Not pretty. OK, it was ugly. But Hurricanes’ 14-12 OT win at Virginia keeps bowl hopes alive | Opinion
A bowl game, the very lowest rung of what might generously constitute success in college football — at least that modest hope is back in play for a Miami Hurricanes team that had been reeling and for coach Mario Cristobal, the would-be savior who never imagined he would be piloting a season that now sees six victories as an aspiration.
You need six wins to qualify for the consolation of a bowl invitation, and at six it’s usually a pity prize of some third-tier game sponsored by a pizza in a city you’d normally only visit if you lost a bet.
But even that is still a climb for Miami, after Saturday’s 14-12 escape at Virginia in four overtimes left the Canes even at 4-4 and now 2-2 in the Atlantic Coast Conference — narrowly avoiding a fifth loss in six games since that distant 2-0 start.
“Toughness and resiliency,” Cristobal characterized the victory. “Not pretty. Defensively outstanding minus a couple of third downs. Running game we got it going, passing game we couldn’t get it going, but we didn’t turn the ball over. When you don’t, you give yourself a chance. I’m proud of the resiliency. The tougher it got, the better we got.”
UM, No. 16 in the preseason poll and ranked as high as 13th two weeks later, keeps messing around with being among the biggest disappointments of any Power 5 conference squad.
Miami, down 6-3, might have won dramatically outright in the final minute of regulation, with a first-and-goal at the UVA 3, but it hasn’t been that kind of season, or Canes team.
They settled for the consolation of a 6-6 tie and overtime.
Another field goal swap to start OT made it 9-9.
Then another in the second round of overtime for a 12-12 knot.
Third time’s a charm? Nope. Both teams missed two-point conversion attempts.
Fourth time’s a charm? Finally. Quarterback Jake Garcia cashed the two-point play on a run and Miami stopped Virginia’s. Game blessedly over.
Miami deserves some credit for the fight on the road, the scramble to somehow win even though Garcia, in his first college start, was only 15-for-31 passing for 125 yards and could not find the end zone for a touchdown. Win-is-a-win and no bonus points for pretty.
But rare might be the Canes who today is fist-bumping with a giant grin over a 4-4- record after a narrow escape at Virginia.
Perspective and context on where Miami is with four games to play:
The Hurricanes began to win steadily and be a big-time program in 1980, just before the first of five national championships. In the 43 years since, UM has failed to win at least six games but twice, in 1997 and 2007. This would only be the third such ignominy.
Games left are next week vs. rival Florida State, Nov. 12 at Georgia Tech, Nov. 19 at No. 5 Clemson, and Nov. 26 vs. Pittsburgh. Canes might be favored at Ga. Tech. Clemson could be unspeakably ugly. FSU and Pitt seem like likely losses for Miami based on recent form.
Tyler Van Dyke back at QB next week would give the Canes a much better shot, and Saturday’s win at least gives the rivalry match with the Seminoles some added juice. Florida State improved to 5-3 Saturday.
“Best rivalry in football,” Cristobal called UM-FSU after Saturday’s win.
The coach must somehow find a way to win at least two of those last four games.
Saturday found Miami favored by three points, the astonishment there that the betting public continues to have any faith in this team.
Virginia should have led 10-3 late in the third quarter but was stopped on downs at the UM 1-yard-line, the defensive goal-line stand getting lucky when the Cavaliers tight end, glaringly open in the end zone on fourth down, plain-dropped a touchdown pass.
Instead the home team settled for a 6-3 lead with a short field goal early in the final quarter.
Miami had led 3-0 at halftime on a last-second 38-yard field goal after two quarters of dueling bad offense disguised as a defensive struggle.
Virginia managed only 96 yards of total offense in the half, but the Canes weren’t appreciably better with the second-year freshman QB Garcia making his first college start in place of Van Dyke, who injured his right shoulder in the previous week’s debacle of a loss to Duke.
There was a bright side for UM this week beside the narrow-escape win, in recruiting. Despite the season’s woes Cristobal is hitting big with his 2023 recruiting class, which is ranked No. 7 nationally by Rivals.com and No. 8 by 247sports.com. Miami has landed commitments from two or three five-star recruits (depending on who’s doing the rating).
That class added five-star cornerback Cormani McClain this week. He is fourth in the nation on ESPN’s Top 300 rankings, the highest-rated player the Canes have gotten since ESPN began its individual rankings in 2009.
Only a fool would quit on the Cristobal hire eight games in, and the future in Coral Gables may be indeed be bright.
The present, not so much, even after Saturday’s escape made it fortune .500.
Not when earning even a mere middling bowl invite is a late season scramble.
This story was originally published October 29, 2022 at 4:26 PM.
