitting.
See, yesterdays are what Canes fans have right now. Not todays. Or even the resolute faith in tomorrows.
UM has now lost five of its past seven games dating to the end of last season.
The all-too-recent losses to FIU and Louisiana Tech float in the air, mocking.
(Is 27-year-old punter Lou Hedley the Canes’ MVP right now? Just a random question).
What’s frustrating about this season so far — beyond not competing against No. 1 Alabama, the home loss to Michigan State and Thursday night — is that everything in the ACC has been playing into Miami’s hand. It was the ideal setup.
Preseason No. 3 Clemson has proved fallible, beatable, starting 2-2.
Preseason No. 10 North Carolina also has disappointed, starting 2-2.
It was suddenly and unexpectedly wide open! A win Thursday and UM shares the Coastal lead with Virginia Tech.
Alas, preseason No. 14 Miami went and joined the underachiever parade.
Speaking of frustration on the part of UM fans: Look at all the interlopers in here, thriving. The traditionally smaller programs. Cincinnati. Coastal Carolina. Fresno State. Kentucky. Wake Forest. All in the national Top 25 entering this week. Coastal bleepin’ Carolina!?
And the Miami Hurricanes are scrounging at home to try and beat Virginia?
Sort of embarrassing, no? And this when Diaz’s Canes keep bragging about great recruiting classes? What would Howard Schnellenberger say?
Look, I’m not saying the season is lost. Not saying the future is lost. Not saying we chase Diaz with torches and pitchforks because his kicker missed an easy field-goal attempt.
Heck, best case, Miami might run the table from here, finish 9-3 and then play in a bowl game we’ve heard of. It would, to some, be a respectable-enough season that allows the candle of hope to flicker on.
Even with that consolation finish, though, or certainly with anything less, UM athletics director Blake James and the university administration will end this season with a decision to make about the future of the program -- and about Manny Dia.z.
This story was originally published September 30, 2021 at 11:37 PM.
