Cote: Epic embarrassment! Miami Hurricanes blow 21-0 lead, ACC title hopes in loss at Syracuse | Opinion
The meteorologists will tell you that hurricane season in South Florida officially ended Saturday.
Hurricanes season, the capital-H football variety, did the same.
The weather threat is over, and so is the Miami Hurricanes’ impact on this college season.
The Canes’ wild 42-38 loss at Syracuse will have a place among the biggest, most crushing defeats in the storied history of a five-time national championship program.
Miami would blow a 21-0 early lead — with only the highest stakes possible in play.
“We came up short and that’s on all of us, starting with myself,” said coach Mario Cristobal. “We don’t shy away from it. We’re not in any way, shape or form anything but hard workers and accountable people. And it’s brutally difficult.”
It was a wonderful game for the sport and ESPN.
It was a terrific comeback for the home team.
But for Miami, it was an epic collapse, one difficult to frame as anything less than embarrassing. UM once was 9-0 but has lost two of its past three games.
The afternoon-into-evening in central New York began like a dream for the Canes ... and turned into the game UM players, coaches and fans will never forget — for all the wrong reasons.
The game offered the kind of stakes that are the lifeblood of sports, and sports fandom:
Must-win. Period.
No. 6-ranked Miami, with a win, would be in next week’s ACC Championship Game vs. SMU. Now, that goes by default to Clemson.
The Canes, with a win, were all but guaranteed of being in the 12-team College Football Playoff, even if they lost in the ACC finale. Now, no chance for Miami to be a conference champion for the first time since the 2002 Big East crown.
Now, analytics say that even at 10-2, UM ‘s chances of making the CFP is down to 40 percent.
“If we get a chance to go into the playoff, we’re going to make the most of it,” said quarterback Cam Ward.
A wonderful season just shattered.
“There is no next week without this week,” as Ward had put it.
Cristobal had said: “The most important game of the year is right there, right in front of us. This is the game we’ve been setting our goals for and toward all season.”
It turned out to be the game that will haunt you.
And it completed a holiday weekend of colossal loss for Miami football, after the Dolphins on Thanksgiving night lost in Green Bay to cripple their NFL playoff chances.
Saturday began like one of Cristobal’s sweetest dreams: Three possessions, three touchdowns, 21-0.
Mark Fletcher’s 2-yard TD run, then Xavier Restrepo’s 16-yard scoring catch, then Elijah Arroyo’s 2-yard catch (to cap a 93-yard drive) had Miami rolling and the Syracuse home dome quiet by early in the second quarter. UM’s offensive line was dominating, Cam Ward was in charge, and Syracuse’s defense seemed no match.
A huge, early break for the Canes was a nullified 45-yard Syracuse TD pass play on its first possession — erased by a late illegal formation penalty that seemed a bit nitpicky if technically correct. ESPN’s talking heads, along with everybody in America with points on the Orange, deemed it a bad call. Alas, only the ref’s call counted.
But Syracuse wasn’t done.
And the game turned into a Cristobal nightmare, the kind that has you sitting bolt-upright in a cold sweat.
The Orange went uptempo to score twice and the Syracuse defense toughed.
Miami’s lead was whittled to 21-14 at the half.
It got worse.
Syracuse tied it 21-21 to open the third quarter, on Kyle McCloud’s 25-yard strike to Trebor Pena.
Momentum had run away from UM and into Orange arms. The Dome was rocking. The Canes were reeling.
Miami had to do something to save its season. And did. The Canes answered with a drive finished by another Fletcher 2-yard TD and a 28-21 lead.
Momentum couldn’t decide which team it liked, though. A 9-yard Orange TD pass leveled it at 28-28.
The pinball back and forth continued.
A critical Restrepo lost fumble was returned 56 yards for a 35-28 Syracuse lead. TV showed Restropo’s parents in the crowd. His mom had her hands covering her face ... not not for long.
Her boy’s 40-yard catch to the 2 led to Damien Martinez’s 2-yard scoring run for Miami and a 35-35 knot early in the fourth quarter. (If you had the ‘over’ on total score, congrats.)
But UM’s defense again failed to make a stand. A pass interference penalty against Miami contributed as the Orange drove for a short TD run and a 42-35 lead in the mid-fourth quarter.
The TD fest was interrupted by a UM field goal from 27 yards out with 3:42 left to draw Miami within 42-38. Cristobal had little choice on fourth-and-goal from the 9. An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against Jacolby George proved hurtful, not to mention immensely ill-timed.
Naturally, not going for it will be second-guessed.
“We use analytics,” said Cristobal. “It was outside the 10-yard line with four minutes to go. Get the points. Get a stop,”
Miami is now left, at 10-2, to accept the best bowl bid offered and hope it still can somehow sneak into the CFP playoffs.
It would be harsh to say Saturday meant this season is a failure. Far from it as an upgrade from last year’s 7-6.
But there is no equivocating or excusing what just happened.
When you blow a 21-0 lead with everything at stake, the hurt is yours to own.
This story was originally published November 30, 2024 at 7:18 PM.
