Sorry, Hurricanes, but a 20-14 win at Va-Tech does not impress any more than being 3-3 does | Opinion
The University of Miami had its dream hire.
Mario Cristobal had his dream job.
The dream home soon followed.
Everything was the fairy tale you’d draw up in an improbable script -- except the first half of this college football season. That was not.
That sits at 3-3 now for the Hurricanes, math for average, the climb to even that thanks to the desperately needed relief and tourniquet of Saturday’s 20-14 matinee victory at bad Virginia Tech. The bleeding has stopped. But does it mean the patient is well? The proof of that is yet unknown.
Miami had lost three in a row before finally scoring this without-much-doubt though hardly overwhelming win over an opponent its own size and leveling its Atlantic Coast Conference record at 1-1. Finishing atop the ACC’s dreadful Coastal Division remains in play, a hope nourished by Saturday.
Quarterback Tyler Van Duke continued his impressive rebound from an early-season benching, completing 29 of 46 passes for 351 yards, two touchdowns and zero interceptions -- giving him 847 passing yards in past two games. And a Miami defense that had been bad against the pass this season enjoyed a small whiff of redemption, at least, as Va-Tech managed only 179 yards in the air.
There are six more conference games to play, and UM likely won’t be an underdog in any of them until the trip to Clemson November 19.
Three losses in a row with UM trailing throughout in all three -- the one at home to Middle Tennessee especially drenched in ignominy -- had left many Canes fans understandably disgruntled and dispirited.
Saturday’s modest win over a subpar foe will hardly be the magic panacea that has the masses singing ‘all is well!’ Tech scored twice in the fourth quarter to make it closer than it needed to be. Miami led 17-0 at halftime and seemed to let down.
“Started very strong, got a little tight there at the end,” Cristobal summarized the game.
The coach noted several offensive starters missing at times to injuries in prasing the effort and win. “Some new parts in there,” he said.
Still don’t trust the pass defense against a better quarterback than we saw Saturday, though. UM’s running game seems pretty average. And Miami had its most penalty yards in a game (159) in seven years. Much improving -- and proving -- yet to do.
We’ve been wondering if Miami was getting its money’s worth out of Cristobal and Saturday does not chase all that away.
It has not been an unfair question.
Its context is money and it is fueled by the need for instant gratification. But it is not unfair.
Miami lavished an eight-year, $80 million contract on Cristobal to lure him from his successes at Oregon -- the most UM has spent for any coach at any time, by a lot.
Cristobal, a former Hurricanes offensive lineman and a part of two of UM’s five national championships, was the homecoming king with the job he felt born to have.
Before long he bought a $7.9 million mansion near Coral Gables, an 8,800-square foot wonderland with a gym, pool, courtyard and eight bathrooms. His neighbors included Heat star Jimmy Butler and baseball legend Alex Rodriguez.
That’s Miami sports royalty, which Cristobal can be a part of -- but only by winning for The U that long-elusive sixth national title. It s why he was brought here. Nothing less.
Is that expectation too high? Too much?
No. Again, money is the barometer. UM is in the big leagues now, paying national-championship level money and needing to get what it paid for.
Context:
The $8 million Cristobal is making this season ranks 10th-highest nationally.
The only coaches making more are Nick Saban of Alabama, Dabo Swinney of Clemson, Kirby Smart of Georgia, and the coaches of LSU, Michigan State, Texas A&M, Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan.
Of the nine schools paying their head coach more, six were ranked first, second, third, fourth, fifth and 10th in the polls entering this weekend. Another was 4-2 and just fallen out of the rankings. Another (Texas A&M) had more wins and had beaten UM head-to-head.
Only Michigan State on that list was as big a disappointment as Miami relative to head-coaching salary.
In this economic stratosphere, with these expectations, comfortably handling Virginia Tech to get to 3-3 does not merit undo praise, let alone a pare. It is expected.
So is beating Duke next week. And Virginia after that. And, yes, then rival Florida State. Then Georgia Tech.
That would put Miami 7-3 entering the Clemson game, before closing the regular season vs. Pittsburgh.
An 8-4 season is the realistic best-case scenario at this point. If a spot in the ACC championship game and/or winning a respectable bowl game follows, Cristobal would have kept the wolves at bay and survived a rocky homecoming year.
That’s when even more pressure to be better next season -- a lot better -- would begin anew.
This story was originally published October 15, 2022 at 3:57 PM.
